This is terrific news Anna Jaeger 🙌 We are so happy to hear it. Thank you for sharing your experience, and keep up the great work!

❤️🙏 One of the many blessings dance has to offer

We are so happy this challenge has re-inspired your yoga practice. It can be a really useful tool in our overall health and wellbeing. Keep up the great work!🙌

Hi Dafne, Not at the moment. We are looking for teachers who specialize in Zaar. I hope we can have something soon.

So glad you liked it Orianne❤️

Hi Yuliya,I am so glad you enjoy the Arabic classes. We will consider adding more in the near future. Thanks for your feedback

So very glad you enjoyed!!

I hope to work on that very soon

I have a limit on what I can write here in the comments, so I wanted to also say that of course Raqs Sharqi has evolved in places like Egypt and Lebanon and the music changes too, but Raqs Sharqi style will always have that traditional component to it in its orchestration. It may no longer be a full orchestra playing, it could be synthesized but it will follow a structure using more modern sounds like keyboard. You may hear all the rhythms you mentioned within a song used for Raqs Sharqi. The best way to get familiar with it would be to watch those Golden Era dancers and hear the different songs they danced to. We still dance to modern versions or covers of those same songs today. Shabbi would not be considered Raqs Sharqi per se, it is its own style. Also, all the westernized versions of Bellydance like "tribal" are also not Raqs Sharqi. I hope this helps. It can be a bit confusing but over time you will develop an ear for it.

Hello Laura, Sorry for the delay, I was hosting my costa rica retreat.What great questions you have. Raqs Sharqi is specific to Egyptian style bellydance that became famous between the 1930s-1950s when popular dancers were seen in Egyptian musicals and cinema. The music, costuming and dance moves we know today were all inspired by that time. There has been such a craze of bellydance around the world that it has changed a lot from its original format. So we now have many offshoots that no longer resemble Raqs Sharqi in music, costume or movements. Raqs Sharqi is Arab classical music either chosen by dancers or composed for dancers. It characterized by its complex rhythms and melodies known as maqamat, as well as its use of traditional instruments such as the oud, qanun, and nay. Of course in Raqs Sharqi the percussion or rhythm is very important for dancing and is also part of traditional Arab rhythms. Heres a bit more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raqs_sharqi