Ariellah
Bio
Ariellah studied classical ballet with the Royal Academy of Dance of London for twelve years, beginning at age three. After a four-year break from dance that included two years in the Peace Corps on Africa’s Ivory Coast, she returned to the United States eager to learn the dance of her Moroccan ancestry.
Ariellah is an international performer and instructor of modern fusion belly dance. She has studied and performed belly dance for the past nine years. Ariellah began her belly dance training with Janine Ryle of Danse Mahgreb and as a founding member of The Indigo with Rachel Brice. Most recently Ariellah began training in classical Indian Odissi dance, studying in India at the Shakti School of Dance. Her style infuses many genres of belly dance, all with a modern dark flavour that is uniquely her own. She is featured on many DVDs, including the first of its kind “Gothic BellyDance” DVD and her first instructional DVD, “Contemporary BellyDance and Yoga Conditioning” and she also won first place in Siren’s Insanity belly dance competition in 2004. She is considered a leader in the innovative new genre of Dark Fusion Belly Dance and is known for her strong technique, precision of movements and her artistry.
Classes with Ariellah
Inside Out: Conditioning For Body and Mind
Ariellah’s workshop will focus on yoga, pilates and dance-infused strengthening and stretching exercises that directly correlate to belly dance movements and postures. She hopes to invigorate and inspire, and at the same time aid in flexibility and strength training. These exercises will allow the student’s body to open up to the movements of bellydance, including shoulders, chest, belly and hips. If time allows, a brief drilling section will follow a long, intensive conditioning session, in order to better understand how the stretches correlate to the movements, allowing students to gain a more fluid, open, strong and grounded physique to accompany their dance practice and to prep their bodies for the day long workshops. This workshop winds down with a shorter yogic cool down to allow the body to retain the muscle memory learned in the course. Yoga and pilates exercises build and develop strength in our bodies and lay the foundation of our dance movement and dance posture. Furthermore, these exercises not only open and strengthen the belly dancer’s body, but will aid the body in understanding how to dance in a healthy, safe manner. Alongside the physical aspect of dance practice is the mental state and Ariellah will allow some mindful introspection and discussion to occur to better prepare the dancer for performance in terms of stage presence and expression. Students will gain a more fluid, open, strong and grounded physique to accompany their dance practice. All levels welcome.
Dance Movement
(recommended 2 Hours Mixed Level)
Don’t Just Stand There! Get up and DANCE! Explore the floor…move like a dancer…explore arm and body transitions, footwork, moving combos and other related DANCE concepts.
Performance Quality: Bringing Theatre to Your Dance
(recommended 2 hour workshop)
**Students should have a well rounded knowledge of middle eastern dance and some knowledge of ATS and/or fusion stylized movement.**
Dance your music. Take your performance to the next level and make it what it truly wants to be: performance art. Learn to engage the audience, learn to step into character, push out of your comfort zone and add depth to your performance pieces. Begin to explore the backbone of dynamic performance art and all that this entails including building a choreography and truly learning to interpret your music. Elevate your dance with Ariellah in this intensive performance quality workshop.
