long as they take steps to build on what they’re learning.
That’s what happened to me, and after a short while, my
peers started to request classes from me. I had never
thought about teaching, but I fell in love with it, and
thankfully, I got a good response from my students.
Isis gave me opportunities to learn how to teach
by offering me my own classes and workshops at
her studio. I held regular classes in several different
styles of belly dance including folklore, fusion,
and cabaret. I had a knack for choreographing
and people took notice. I taught a popular
workshop called, “How To Choreograph A
Solo” which I still teach to this day.
I was soaking up everything about
belly dance that I could. Some of the
teachers who influenced me in my
early days were, of course, Isis, Bert
Balladine, Amaya, Cinnamon – a
wonderful instructor at Isis’ studio
who introduced Egyptian style to
me, Tahja Starr – another great
instructor from Isis’ studio who
taught American Tribal Style and
other fusion styles, Jillina, Aziza, and
Suhaila Salimpour, as well as various
unknown (to me) Turkish and
Lebanese dancers from old VHS
tapes that restaurant owners
would let me borrow to
learn from. As time
Photo by Miracle Bennett
12
The Belly Dance Chronicles
July 2017