UA offers Folkloric Belly Dancing
Samantha Sigmon
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Life & Style
If people happen to pass by the HPER Studio 216 on a Monday night, they might wonder what is going on.
Egyptian music plays, brightly colored coin belts shake and the instructor uses words like "roll," "shimmy," "drop," and "hip."
If people have never experienced this before, they might think they have stepped into a Bollywood musical rehearsal, but this is actually a class called Folkloric Belly Dancing.
Holly Hannam teaches the dancing class every Monday night. The level one class is from 7 to 8 p.m. and the Level two class is from 8 to 9 p.m.
In her classes, Hannam draws upon diverse dancing styles such as Egyptian Folklore, Classical Egyptian, Egyptian Pop, Tunisian dance, American Cabaret, Tribal Fusion and Spanish and Turkish Fusion, according to her syllabus.
Hannam began teaching the course last semester when she moved from New York to Fayetteville. She came to the UA to obtain a master degree in social work, and contacted the university to see if there was interest in offering a class on Folkloric Belly Dancing. She has been belly dancing for seven years and teaching for five, she said.
"I originally joined because I wanted to dance like Shakira," she said, "but I really began to like it for a lot of different reasons."
At the beginner's level, students learn "to isolate their bodies. It is a very basic build-up to the things learned in level two," Hannam said. Level two also uses props like finger cymbals, canes, swords, baskets, veils, and candles, according to the syllabus.
In her class, she teaches mainly Egyptian and Tunisian style dancing, which is one of the oldest, she said. In America, the styles have come to reflect cabarets or show girls, but in her classes they stay closer to tradition, Hannam said.
This class is for "any woman, any size who is interested in dance," she said. "It is good self-esteem building as well."
At the end of the semester, each class will perform in front of the other and anyone the students invite.
This semester, there are 27 people signed up for level one and 10 signed up for level two.
Some of the students found out about the Folkloric Belly Dancing class from posters in the HPER building, such as Brenda Flack who "took it the first semester and fell in love. [Hannam] is a great teacher."
Egyptian music plays, brightly colored coin belts shake and the instructor uses words like "roll," "shimmy," "drop," and "hip."
If people have never experienced this before, they might think they have stepped into a Bollywood musical rehearsal, but this is actually a class called Folkloric Belly Dancing.
Holly Hannam teaches the dancing class every Monday night. The level one class is from 7 to 8 p.m. and the Level two class is from 8 to 9 p.m.
In her classes, Hannam draws upon diverse dancing styles such as Egyptian Folklore, Classical Egyptian, Egyptian Pop, Tunisian dance, American Cabaret, Tribal Fusion and Spanish and Turkish Fusion, according to her syllabus.
Hannam began teaching the course last semester when she moved from New York to Fayetteville. She came to the UA to obtain a master degree in social work, and contacted the university to see if there was interest in offering a class on Folkloric Belly Dancing. She has been belly dancing for seven years and teaching for five, she said.
"I originally joined because I wanted to dance like Shakira," she said, "but I really began to like it for a lot of different reasons."
At the beginner's level, students learn "to isolate their bodies. It is a very basic build-up to the things learned in level two," Hannam said. Level two also uses props like finger cymbals, canes, swords, baskets, veils, and candles, according to the syllabus.
In her class, she teaches mainly Egyptian and Tunisian style dancing, which is one of the oldest, she said. In America, the styles have come to reflect cabarets or show girls, but in her classes they stay closer to tradition, Hannam said.
This class is for "any woman, any size who is interested in dance," she said. "It is good self-esteem building as well."
At the end of the semester, each class will perform in front of the other and anyone the students invite.
This semester, there are 27 people signed up for level one and 10 signed up for level two.
Some of the students found out about the Folkloric Belly Dancing class from posters in the HPER building, such as Brenda Flack who "took it the first semester and fell in love. [Hannam] is a great teacher."
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