Nadia Moussa and students, Lotus' Drums Along the Hudson 2005, Inwood Hill Park, NYC

Middle Eastern Dance taught by Nadia Moussa incorporates both individual elements and advanced combinations such as traveling steps, hip isolations, veil work, and finger cymbals, as well as complex choreographies drawn from a number of Middle Eastern cultures. Styles incorporated into the rubric of Middle Eastern dance at Lotus include Sharki, Middle Eastern folkloric dance, Turkish Rom, tribal and fusion styles. Middle Eastern and Belly Dance forms focus on the presence of the dancer as self-contained performer. Exquisite, graceful movements and a sense of total self-awareness are major factors in the popularity of Middle Eastern dance as a form of exercise, therapy, and creative enjoyment.

Middle Eastern Folk Dances taught at Lotus by Ramzi El-Edlibi include The Shopy, an Iraqi line dance, The Debkeh, a Lebanese line dance, The Egyptian Al-Tannourah or “Whirling Dervish,” The Al-Annora, a solo dance from the Malawi Sufi practice; and the Moroccan Al Kaada, a solo foot work dance. These dance forms are accompanied by a range of percussive instruments including finger cymbals, dambek, the tambourine, and the frame drum.

Traditional Belly Dance taught by Chilaires includes warm up, body strengthening and balance exercises and will cover: belly dance aesthetics, fundamentals of belly dance technique, muscle isolation, belly dance steps and musicality, routine, and cool down & stretches.

American Cabaret Belly Dance taught by Kaitlin Hines builds strong, muscular and fluid technique through stretches, drills, across the floor sequences and practice with veil work. In her classes she drills undulation practice, hip work and shimmies, and the uses the veil to guide across the floor-incorporating beautiful wraps, handling, tosses and turns to give students a well-rounded technique in American Cabaret belly dance.