12 Ways to Be an Ally
STAY UP TO DATE ON THE BLACK BELLYDANCE BUNDLE & WORK ON ANTI-RACISM IN YOUR DANCE PRACTICE
The Black History Month we celebrated with amazing Black teachers.
Thank you so much for supporting
Sale Ended!
But you can still grab our free guide!
Have you been wanting to expand your personal dance community to be more culturally diverse while enjoying the best of online instruction?
The first ever Black Bellydance Bundle is at your fingertips.
We are empowering YOU to help make the bellydance community more inclusive, starting with your own education.
This is the world’s first curated collection of online bellydance classes by Black artists, designed to give you unbeatable quality and variety of instruction in your training, and the chance to diversify who you're taking classes from, all at one unbeatable price.
On sale for one week, February 16-25th, but classes will be live happening through June of 2022.
Recordings are available for ALL live events, so even if you can't attend live, you won't miss out.
“
The bundle gives you access to a wide range of talented and diverse teachers. I find working with different teachers and trying different styles and approaches is invigorating to my practice
- Anonymous re: The Raqs Sharqi Bundle
With the Black Bellydance bundle you Get to...
Diversify your teachers
You’ll get to know and learn from excellent Black teachers with unique cultural perspectives and contributions to the bellydance world.
You’ll be contributing to racial equity and representation in our bellydance community
Share the Love
Your participation uplifts Black bellydance professionals, making them more discoverable to all kinds of dancers. This strongly encourages aspiring Black dancers in various bellydance communities, and makes them feel welcome in the dance. This is a win for all of us!
Stop Searching
It can be hard to break out of your bubble and find new teachers to dance with, especially in a world shaped by racism and other cultural factors.
Breaking out of the white box can be tough, let us help you take the first step.
Save some cash
Look, classes are expensive. And classes with world class teachers? You're gonna have to pay for those. With the Black Bellydance Bundle, not only do you get to take classes from amazing Black dancers, but you get to do so at a great price!
Why now?
Isn't it time?
Everyone teaches differently. Lots of us get stuck taking from the same 2 teachers, or if we take from multiple teachers they tend to have the same backgrounds.
Taking from multiple dancers, from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and races is something that pushes your dance to the next level.
It's not the same thing from different people. It's a different life experience, a different cultural lens, a different perspective.
Everyone brings their own perspective to this dance, sure, but seeking out people who's life experiences differ from your own can only expand your learning.
Instagram and Facebook are fickle, and the algorithm only shows you the people who are like the people you already follow.
And unless you've consciously diversified your feed? You're probably missing a whole group of amazing dancers.
As a result of the algorithms, unconscious bias, and our tendency to stick with what's familiar to us, many Black dancers have to rely on word of mouth to be "discovered".
With the increased focus on being anti-racist in all portions of your life, you've been seeking to learn more from the Black community and to create opportunities for others to learn as well. Who can you invite to your haflas? To teach a guest workshop? Take classes from?
With this Bundle you're gaining fresh perspectives, you're celebrating Blackness in our Bellydance community, and you're doing it all for a hell of a discount.
Learn from amazing Black teachers, diversify your Instagram feed, and who you're taking classes from. All while saving yourself a ton of money and supporting Black dancers.
Isn't it time?
In my personal practice I would just practice the same things, there wasn’t much variety. I felt like I was going through the motions, but not challenging myself enough. With the bundle I’ve been able to add variety to my personal dance practice and I can do it on my schedule. I love studying with different teachers about different topics.
- Amanda
Our sale is over
But you can still follow our instructors!
14 Amazing Black Bellydance Teachers
Giving you fresh new perspectives to improve your dance
Ebony Qualls
Ebony's playful spirit flavors both her performances and her approach to teaching belly dance since 2003. She teaches and performs both traditional Raqs Sharqi and her own dynamic fusion belly dance style, which is fueled by her background in both oriental and urban dance genres.
Lotus Niraja
Widely recognized for her dance style, dramatic energy, and vibrant interpretation and technique, Lotus Niraja is a professional Middle Eastern dance artists specializing in Contemporary and Modern Egyptian, North African, and Lebanese belly dance styles. Her dance style is dynamic, infused with glamour and style!
Aicha Babacar
The Senegalian Egyptian Aicha Babacar was led by her talent to start her career in teaching belly dancing classes. She has achieved a professional reputation through working among the famous gyms in Egypt & throughout the 15 years in this field, she has accomplished a lot & built up a great base of fans & members whom she considers friends.
Amar Garcia
Born in Havana, Cuba, she began her Raks Sharqi & other MENAHT dance studies at the age of 13 in Florida. She has been a member & principal dancer for various Afro-Cuban, Contemporary, & Middle Eastern Dance Companies plus she is co-founder of Bellyqueen Dance Theater & was a principal dancer with Bellydance Superstars.
Danielle Hutton
Danielle started dancing at the age of 17 but it wasn't until 2005 when she started fusing belly dance movement with contemporary & hip-hop dances & choreographed pieces to electronic music. She sees dance not only as an opportunity to be vulnerable with ourselves & the world, but also as an opportunity to create intention.
Donna Mejia
Donna Mejia, M.F.A, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre and Dance at CU Boulder, is a choreographer, scholar, JEDAI and pedagogy consultant, instructor, life-long student, & performer specializing in traditions of the African & Arab Diaspora, & emerging fusion traditions in Transcultural Electronica.
Sadira - Lady Liquid
Sadira is the Producer of the epic Black Bellydance Show “Afrodisiac”! They are a DanceCraft certified dance instructor, a yoga teacher in multiple modalities, a Thai Massuse, & a fire performer. They are also a core member of Zoe Jakes' dance company Coven, House of Tarot, & the Beats Antique!
Chudney
Chudney is known for her grace, fluid Egyptian technique, and an effortless embodiment of her musical interpretation. She is a Virginia native who is a performer, instructor, dance coach, event producer, and is also the proud director of Raks Royale belly dance troupe.
Lara Adrienne
Lara is an international belly dancer & yoga teacher. She performed nightly in Turkey for many years, & recently moved to L.A. where she continues to perform. Lara is a dedicated yoga practitioner & has 300+ hours of yoga teacher training. She enjoys helping others explore their bodies’ capabilities through movement.
Nefertiti
Nefertiti also know as Dr. Val is an international bellydancer, Jewels of the Orient bellydance festival organizer , author & clinical sexologist with over 35yrs of experience. Nefertiti lived & performed in Egypt for many years & has performed around the world in her unique dance style.
Omoladun
A trained musician from a young age, Omoladun brings vibrant musical expression to her dance. Omoladun performs raqs sharki, folkloric dances from the MENA region, & sometimes dabbles in fusion. She is currently based in Denver, Colorado & teaches online classes with Sahara Dance in Washington, DC & Raqs Online.
Raqs Razi
Raqs Razi is an international instructor & performer specializing in American Cabaret and Modern Egyptian dance. She has been a student of MENAT dances since 2001 & professionally performing since 2008. She started teaching in 2014 and is notorious for her musicality & energy.
Iona
Iona originally started belly dance in 2002 to surprise her husband, but later found it to be so much more! She is the owner of Lotus Belly Dance & director of the Amani Lotus Student Troupe and is also a certified Datura Style Teacher (fusion belly dance).
Khadijah
Khadijah is a diverse international performer/instructor & Educator of Afro-Arabic dances of North Africa, Gulf Folklore & Central Asian dances. She has become a highly sought after performer, instructor & choreographer due to her unique energetic style. She currently resides in Denver, CO USA she is of Kenyan heritage originally born in Jeddah, KSA.
Ebony Qualls
Lotus Niraja
Aicha Babacar
Amar Garcia
Khadijah
Donna Mejia
Sadira - Lady Liquid
Chudney
Danielle Hutton
Nefertiti
Omoladun
Raqs Razi
Lara Adrienne
Iona
We created this project...
Hello friends, I’m Ebony. I feel extremely fortunate that when I first discovered and began to study raqs sharqi - I was welcomed into an existing diverse, supportive and encouraging bellydance community here in Washington, DC. While my teachers and dance peers demonstrated inclusivity and warmth, I didn’t realize that there was something more that would soon further inspire me to express my authentic self in this artform. I saw a beautiful and extremely talented bellydancer named Lotus Niraja perform live, and it set me on fire. Seeing a Black woman demonstrate such unapologetic excellence in her artistry sparked an increased feeling of belonging in the bellydance world for me. It made me feel like I could be MORE myself in this dance. And, I know I’m not alone. My Black bellydance peers and I love relating on this very shared experience. The experience of seeing that first Black dancer that shows you what’s possible for you. And since then, I have had many aspiring Black bellydancers relate that I was that spark for them.
My intention is to create a space where more of these “sparks” occur. To highlight Black excellence and professionalism in bellydance so that aspiring dancers of all kinds can be inspired and benefit. To give an avenue to our non Black allies who want to uplift Black bellydancers - both beginners and pros - and show them that they’re welcome in our community.
With this intention, I approached Tiffany, the creator of the original Bellydance Bundle. I have been working with Tiffany as a contributor to her bundle for 2 years and have been more than impressed with her business sense and her demonstrated allyship towards Black dancers. She was all in!
So, together, we present to you the first ever Black Bellydance Bundle. We hope you are as excited as we are!
Using the platform of the existing Bellydance Bundle made sense, and we cannot wait to get dancing with all of the amazing instructors featured in the 2022 Black Bellydance Bundle!
What happens next?
Supporting the Community
With every Bundle, we make a point to support the community & causes that we rally behind.
There are award seats available and each year we donate a portion of our profits back to the community, either through organizations or directly to dancers in need.
This project is no different. We will be having open applications for Black dancers in need and will be providing a % of profits directly back to the Black bellydance community.
From paying studio rent to helping dancers afford classes & costuming, we're more than happy to help financially where it is needed.
Money will be disbursed two months after the end of the Bundle, with an open application process. Stay tuned to The Bellydance Bundle's social media & email list to be notified when these applications open.
FAQs
I missed the sale! IS it going to happen again?
We hope so! Make sure to get on our mailing list and get our free guide on 12 Ways To Be a Great Ally to keep up to date on future sales. Each October The Bellydance Bundle runs a Raqs Sharqi Bundle that you may be interested in, and hopefully this project becomes a regular thing, but we've gotta get through this one first!
Click there to join so you don't miss any future sales!
Have a question?
Tell us why or ask whatever question you've got! and we'll help however we can! Some common answers though in case you were wondering...
Copyright 2023 The Bellydance Bundle, All rights reserved.