Rio of Satori Dance

Arabic Percussion Classes- NEW!

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:41:17 +0000

Hello Dancers and Drummers!

On Wednesday February 15th from 7-9pm at our studio space 1741 Westfield Dr. Satori Dance will offer a FREE Introductory Class on Arabic Percussion! This is your opportunity to meet our instructor Richard and tryout several Middle Eastern instruments. You may also bring your own instruments to see if they are acceptable for our ongoing class. This free introductory class is to introduce our Beginning Level Arabic Percussion class which will meet every Wednesday starting March 7th from 7:00-9pm.

As a very special introductory offer you may buy a 10 class punch card that will include an instrument (a Doumbek or Riqq that is yours to keep) for only $150. If you already own an acceptable instrument you may buy a 10 class punch card at a discounted rate of only $90. After this offer expires, 10 class punch cards (without an instrument) will be $135 or 5 class punch cards for $67.50. These classes are an hour and a half each.

Beginning Middle Eastern Percussion Class

In this class, you will learn what is so unique and beautiful about Middle Eastern Music that sets it apart from other musical genres. We will study 10-15 Basic Middle Eastern Rhythms, learn where each rhythm originates; what defines each rhythm; what sections are fixed; as well as how to improvise within each rhythm. Depending on your comfort level and experience, you can work on just your basic technique, or on improvising to a basic accompaniment. Instruments needed are either a Doumbek or Riqq (included in special offer). Before you buy an instrument not listed, please ask us regarding other instruments you can use in this class.

Richard Herrington has studied musical percussion traditions of the Middle East, Central and West Africa, and Bahia Brazil for over 10 years now, and has studied with master teachers from each area. He has played with musicians from Kara Nomadica, Fale, Bloco em FoCo, and others. Richard plays Middle Eastern percussion inspired by teachers Souhail Kaspar and Raquy Danziger, two famous Middle Eastern masters. He teaches authentic Middle Eastern rhythms on the Doumbek and Riqq (also spelled Dumbek and Riq).

With purchase of the special offer 10 class punch card, you will receive one of the following or similar quality instruments (yours to keep):

Remo Glen Velez Riq 9″

Egyptian-style Aluminum Doumbek with rounded rim and synthetic 8 ½” head ~11″ maximum diameter, approximately 17 1/8” length (in various colors and finishes)

Low cost student grade instruments Richard recommends:
Remo Glen Velez Riq, 9″, Tunable,
Remo Glen Velez Riq, 9″, Pretuned,
Egyptian-style Aluminum Doumbek with rounded rim and synthetic 8 ½” head ~11″ maximum diameter (see picture)
such as Meinl Aluminum Doumbek, 8 ½” head diameter, 17 1/8” length (various colors and finishes)
(All available from Amazon.com)

Successful Student Recital

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:56:40 +0000

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

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:39:29 +0000

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.

Materials:
1 T-shirt
matching/coordinating thread

Tools:
Rotary cutter and cutting mat (preferred)
sewing scissors
sewing machine
soap sliver or chalk

1.Put your shirt on and use a sliver of soap to mark how far under the bust you want to cut the shirt.

2. After marking, lay out your shirt on the ground as flat as possible. Try to match up seams and keep the sides from rippling because of twisted fabric.
3. Go ahead and even up your lines. Make sure the line is not lopsided. One side may be lower than the other because YOU are slightly asymmetrical. If that is the case, use the lowest line and draw across from there.

4. Use scissors/shears to cut along this newly smoothed out line. The line you drew on the front of the shirt should extend around the sides just enough that when you flip the shirt over, you can see the tail ends on each side. This will allow you to connect the tails with a straight line so you know where to cut along the back of your shirt.

**If your shirt is a blousey t-shirt, then you must remove some of the material from the sides and back to make it more fitted. If you don’t, it will wrap around to the back and sort of bunch when you tie your rib cage straps. If you like that look, go for it. If not, then:
5. Cut little triangles of fabric off each side under the armhole. Wide bottom of the triangle down, point towards sleeve. If in doubt on amount to remove, slip your half-shirt on and pinch the fabric on either side of your ribs. It doesn’t need to be super tight, but evenly distributed between the sides is good. Note how much fabric is pinched. For me this is usually about 2″ to the fold on each side.

6. Here’s where you have an opportunity to get creative. Simplest option: Make a 4″ vertical slit along the center back of your t-shirt. This can be varied by making different types of keyholes instead. Keyholes are especially helpful if you need to remove a little more fabric from the width of your shirt to make it fit snugly. Your keyhole can be a triangle shape with a base and point aimed towards the neck of the shirt or it can be a circle or upside down tear drop shape. Fancier shapes like stars and hearts should be possible but they’ll hang funny if they’re not reinforced which I won’t go into here- you want it fancy, you figure it out If you’re not good at free-handing shapes, use a round dish or print a shape from your computer (Microsoft Office software and some of the really basic art programs have shape art).

At this point, you may set aside the top portion of your shirt.

Making the rib cage strap from the bottom half of the shirt:
7. Make sure you have no wrinkles or folds in your lower t-shirt before marking and cutting.
8. Use a ruler or other straight edge and your rotary cutter to cut a perfectly straight line where your original chalk/soap line was drawn. (The idea is to cut off any jagged edges or curves)
9. Measure 4 inches down from your new straight edge and cut with the rotary cutter. You should have a tube of t-shirt material that is 4 inches high and the width of the shirt. Repeat this process one more time.

10. Cut the 2 circles of material to separate each into one long strip. Cut one of them in half to make 2 shorter strips. You now have 3 strips of fabric.

**Note, I also cut the sleeves on the white and blue tops pictured. This is another ‘creative opportunity’

Sewing your new choli:
**Sew using a stretch stitch (looks like a lightening bolt) or a straight stitch set with a very slight zig zag (just barely moves side to side). This will prevent broken stitches when/if the shirt stretches while you wear it.
11. Sew a short strip on either end of your long strip to make your complete rib cage strap.
12. Sew the sides of your shirt if you cut off triangular pieces of material. If your shirt was fitted to begin with, you should have no side seam sewing to do.
13. Match up center front of the shirt with the middle of your rib cage strap that has been folded in half- it’s still as long but now it’s 2 inches tall instead of 4 inches. Pin at center front with right sides together and raw edges to the bottom.
**Here you get to decide how fussy you want to be about finishing. I’m not that fussy for this type of project- just an FYI. Knit fabrics don’t fray so I’m not bothered by raw edges. There will be some.
14. Starting at center front, stitch rib cage strap to shirt around one side. Sew all the way to the edge of your keyhole opening. Repeat for the other side.

Viola! You now have a brand new dance top made from your favorite band t-shirt or funny slogan shirt

Rio & the Satori Girls Will Thrill the Night!

admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:08:24 +0000

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

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:17:13 +0000

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

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:31:57 +0000

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!

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:24:38 +0000

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

admin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:49:49 +0000

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 Workshop Opportunities

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:04:19 +0000

December 12th, 2009

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

Tribe Marrakech

For more information go here

Give the Gift of Belly Dance!

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:52:08 +0000

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!