By Ishtar Dance on Thursday, February, 1st, 2024 in Dance Coaching, Dance Entrepreneur, Dance Inspiration, Learning, Uncategorised, Your Dance Body No Comments
Dancing can become very addictive and an essential part of your identity, but not every dancer is the same. Read on to find out which dance identity is yours, and how you can use that knowledge to develop your dancing even further. To be fair, no one is rarely 100% one or the other. Often […]
By Ishtar Dance on Monday, January, 22nd, 2018 in Dance Coaching, Dance Inspiration, Learning, Uncategorised, Your Dance Body No Comments
Online learning has become a big feature of the internet, and although I still strongly believe that everyone needs some 1-2-1 tuition, especially when taking up a new dance form, or wanting to develop once’s technique, you can’t ignore how easy it is to find information online these days. So in this article I want […]
By Ishtar Dance on Tuesday, December, 12th, 2017 in Uncategorised No Comments
A turn over three steps is part of any dancers basic technique, and I’ve also published a short video on this, which you can view here. But they can also easily be advanced by adding accents and unexpected directional changes, which will help you to add surprise and new dynamics to your choreography and performances. I’ve […]
By Ishtar Dance on Monday, October, 30th, 2017 in Dance Inspiration, Learning, Uncategorised, Your Dance Body No Comments
A vertical figure of 8 down, also known as a maya, is a wonderful snaky and versatile movement that every dancer should have in their repertoire. It can be danced strong, soft or sexy (think Shakira), but either way, once it’s in your muscle memory it can allow you to melt into a performance, as […]
By Ishtar Dance on Thursday, October, 19th, 2017 in Dance Coaching, Dance Inspiration, Learning, Uncategorised, Your Dance Body No Comments
A chonk, also sometimes called a hip lock down, is a basic movements that any belly dancer should know, but it’s also a move that I see many students struggle with. I therefore created a short video explaining how to create the movements, and how to develop it from its basic form for travelling and […]
By Ishtar Dance on Monday, October, 9th, 2017 in Dance Coaching, Dance Inspiration, Learning, Uncategorised, Your Dance Body No Comments
Do you use choreographies or do you prefer to get up on stage and improvise? It’s often down to personal preference, but generally the more experienced and versatile a dancer you are, the more likely you are to enjoy and rely on your improvisations skills. Personally I only rarely choreograph a performance piece, but instead […]
By Ishtar Dance on Monday, October, 2nd, 2017 in Dance Coaching, Dance Inspiration, Learning, Uncategorised, Your Dance Body No Comments
It not very often that bellydancers have the opportunity to work with professional live musicians and drummers, but once you do, something magical is likely to happen, not only to your dancing, but also your confidence! Most dancers shy away from live-drumming workshops and events, because it feels so alien to get up and dance […]
By Ishtar Dance on Monday, September, 11th, 2017 in Belly Dance & Pregnancy, Dance Coaching, Dance Inspiration, Uncategorised, Your Dance Body 2 Comments
Being a working mum is hard at the best of times, but being a dancer and a mum can seem almost impossible to many. Not only have you got unsociable working hours, but being pregnant and out of action for several months can also mean you lose your regular performance or teaching job. However, as […]
By Ishtar Dance on Monday, July, 17th, 2017 in Dance Coaching, Dance Inspiration, Learning, Uncategorised No Comments
If you’ve been dancing for while you probably know a fair bit about the history of your dance, the steps and combos, dancers who made them and the dance itself famous and of course also a bit about the cultural context of the dance today. Or do you? Many dancers don’t seem to be […]
By Ishtar Dance on Wednesday, July, 12th, 2017 in Dance Coaching, Dance Inspiration, Hafla at the Hall, Learning, Uncategorised No Comments
In just over 5 week’s I’ll be hosting the last ever Hafla at the Hall at the Weybridge Hall in Surrey. If you’ve never been, then don’t miss this special celebration of all things belly dance in our beautiful historic building. You can read more about the upcoming event and get tickets here. I started […]
