If your kids love moving to music and can’t seem to sit still, you might want to bring up the idea of taking modern dance. Bay Area kids have a choice of several dance academies that teach a wide variety of dance styles to children of all ages, and modern dance is perhaps the most popular among young girls. This dance style emerged in the 1900s and is very similar to ballet, minus its stringent rules. Because of its more relaxed style, modern dance can be used

Don’t stay in on a lovely day, especially since there are so many outdoor activities to enjoy in the Bay Area. Family trips to these stunning destinations are a great way to spend quality time with the kids before school starts. Whether you introduce your little one to flora and fauna in a national park or give the kids their first kayak ride, these adventures in the outdoors will surely create memories that last a lifetime. Wunderlich Park The wondrous Wunderlich Park used to belong to the Folger family

For many parents, a high school should do more than pave the way to a good college; it should also provide a solid religious education. For this reason, they choose to pull their kids out of the public school system and look for faith-based high schools. Bay Area cities have several school options if your child’s spiritual development is just as important as his or her academic success. When you are ready to take on the task of finding the best Bay Area schools to research which

For many girls, ballet classes are just a fleeting fancy they eventually outgrow. But if your little ballerina is passionate and serious about ballet, she should move on to advanced dance lessons. The Bay Area has many ballet schools that can teach your daughter the techniques and skills needed to reach the pre-professional level. Consider sending your daughter to one of these ballet academies, and she can be dancing on her toes in a few years’ time. Ayako School – Belmont At Ayako School of Ballet in Belmont, the

As artists of an often misunderstood dance, we dancers understand that everything we present publicly reflects back upon us as individuals, upon bellydance as an art form, and by extension, the Middle Eastern culture. When presenting these facets in the most favorable light to other dancers or the general public, good design becomes paramount because it is the most unmistakable way to demonstrate our worth. Our culture’s increased emphasis on visual media has turned most of us into constant consumers of design, subconsciously honing our ability to differentiate

Read more: Gilded Serpent, Belly Dance News & Events , » The Sisterhood of South African Belly Dancers Copyright 1998-to current date by Gilded Serpent, LLC I’m an Australian. Well, even that is barely true! I was born in Hong Kong, grew up with missionary parents travelling around Asia, and did my schooling in Japan. I lived in 6 of the 7 continents, spending the last 11 years of my life in Africa, namely: Zimbabwe, Uganda, and South Africa. The one thing I have had since I

A lovely woman I know from the local Belly dance scene, let’s call her Jane, who was working as an administrator for an entrepreneur’s organization in Boston sent me an email with an intriguing opportunity: “Would you be interested in speaking at an upcoming event about your role as an arts entrepreneur? It is for an elite club of millionaire entrepreneurs who give TED*-style talks about their challenges and triumphs in business. It seems to me that you would be an excellent fit as a successful studio

Perhaps this was my mistake; I had a plan for my dance career, and I was not shy to tell it to everyone who would listen. My goal was to dance as long or longer than my dance heroine, Martha Graham, who performed until she was 92 (when she proceeded to drink herself into toxic alcoholism, which was definitely not part of my plan). At some point in the mid-1980s, a close friend and dance student of one of my own dance students actually expired while performing

There have been a couple of times in my life when I felt stagnated and bored with my dancing. I felt frustrated with a lack of substance, technical complexity, and artistic vision. I had been a successful dancer and company director for 5 years, I had managed to make a living through performing and teaching in Los Angeles. By the end of 2012, I reached a point where the gigs were no longer feeding me, the excitement and drive to continue pursuing such a

Anyone who has surfed the Internet, joined discussion groups, or researched belly dance in any depth, will have seen the horror and fury that can be induced by posting a video of “Gypsy belly dancing”, asking for the best vendors for “Gypsy skirts” or (deep breath) offering to teach a “Gypsy workshop.” I have read many times that “Gypsy” is a bad word because they prefer to be called “Rom.” Therefore, it is disrespectful to use the word in any form. I beg to differ. You see,