Successful Student Recital

Satori Dance Students ~ photo courtesy of Richard Herrington

The students and teachers of Satori Dance would like to thank all the friends and family who came out to enjoy our holiday show on December 10th, 2011. Your support and enthusiasm mean the world to us as we reach out to make new friends and discover ourselves through the world of dance!

A special thank you to our guest performers from Bohemian Daughters, a student troupe run by Nancy Montgomery who blew us away with a completely improvised group performance to never before heard music! Another huge thank you to Richard Herrington who volunteered his skill and time as a photographer to capture some wonderful images which you can see below and on the Satori Dance facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/RioofSatoriDance.

Bohemian Daughters ~ Photo courtesy of Richard Herrington

We had two group performances by students, solos by Katie Young, Hannah Mahoney and Rio of Satori Dance and the whole audience was invited to join in the dancing with a closing round of dabke- a folk dance of Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. Big grins and lots of stomping had by all.

Katie Young ~ Photo courtesy of Richard Herrington

Hannah Mahoney ~ Photo courtesy of Richard Herrington

Rio of Satori Dance ~ Photo courtesy of Richard Herrington

Classes have taken a brief recess to enjoy the holidays and a time of rest and renewal and begin again in the new year on January 10th. If you are interested in classes, dates, studio address and time can be found in the calendar on the left side of the page or you may visit the contact page to ask further questions.

T-shirt to Choli Conversion How-To

Don’t ask me what the motivation was, I honestly don’t know what planted the idea in my mind! I have a long torso and a growing collection of shirts that are just barely too short plus some that are just silly lounge arounds that I barely wear. I got it into my head to sort of re-build these into cropped tops for dance class because I always seem to have a shortage of good tops to wear at practice. It’s relatively simple to do. Minimal supplies, not a lot of patterning or sewing know-how needed.
Continue reading T-shirt to Choli Conversion How-To

Rio & the Satori Girls Will Thrill the Night!

If you haven’t heard of the now 19th annual Denver Witches’ Ball this is the year to check it out! Tuatha will be rocking the dance floor, the basement will be packed with fantastic vendors, tarot card readers and psychics and the girls of Satori Dance will be performing a very special version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller as mummified zombies from Pharaoh’s tomb!

For more details on the event and to purchase tickets online visit http://www.denverwitchesball.com/

Heartbeat Drum and Dance Festival

Friday July 9 evening through Sunday July 11 morning

Come Commune with Mother Earth and Father Sky as we Drum, Sing and Dance around the Sunrise Fire Pit!

Workshops

Drum Building with Steven Lange & Steven Kroll
Beginning Didgeridoo playing with George Brown
Bringing your voice to the Song with Judy Wilson
Drumming as a Spiritual Practice with Keith Hancock
Beginning Djun-Djun Drumming with Gregg Hansen
Light Drum Circle Facilitation with Gregg Hansen
Drum, Chant and Dance with Sára Rain
Beginning Drum Classes – various teachers
Native American Flute with Bill Grindle
Belly Dancing with Rio of Satori Dance
My hour and a half long workshop will focus on centering ourselves within our bodies so that we can feel and be moved by our natural rhythms. It will be beginning level technique unless I discover my students have the experience to handle more advanced movement vocabulary. Join me for my favorite Native American sage ceremony, a breath-conscious warm up and time immersed in the beauty of rhythm! For more information and to register please visit https://sunriseranch.org/activities/heart-beat-drum-and-dance-festival/

Rio Goes to High School

A student of Thompson Valley High School called me up, more or less out of the blue. She had an assignment that required she bring in some type of professional instructor to teach a session of her aerobics class. She decided she wanted belly dance. Well, today was the day! I spent about an hour and a half teaching and lecturing to around 20 high school students. We stomped and hopped and hair tossed and generally had a fantastic time. The primary question of the day seemed to revolve around whether there were men who belly dance! Yes indeed! Jamil of Australia, Tito, and Zorba are a few that come to mind immediately. They aren’t as common in the professional venues as women- mostly because tourists expect women and won’t pay to watch men, not because the men don’t have the moves!

Our Mixed Level Belly Dance Class Has a New Location!

Join us in Fort Collins on Tuesday, February 2nd from 6:30-7:30pm for our Mixed Levels class with Satori Dance and instructor Rio. We’ll be working up a sweat and teaching our bodies some new tricks! Come learn the movements that create the beautiful Middle Eastern dance we call Belly Dance! Class emphasis is on movements, muscle memory and short combinations as well as strength building exercises intended to develop the muscles needed to support and control your body movements during the dance. Your first class is half price at $5 and additional classes are $10 payable by cash, check or credit. Purchase a punch card for 10 classes at $90- that’s one class free! Punch cards do not expire so they still work for drop-in attendance. Our classes meet at 1741 Westfield Dr., Fort Collins. Come shake it with us soon!

New Merchandise Available

Roll the red carpet out and get ready for our staff t-shirts for “Security”! These cheeky t-shirts are perfect for gig security and protective boyfriends ;)

Upcoming Workshops

December 12th, 2009Cirque du TribalTique

February 13th, 2010

KARIM NAGI “Tradition Reimagined”

Drummer . Composer . Recording Artist . DJ . Folk Dancer . Teacher of Arab Music Dance & Culture

Karim specializes in the connection between dance and music. He teaches Dance and Music Workshops such as Arab Folk Dance, Musicality for Dancers, Segat (“Zill” finger cymbals), Dabka (Arabic Line Dancing), Percussion for Dancers (rhythmic literacy and basic drum technique) and Dancer-Drummer Communication (dancing to drum solos and interpreting sound into movement.)

Karim’s recordings under Karim’s “Turbo Tabla” name are in every belly dancer’s standard library. TURBO TABLA is a dancer’s epiphany. Belly dancers from New York to California choreograph to Turbo Tabla songs. It has the magical ingredients: the rolling and sharp pops of the Arabic Tabla, the intoxicating Eastern microtonal melodies, and a techno house groove

In his own words…”Ok, so I am a drummer, and a DJ, plus producer/composer. But Dance is the final ingredient. And dance is where acrobatics are encouraged. I love the stomping Dabkaat of Palestine/Lebanon/Jordan/Syria. And the stick twirling Egyptian dance Tahteeb is so intense. Plus the Sagat/Zill finger cymbalisms. I love percussive dances. Thankfully I figured out that music and dance are practically the same activity. And when done with sincere syncronicity, they become one wholistic ritual. And I am lucky enough to travel internationally to teach this ecstatic cohesion of sound and movement from the Arab world.” Find out more here.

April 29th-May 2nd, 2010

Elevation 2010

Instruction & Performances by:

Rachel Brice

Unmata

Zafira

The Mezmer Society

Monnya Silver

Frank Farinaro

Give the Gift of Belly Dance!

Perfect for the Belly Dancer on your shopping list!

Satori Dance offers gift certificates for classes and private lessons for the holiday season! To purchase a single group lesson pass click here. For a 10-class punch card you can click here. And for one-hour private lessons click here.
Satori Dance has a wide selection of T-shirts, tank tops, dance bags, movement cards, aluminum water bottles and other assorted merchandise that the dancer on your list is sure to love!