Hello Dancers,
It has been a very long time! I have not been teaching other than a few engagements since COVID-19 struck in March 2020.
The virus hit artistic businesses harder than any other industry, and I’ll be completely honest, it has been a difficult time for me mind, body, and soul to have the business I have worked hard for, and the students whom I connected with and enjoyed spending time with to be taken away so abruptly. That being said, I sincerely thank you all for your patience and understanding. I felt truly supported. I always tell people that the women I have met through belly dance are the kindest souls around, and you all really drove that point home for me throughout this. THANK YOU!
In the past 18 months I have tried a couple of times to get classes back up and running, but due to second waves or students, understandably not feeling safe, we decided to postpone.
However, we are ready to get started again. To help people feel safer I’m opening two classes with a maximum of 8 students per class. This is down from 12 maximum pre-pandemic, which will give us room to spread out.
As for dancing a few things have changed for me. Practicing and learning myself was a challenge and I found myself quite addicted to an urban dance platform called Steezy (it means style with ease). While there is no belly dance on the platform it improved my dancing significantly and had me dancing for at least an hour every day, including dance workouts that also work toward improving social dance skills, which I’m now adding as a component to the class. Other than that addition, classes will also have a slightly different structure as follows:
- Warm Up (5-10 minutes)
- Dance workout (10 minutes)
- Learn moves and combo (20 minutes)
- Veil or other prop 15 minutes (15 minutes)
- Cool down (5-10 minutes)
You can register for classes by visiting the classes page to see times, dates, and class level descriptions. There is an early bird price in effect until September 17.
I have some performance dates coming up! The first is a dance performance and lesson this coming weekend in Sussex. This is an event by the Multicultural Association of Sussex and I will dance and teach a demo class.
During the pandemic I taught at the Algonquin Resort in Saint Andrews and I will be returning in November to teach 60 women per class for their Health and Wellness expo.
After a year and a half off this already seems like a lot for me in addition to the job I have now, plus I decided to fill some pandemic time by taking a diploma program online through the University of Guelph to study horticulture BUT more is yet to come. I plan to teach more classes throughout Southeastern New Brunswick, and get the seniors class back up too with Jan. So stay tuned, we’re taking baby steps…triple steps, chasse…however, you’d like to think of it but it’s going to happen and we will be dancing up a storm together in no time!
Hope to see you soon in class!
Kindly,
Kaleena aka LUNA Belly Dance
LUNA Belly Dance New Brunswick 