INTENSIVE DESCRIPTION

Fusion Belly dance tune up!
A full day filled with dance drills and conditioning to support Fusion dancers at any level. We start with a dance conditioning series to build necessary muscles, and then add lots of exercises for building isolation technique. Next up is flow drills, where we work on sharp and punchy isolations as well as gooey fluid movements, and then layering. After this 6 hour class dancers will feel more connected to their technique and fluidity

Includes Lunch

zoe jakes

BIO

Brazilian with Italian roots and an Arabic heart, Esmeralda dances since the age of 4. Soloist, teacher, choreographer, competition
judge, writer, producer, polyglot, mother, Esmeralda is one of the biggest names in the world of Belly Dance today, having visited,
taught and danced in 37 countries so far.
Esmeralda was the youngest Brazilian dancer to be accepted at La Maison de L’Artiste from Lebanon - ME’s biggest entertainment/
artist agency (1980 - 2015) responsible for providing 80% of the dancers and musicians for the best hotels in the Middle East, Gulf
and North Africa. Together with the agency, from 2002 to 2014, Esmeralda built one fo the biggest Brazilian careers, having on elf
the longest contracts in Tunisia and being the first dancer to tour in the Mahgreb (Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia).
In 2024, Esmeralda celebrates her 25 years in the BD scene.

BIO

Zoe Jakes has been belly dancing for 20 years, and brings playfulness and ease into the classroom that makes training fun! She desires to create an inclusive environment so all humans can enjoy the art of Bellydance, and hopes that everyone can experience the grace and fluidity that comes with training in this form. Zoe’s signature style of dance incorporates pop and lock isolations, elements of classical Indian dance, jazz footwork, and modern lines, with lots of folk Bellydance inspiration. Zoe Jakes is a founding member of Beats Antique and composes music for them as well as dances. She is known around the world for her unique stylistic take on belly dance, and is also an accomplished teacher, sharing her knowledge with the next generation.A versatile and extremely well-rounded performer, Zoe Jakes has developed an instruction style all her own and is a popular touring instructor, her workshops regularly selling out. Katarina Burda (an original member of Bal-Anat) is her first teacher and influence, and Zoe was a company member of Katarina's troop Aywah! alongwith the talented Mira Betz and Elizabeth Strong. She went on to train and perform with the amazing Suhaila Salimpour, spent a few years learning how toget in people’s faces in Extra Action Marching Band, and immersed in Americana Vaudeville with The Yard Dogs Road Show. A proud member of The Indigo Belly Dance Company, Zoe holds Mardi Love and Rachel Brice as her teachers and inspiration. Currently, Zoe Jakes is touring with her band Beats Antique, a group that has 6 albums and hundreds of live shows under their belt. Zoe designs and makes many of her own costumes and co-produces tracks with Beats Antique, also adding set designer and stylist to her body of work.

Zoe Jakes has the desire and opportunity to bring belly dance to the masses, having performed at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo in front of thousands of people who don't know belly dance from an elephant. It is her
passion that Belly Dance can get wider recognition and respect, and her classes reflect that with a focus on strong technique and long-term motivation.Zoe has classes at her home studio, Coven, in Oakland, travels all over the USto teach and perform, and has many classes on www.DaturaOnline.com. In 2015 Zoe launched her own tribal fusion belly dance format, DanceCraft™.The purpose of this accredited dance program is to provide a structure inwhich dancers can progress towards an achievable goal and provide anopportunity to build a dancer's skills intelligently and clearly. This formatapplies strong technical training as a framework for artistry and creativeexpression. DanceCraft focuses on dance technique, strength and flexibility, musicality,choreography, improvisation, critical thinking, stamina, analysis, teamwork,belly dance history, teaching, and creating original work.

ART OF THE BELLY

Meet Our Intensive Instructors

ESMERALDA COLABONE

About our themes:

Webdesign & Graphics by Mickey Gibson

Every year we have "Legendary" themed after parties where we have signature drinks and strongly encourage costume participation. There is always a costume contest and this year our theme is WILL BE ANNOUNCED LATER .

INTENSIVE

Expression in Arabic Dance: In this workshop, we’re gonna study body language, the Triangle theory and its Raqs Sharqi repertoire in order to get to 3 distinct ways of expressing in AD. After that, I have 4 combinations to practice and experiment! -

Taqsim Experience: Meet our guides and main stars: Flute, qanoun, violin and accordion. We’re gonna dive into its history, level of intensity, level of importance in music/arabic history, intention and how close each one is to our body. Get ready to dance on guided combinations and for your own improvisation piece! -

Rhythmology & Interpretation: let’s dive into the most essential rhythms in Arabic Music by to ways: “tempo”/ timing and structure so we can understand musical interpretation and even more, self interpretation by choosing the right repertoire for your dance!

This class may run over 6 hours but does include Lunch