THE ABC’S OF FUSION BELLY DANCE
Master complex moves quickly
Make troupe choreography smooth and precise
Blow audiences away with emotional expression
Achieve graceful isolations that mesmerize
Sooth your soul and breathe
Breast Cancer survivors:
Increase range of motion and whole body healing
Build confidence
Lift depression
Laugh and play with other beautiful women
Soothe your soul and breathe
WHAT IS THE “ABC’S OF FUSION BELLY DANCE” FORMAT?
After 17 years of teaching countless private lessons, Elizabeth has developed a learning format, that helps all people, as well as professional dancers, learn to breathe, walk, move and dance with more ease, grace, and with reduced risk of injury. The format is user friendly, well organized, and geared for maximum learning on your own. The format draws its influence from the Suhaila Salimpour Belly Dance format, yoga, Pilates, ballet, flamenco, East Indian dance, and martial arts.
THE MISSING ALPHABET
“ABC’s of Belly Dance,” organizes specific dance movements into a movement alphabet to help students learn more easily. What if you were missing letters in your written alphabet? You would feel limited and unable to talk or write very clearly.
Missing parts of your belly dance “alphabet” limits the types of dance movements you can do. The
“ABC’s of Belly Dance,” format teaches you that a full, complete dance alphabet, so you can make your own dance “words,” “sentences,” “paragraphs” and “stories,” with increased creativity and mastery.
Letters – are movements broken down into “micro movements” to make learning easier.
Words – are two “Letters” combined to create a complex movement. Example: A “figure 8” or “snake arms” in belly dance.
Sentences – One musical measure created out of a series of “words.” Example: A series of moves within 8 counts of the music.
Paragraphs – Series of “Sentences.” Example: Four measures of music adding up to 32 musical counts.
Stories – All of your choreographic “Paragraphs” strung together to make a dance.
With literally thousands of movement words, sentences, and paragraphs to combine, it is easy for you to become your own dance creator.
BELLYDOTS IN MOTION
The ultimate tool for learning your ABC”S.......
Are you tired of being taught moves, only to find you still can’t do them?
It is not your fault. You just haven’t been given the tools.
“Bellydots in Motion” gives you the tools to learn HOW to do dance movements. It is a revolutionary, fun, playful and creative way to teach your body to do everything from belly dance isolations, to ballet. Using
“Bellydots” as your teacher, complex body movements, become simple, fun, safe and easy to do, and gives you the ability to become your own at home teacher.
How it works:
- Dots are applied to different parts of your body as visual tools so your mind and body can collaborate with each other to TEACH YOU to dance.
- The dots are relational points so you can visually adjust body movements, making them more accurate, precise, and beautiful.
- Body parts are taught to move independently of one another by learning how to stabilize some body parts, as you actively move others.
DYNAMIC SPIRAL
The secret to emotionally expressive dance
Once you have used your
“Bellydots in Motion,” to learn your
“ABC’s of Belly Dance,” you are ready to add the
“Dynamic Spiral,” to your dance. It is based on the dance spiral idea found in the Martha Graham style of modern dance. It is a movement created by placing your head, chest and hips in different planes creating a more emotional and fluid, dynamic flow to the dance. Your body even looks like it is in motion, when it is still. Poses and statuesque forms create drama and communicate meaning and stories to the audience.
“Dynamic Spiral,” is an absolute must for veil work.
THE ABC’S FOR BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS
As a Breast Cancer survivor herself, Elizabeth has personal experience with how her
“ABC’S” format helps breast cancer survivors regain range of motion in their shoulders and confidence in their bodies after breast cancer treatment and surgery.
After healing from her mastectomy, she realized that this dance form could help to heal the mind, body and spirits of breast cancer survivors. She has full range of motion in her shoulder and chest, thanks to moving and dancing. She continues to be cancer free
See:
“Her Story” on the scroll bar for her personal breast cancer experience.
ABOUT ELIZABETH
Elizabeth was one of the first dancers to perform Fusion Belly Dance regularly in the Seattle area in the mid 90’s. She pushes the edge of Fusion Belly Dance, featuring unusual props, subtle storytelling, and eclectic music from all over the world. She is has studied with the Suhaila Salimpour School of Belly Dance and completed the Level 2 certification in the revolutionary dance format, in 2007.
Her dance journey truly found it’s meaning when she began to teach belly dance classes and realized that her students are her greatest gift for being a dancer.
She started belly dancing while traveling in Australia in the early 90’s. She was living in a small town called Byron Bay and got a chance to watch an exotic belly dancer, dancing with two huge boa constrictors! She was so inspired, she immediately signed up for classes. Upon her return to the States she began two years of intensive studies in ballet, modern dance, flamenco and dance conditioning classes at the Belltown Ballet and conditioning Studio in Seattle, as a supplement to her belly dance training and thus her own brand of fusion belly dance was born.
AWARDS
Belly Dancer of the Universe Competition 2006
Champion, “Tribal Fusion Solo”
Second Runner-Up, “Fusion Solo
THE JOURNEY THROUGH BREAST CANCER
In 2005 Elizabeth was diagnosed with stage 3a breast cancer. She used her dance skills and extensive movement experience to heal fear, pain and stiffness in her shoulder after her mastectomy. Teaching belly dance once a week during treatment kept her spirits up.
The Belly Dance Community Steps Up to Help
While in chemotherapy, her supportive belly dance sisters threw a magnificent benefit for her to help offset the burden of debt she had acquired from medical bills, and an incredibly inadequate **health insurance plan. They raised $15,000 and covered the outstanding costs! Suhaila Salimpour brought special workshops to Seattle so she could full fill her class-time hours required to keep her level 1 certification with the school. Thank you wonderful sisters for your support. What a great community!
SHARE THE ABCS WITH A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR
Call or e-mail if you would like to arrange a workshop or class with breast cancer survivors. Any pre-planned workshops will be listed on the
“Classes” page on the scroll bar.
HEALTH INSURANCE NOTES
The insurance plan I was on at the time was called “
Mega Life and Health.” It was inadequate to cover my breast cancer treatment needs without bankrupting me. They have apparently upgraded their practices in recent years, but it would be wise to look into the program very closely if you decide to consider considering signing up with them. They have had many complaints, similar to mine, against them in the past. Always make sure any insurance plan you are on has an out of pocket maximum.
**If you already have health insurance, and are below a certain income level, you can apply for
Basic Health in Washington State, as a secondary insurance plan. It is a subsidized plan and you can sign up immediately without a waiting period, even if you have a pre-existing condition. This plan saved me from certain bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the availability of this plan may have changed in the current economy.
TRAINING BACKGROUND
She has been teaching and performing Fusion Belly Dance for 17 years, and is one of the first dancers to perform fusion belly dance in the Seattle area. She draws most of her influence from the Suhaila Salimpour format, ballet, jazz, flamenco, yoga, martial arts, East Indian Orissi dance and Pilates.
Belly Dance:
Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance since 2001 and a current Level 2 certification, Berkeley, CA
Studies with instructors, Delilah, Sabura, and other Seattle instructors.
National and international artists, too numerous to name.
Yoga:
The Yoga Tree, Yoga Teacher Training Theresa Elliot, Seattle, WA
Ashtanga, Intensive, Byron Bay, Australia.
Ongoing yoga studies at numerous studios.
Flamenco:
Flamenco Danzarte, Ana Montes, Seattle, WA
Ballet and Dance Conditioning:
Belltown Ballet and Conditioning Studio, Elaine Bonow, Seattle, WA
Graham Modern Dance:
Belltown Ballet and Conditioning Studio, Phyllis Stonebrooke, Seattle, WA
Tae Kwon Do:
Yun’s Martial Arts, Master Yun, Seattle, WA
Tai Chi:
Kung Fu Club, Si Fu Paula, Seattle WA
Morgan Martin, independent instructor, Seattle, WA
Orissi East Indian Classical Dance:
Ratna Roy, Olympia WA
Jyoti Route, Richmond CA
Pilates:
Maya Whole Health various instructors, Seattle, WA
Melissa Ruby, certified Pilates instructor, Seattle, WA
Jazz and Summer Stock Musicals:
Various theatres on Bainbridge Island, and Olympia, WA
