DanceGardenLA

This week’s #WomanCrushWednesday is Gigi Dilsah! She was born in Istanbul and currently resides there, but she has also lived in Seattle for twelve years. She specializes in Turkish bellydance and Turkish Romany dance. We can’t get over the vivacious energy Gigi brings to the stage in the first part of this full Turkish Romany set and how tight her pelvic tucks are! Romany folk dances are the foundation of a lot of the moves found in Turkish bellydance, and we love how Gigi is working to keep those traditions alive in their original form!

Great news! We have Hannah Lily with us for a few more weeks! Hop in to our fusion series for fun technique and brain-expanding combos Wednesday nights at 6:30pm PST or any time on-demand. Register online at dancegardenla.com or through the MindBody app!

What's your favorite era and style of dance to watch? Do you live for the over-the-top antics of 20s Jazz dancers? Or maybe you're more into the deep emotions that can be found in modern contemporary? Let us know!

This week our #WomanCrushWednesday is Basinah! Basinah is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and fell in love with belly dance after receiving a lesson as a birthday gift. We love how ooey-gooey her hipwork is and how her love of this art is just oozing from her entire aura. Recently Basinah has been all over the online haflas that have popped up - she’s been featured in Kami Liddle’s Lockdown Dance Party, Navah, Liz Wray and Lisa Warner’s Midnight Frolic, and the Baladi Babes’ Visions of Vintage. This year she will be featured at Kan Zaman in March, and she will also be a guest instructor at Hot Raqs in June. Be sure to catch her performances and workshops to soak up that sunny energy!

Some inspiration for your Sunday - This beautiful choreography by DGLA teacher Kamala Almanzar performed by Amirat al Sharq directed by by Jizzelle Alexis performed at Cairo ShimmyQuake. Art in motion.... https://www.facebook.com/698542136/videos/10157435360407137/

We cannot wait until January 23 when we start our first ONLINE COURSE! Join us for a 6-Week Learn to Bellydance course with the lovely Laura Leyl. Only $40! Register at www.dancegardenla.com/courses https://youtu.be/x7QoMrkQb6g

This year, we’re trying to expand our horizons and learn more, and not just when it comes to dance! What have you read lately that you’ve enjoyed?

Today’s #WomanCrushWednesday is Arielle Juliette (@ariellejuliette), owner of Dance Life (@madisondancelife) in Madison, WI! We are OBSESSED with Arielle’s juicy shimmies and mind-boggling belly rolls. We also love the message of body liberation she and her studio promote - Dance Life’s bio assures us that All bodies deserve respect and love exactly as they are right now, and all bodies have the right to pursue health behaviors like dance and aerobics if they so desire! We ...couldn’t agree more! In addition to raqs sharqi, Arielle also dances burlesque and is the creator of the quarterly Inappropriate Song Night at Dance Life, an event for all woman-identified folks and nonbinary individuals that has gained the reputation as Part dance, part comedy, and part (optional) audience participation, you'll laugh so hard you'll need to grab a second pair of underwear. Consider us sold! Sending lots of LA dance love to the Midwest! https://www.facebook.com/madisondancelife/videos/397214731324460

The great thing about bellydance is how much we’re encouraged to learn from other dancers! If you could attend a workshop with ANY dancer, living or dead, who would it be? Frankly, we would be over the moon if we could get just two minutes with Soheir Zaki!