Thank you to everyone who came to the Art in Motion Hafla at KC’s Babycakes last Friday!  We had a fantastic event and managed to raise $302 for the St Tammany Outreach for the Prevention of Suicide.  Pictures will be going up on the studio’s Facebook [...]]]> Welcome to the August news for All Points Belly Dance!

Thank you to everyone who came to the Art in Motion Hafla at KC’s Babycakes last Friday!  We had a fantastic event and managed to raise $302 for the St Tammany Outreach for the Prevention of Suicide.  Pictures will be going up on the studio’s Facebook fan page very soon, so keep an eye out for them!   I’ll let everyone know as soon as videos of the performance are available as well.

Here’s the studio news of the moment:

Registration now open for the Fall Session!

Registration for the upcoming session opened today!  Remember that class sizes are limited so don’t wait to reserve your space!  We also have a new way to register now: Online!  Visit http://fallatallpoints.eventbrite.com to register for your classes.  (You can, of course, still register in the same old fashioned ways as well.)

Changes to the Class Schedule

There are a few changes to the schedule for the upcoming Fall Session:

Tuesday 6:00 – 7:00 pm:                     Deep Stretch

Tuesday 7:00 – 8:00 pm:                     Introduction to Belly Dance

Tuesday 8:00 – 9:00 pm:                     Technique

Wednesday 10:00 – 11:00 am:           Bikini Belly

Wednesday 11:00 am – Noon:           Introduction to Belly Dance

Wednesday 6:00 – 7:00 pm:               Introduction to Belly Dance

Wednesday 7:00 – 8:00 pm:               Bikini Belly

Wednesday 8:00 – 9:00 pm:               Deep Stretch

Thursday 6:00 – 7:00 pm:                   Fundamentals of Belly Dance *

Thursday 7:00 – 9:00 pm:                   Minowara Belly Dance Ensemble**

*Pre-requisite: Permission of Instructor

** If you are interested in auditioning, let Safira know!

Updates to Tuition & Fees

With the changing class schedule there have been some minor changes to tuition and fees for the Fall Session.  Here are the current tuition and fees for the upcoming 8 week session:

1 class per week:  $90 per session

2 classes per week:  $162 per session

3 classes per week: $243 per session

4 classes per week: $300 per session

Minowara Belly Dance Ensemble Dues: $35 per session

Unlimited classes:  $550 per session

Private Lessons

Private lessons are a great way for dancers of all skill levels to work on your individual dance goals in a more personalized setting.  Great for weekly lessons or occasional tutoring, flexible scheduling options are available.  Private lessons may be held at the All Points Studio in Old Mandeville or in your home.  Private lessons with Safira are available for $35 an hour or you can purchase packages for discounted prices.  Visit www.allpointsbellydance.com for more information or email info@allpointsbellydance.com.

The Bellyvangelist Club!

With the coming of the new session, don’t forget that you can earn tuition breaks by referring people to the studio!  If you refer someone who signs up for a session, you earn a $10 discount on your tuition; convince a bunch of people to sign up and earn FREE tuition.  Here’s how it works:

Sign up 5 new students, get 1 class per week free.

Sign up 8 new students, get 2 classes per week free.

Sign up 10 new students, get 3 classes per week free.

Sign up 15 new students, you can attend unlimited classes at no cost to yourself!

Referral cards are available at the studio that you can hand out to people.  The cards have a coupon on them good for $10 off tuition for a first time student, giving them an incentive to bring them back in.  Make sure you write your name on them before you hand them out, so we’ll know who the referral came from when they turn the card in!

Workshop: Rhythms with the Green Man

Steven Rossi, better known as the Green Man, will be joining us this month to teach us about middle eastern percussion and rhythms!  Even if you don’t’ consider yourself a musician, don’t miss this great workshop…the more you understand the music, the better a dancer you will be!  Cost to attend is $15 or bring something to contribute to the pot luck.  Contact Safira in advance at info@allpointsbellydance.com to let her know what you are bringing so that we don’t have duplicate dishes!

Upcoming Public Performances

We’ve got some public performances coming up soon.  We’d love to see you there!

National Night Out Against Crime

Tuesday, August 3^rd

6 – 9 pm

Mandeville Trailhead on Girod St in Old Mandeville

Members of Minowara will be performing and Safira will be doing some fire dancing as well!  Then come check out our table for all the latest deals and to get your face painted and visit with some of the characters from X-treme Talent Mandeville who will be there with us!

Final Fridays

Friday, August 27^th

6 – 9 pm

St Tammany Art Association on N Columbia Street in Downtown Covington

Minowara and Safira will be joining the dancers from Pandorium Belly Dance to entertain during the Final Fridays event at the St Tammany Art Association.  We always have a blast at Final Fridays…come join us for some family friendly fun!

Special Offer for August: BellyGrams for $100!

Like a singing telegram, a Bellygram is a mini show that is usually a surprise for the guest of honor and is sure to liven up any party! Our family friendly Bellygrams are suitable for birthdays, retirement parties, baby showers, or bridal showers. Bellygrams are often performed at offices and other public venues.  A Bellygram is a great way of delivering a gift or a special message: our dancers can even balance a cake on their heads!  If you book your BellyGram during the month of August, you’ll receive the special price of $100!  And keep in mind that the booking doesn’t have to happen in August…you just have to reserve it this month!  For more information or to book your BellyGram, email info@allpointsbellydance.com

All Points on Facebook

If you aren’t already a fan of the studio on facebook, pop on over and hit the “like” button: www.facebook.com/allpointsbellydance.  Information and reminders are shared on the fan page daily as well as other tidbits of information and fun/silly things.

See you all in class very soon!

Happy Shimmies!

~ Safira

KC’s Babycakes, located across from Rouses on Highway 22 in Mandeville, is Mandeville’s only gourmet cupcake bakery.  They make their cupcakes from scratch daily [...]]]> Due to circumstances beyond control, we’ve had to move the Art in Motion Hafla & Fundraiser to a new location….but we got a pretty sweet deal: KC’s Babycakes is our new host!

KC’s Babycakes, located across from Rouses on Highway 22 in Mandeville, is Mandeville’s only gourmet cupcake bakery.  They make their cupcakes from scratch daily and use local ingredients whenever possible ensuring that all the ingredients are as fresh as possible.  They are also known for their amazing vegan, allergy friendly, and diabetic friendly cupcakes…you haven’t lived until you’ve tried one of KC’s amazingly delicious vegan margarita cupcakes!  Yum!

Jacquie and I have been working on the line-up for performances for the Friday night and we’ve very excited about the show!  There are so many fantastic dancers that are going to part of this great event…I can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve all been working on!

So remember:

Friday night (July 30th)
7 to 9 pm
KC’s Babycakes
322 Dalwill Drive
Mandeville, LA 70471

See you all there!

Happy Shimmies!
~ Safira

Located at the St Tammany Art Association in Old Town Covington, [...]]]> After a disappointing rain out last month, the St Tammany Arts Association has graciously opened its doors to us to use their space…their covered and indoor space! So there will be no rain on our parade this time! Ha!

Located at the St Tammany Art Association in Old Town Covington, the Art in Motion Hafla promises to be a real treat for all ages!

Tickets are $10 per guest and half of all proceeds will be donated to S.T.O.P.S. …(St Tammany Outreach for the Prevention of Suicide) in honor of Matthew Rhinehart, the younger brother of Safira of All Points Belly Dance who left us in October 2009.

Formed in 2001, S.T.O.P.S. is a completely volunteer-run organization whose mission is to reduce the incidence of suicide and its devastating aftermath in our community. By fostering prevention, intervention, and post-vention resources, S.T.O.P.S. seeks to create a community safety net for individuals and families in crisis. Their volunteers, many of whom are survivors of suicide themselves, go to the scene of every suicide in St Tammany Parish to provide immediate hands-on assistance to survivors of suicide and provide comfort, share their experience and knowledge, and otherwise assist in any way appropriate. S.T.O.P.S. Volunteers also run Survivors of Suicide (S.O.S.) Support groups in various locations around the Parish. S.T.O.P.S. also provides suicide awareness and prevention programs, helps to coordinate individual and family counseling at no cost to the beneficiaries, and much, much more. This amazing non-profit organization is run entirely by unpaid volunteers and funded completely through grants and donations. For more information about S.T.O.P.S., please visit their website at http://www.stops-la.org/.

Performances for the evening will be in many different styles of belly dance to include tribal fusion, american cabaret, folkloric, and more. Merchants will be on hand with some beautiful costumes, accessories, and other things related to dance for sale. We will also be hosting a Belly Dance Swap Meet where dancers from all over the area can sell or trade their gently used costuming with each other. Kinetic art from Objector Snark will be on display for your enjoyment.

Performers include:

Jacquie of Pandorium Belly Dance

Safira of All Points Belly Dance

Philomusia Concern

Pandorium Belly Dance Company

Minowara Belly Dance Ensemble

And more!

Advance tickets can be purchased at http://artinmotion2010.eventbrite.com/ or through All Points Belly Dance or Pandorium Belly Dance. Even if you can’t attend, please consider purchasing a ticket to help us support S.T.O.P.S.

For more information or to get involved as a volunteer please email info@allpointsbellydance.com

Some students had lamented to me that they would be unable to attend the upcoming July 17th workshops due to previous commitments and performances that same evening.   We’re all still waiting for technology to catch up so that we can be in two places at once!

So in light of the time conflicts (and [...]]]> Greetings!

Some students had lamented to me that they would be unable to attend the upcoming July 17th workshops due to previous commitments and performances that same evening.   We’re all still waiting for technology to catch up so that we can be in two places at once!

So in light of the time conflicts (and because I want to go see Pandorium Belly Dance perform in Covington that night!) I decided to change the times of the workshops.  Introduction to Floorwork will now be held from 10 am until 12 pm.  We’ll break for lunch for an hour and then come back for Light it Up! from 1 pm to 3 pm.

Spaces are still available in both workshops, so sign up today!  You can register by sending an email to info@allpointsbellydance.com or visiting http://summeratallpoints.eventbrite.com/.

So remember…same day, different times!  See you all there!

Happy Shimmies!
~ Safira

We still have a few spaces left for the End of Summer mini session.  We’ve got Deep Stretch and the Mother/Daughter class on Tuesday nights, Balanced Props and Bikini Belly on Wednesdays, and then Thursday evenings bring us Intro to Floorwork.  For anyone looking for a great upper body [...]]]> Happy Friday everyone!

We still have a few spaces left for the End of Summer mini session.  We’ve got Deep Stretch and the Mother/Daughter class on Tuesday nights, Balanced Props and Bikini Belly on Wednesdays, and then Thursday evenings bring us Intro to Floorwork.  For anyone looking for a great upper body and core workout, I suggest checking out the floorwork class!  The conditioning is killer!  Ask any member of our student troupe Minowara and they can vouch!

We’ve also got two workshops coming up on Saturday July 17th!

For anyone who would like to try floorwork but can’t make it for the week night class, we’ll have an Intro to Floorwork Workshop from 2 to 4 pm on Saturday July 17th.  This workshop won’t delve quite as deeply as the mini-session class, but will cover warm ups and conditioning exercises; how to descend to the floor with fluidity and grace; seated movements, back layouts, side layouts, traveling, and more; how to ascend back to standing with poise; and advice on how to deal with snafus.  Bring knee pads and/or a yoga mat to work on…I highly recommend knee pads!  Dancers with knee or back issues should not attempt this class without first discussing it with me.  Class size is limited and advance registration is required.  $25 to attend.

Many of you have expressed an interest in learning fire dance recently so I’ve added a fire workshop!  From 4:30 to 6:30 the same day, I’ll be hosting “Light it Up!”, the first in a series of workshops on fire dancing.  This first part of this workshop will cover the most important topic of fire dance safety and students completing the workshop will receive a certificate of completion for fire safety procedures.  Then we’ll delve into our first fire prop: hand candles.  This is the first in a planned series of fire workshops and the safety portion will be a pre-requisite for attending all future fire classes at All Points.  Students will need to bring tea light holders  that they find comfortable to hold in their palms and an adventurous spirit!  $25 to attend.

Individually the workshops are $25 to sign up, but if you would like to do both you can purchase a workshop pass for $40.

Reserve your spaces in any of the classes or workshops at www.summeratallpoints.eventbrite.com or by emailing me at info@allpointsbellydance.com.

Feel free to buzz me with any questions!
I look forward to seeing you all in class!

Happy Shimmies!
~ Safira

With our current class session ending in the 2nd week of July and the craziness of the back to school rush [...]]]> The end of the summer is upon us and everyone is squeezing in those last minute vacations and trying to get ready for the back to school rush. Can you believe its almost over?!

With our current class session ending in the 2nd week of July and the craziness of the back to school rush being so close, it just didn’t make sense to start the new class session now. My little man starts kindergarten this year, so I know that I’m going to be very busy the first 2 weeks of August!  So I made the decision to push back the start of the regular Fall class session until the week of August 16th, thus allowing all of us to get a bit settled into our regular routines again….Dance class should never be a stressful thing!

But then a lot of you expressed your dismay at the thought of not having dance class for a WHOLE month…we definitely can’t have that!  So, after talking with many of you over the last month, I’ve created the “End of Summer Session”!

The End of Summer Session is a mini-session…4 weeks rather than our normal 8. And instead of our regular dance classes, we’ll be having classes and workshops on special topics like floorwork, balanced props, and even an introduction to fire safety! I’ve also added a Mother/Daughter Introduction to Belly Dance mini-session…its a great way to have one last blast with your mom or daughter before the craziness of Fall starts up.   No dance experience is required for this class!

For my students addicted to Bikini Belly and Deep Stretch, have no fear: both classes will remain in their regular time slots for this mini-session!  But there will be one major change for Deep Stretch…its now a One Hour Class!  And I’ve decided to hold over the special introductory price for this session, so if you want to try the class out, now is the time!

One thing that I wanted to make sure that everyone noted: there are two different options for Introduction to Floorwork!  There is a 4 week mini-session being held on weeknights, but there is also a 2 hour workshop being held on Saturday, July 17th.  I had originally intended just to host the mini-session, but had some dancers who couldn’t make the weeknight classes ask for a weekend option as well.  So a workshop on the same topic was added to the schedule.  The major difference between the two is that the mini-session will delve much deeper into the topic since we’ll have double the time.

All students attending either the Introduction to Floorwork class or workshop should bring either kneepads or a yoga mat.  I highly recommend kneepads, especially since our studio floors are such hard wood.  I use inexpensive volleyball kneepads that I purchased for around $10 (I think…could be off on the price!) at Wal-Mart.  If you have any questions about it, please let me know and I’ll be happy to help!

Also, please be aware that floorwork can be VERY intensive.  If you have knee, hip, ankle, thigh, or shoulder issues please talk to me BEFORE signing up.  And be prepared for a serious workout for your core, legs, and arms!

As always, all classes and workshops have limited space and require advance registration…so don’t wait to claim your spot!   The class schedule, descriptions, and prices can be viewed here:

http://summeratallpoints.eventbrite.com

You can also visit our online calendar for the class and workshop schedule, as well as a listing of all our other upcoming events:

All Points Calendar

To register for classes or workshops using a credit card, just simply visit the eventbrite link above.  If you wish to pay via check or cash, send an email to info@allpointsbellydance.com letting me know which classes you’d like to register for and to make arrangements for payment.

Information about the regular Fall Session starting the week of August 16th will be available in the next few weeks, so keep an eye for that as well.  The class schedule will have a few exciting new additions to it and I’ll also be announcing some costuming/sewing workshops coming up over the next few months, so lots to look forward to!  If you have a suggestion or request for a class or workshop, please let me know!

I’ll also be announcing auditions for Minowara Belly Dance Company soon.  Minowara is our student performance troupe who perform at local events, haflas, etc.  To be eligible to audition, you must be a current student at All Points Belly Dance and have completed at least one 8 week session.  More information on Minowara, troupe requirements, and the auditions will be coming very soon!

I’m looking forward to seeing you all for our first End of Summer Session!

Happy Shimmies!

~ Safira

We’ll be performing 3 different sets between 10 am and 1 pm this Saturday, June 26th. Performances in many different styles of belly dance to include american cabaret, tribal fusion, and folkloric. There [...]]]> Join All Points Belly Dance and Pandorium Belly Dance as we shimmy at the Mandeville Trailhead Market!

We’ll be performing 3 different sets between 10 am and 1 pm this Saturday, June 26th. Performances in many different styles of belly dance to include american cabaret, tribal fusion, and folkloric. There will also be information available on upcoming workshops, classes, events, and more in our area.

Make sure to leave yourself some time to wander around the market too…there is a fabulous variety of art and other odds and ends, as well as lots of great options for food, drink, cookies, candies, preserves and more! (I highly recommend the greek food vendor!)

Performances by:
Safira
Minowara Belly Dance Ensemble
Pandorium Belly Dance Company
Jacquie
and more!

Its Jacquie’s first performance back since her knee injury….come help us celebrate her good health!

Any questions, buzz us at info@allpointsbellydance.com