Three mornings a week at 8:30 am, the women (and occasional men) of Muscle Dance participate in a strength training ritual with Aruna. This is not a boot camp. It’s a more rarified form of weight lifting. It’s all about proper form and, frankly if it weren’t for the community of wonderful women, the jokes, and the music  (everything from chanting, to rock and roll, the blues and “drums of pain.”), it would be a lot harder to endure.

Once again Susu Pampanin and her Cairo Cats raised the bar for hafla bands, with Mussa on keyboards, Koralee on oud, and Terriane on percussion. The dozen soloists were treated to brilliant versions of the Arabic repertoire and Koralee performaned an airy oud solo for Aruna & MIchael's temple dance.

If you’ve ever longed to fly like they do in Cirque de Soleil, here’s a friendly, healing option--even if you’re afraid of heights. We now have 2 Om Gym’s at WorldDance Fitness. These colorful, versatile slings might be just what you need if you have a bad back, stiff joints or weak muscles.

The April 5th workshop with Bellydance Superstar, Bozenka has been cancelled. We hope she'll return.

Those of us who took her 2006 double veil workshop here were impressed with her supreme grace and patient teaching style. Bozenka, whose name means “touched by God” certainly radiates while she dances.

Jillina's March 5th workshop at our studio was a well-organized, fun series of movements to the song "Just Like That" by Charbel Rouhana. We later saw the segment she taught us incorporated into a longer piece at the Belly Dance Superstars Show. Jillina taught each phrase or combination and then gave us all a few minutes to develop it into our own style and experiment with different textures (lighter, heavier, more sensuous, more dramatic, etc.). This led to Ma*Shuqa's comment "I haven't