Current
Retreats
January 25th - 30th 2011
Special Guest Ruby and Host Delilah
Delilahs Egypt Tour
Spring 2011
Seattle Apprentice Details
Our Top Picks!
Links
we find valuable
Past Retreats
Jan
24-31, 2010 Hawaii Retreat
Neighborhood Temple Priestess
Hawaii Belly Dance Retreat
Delilah with live music and drumming by Erik Brown. (DATES UPDATED!!)
April
2-9, 2010 Hawaii Retreat
Tribal, Hula, and Fusion
Hawaii Belly Dance
Delilah with Special Guests Amy Sigil of UNMATA,
and Dahlia Moon of Seattle.
2008 Delilah’s
Hawaii Belly Dance Retreat featuring Delilah &
Company
Retreat
Details
Class
Itinerary
2008
Belly Dance
Scrapbook & Stories
2003 Delilah’s Hawaii
Belly Dance Retreat Retreat
Details
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Seattle VDP Apprentice Retreat Introduction
Dear Dancers, Instructors and Drummers,
We at Visionary Dance have been offering private retreats for dancers here in Seattle Washington. Many people call them Apprentice programs. These stays in Seattle have been beneficial to the participants as well as to the teachers and the greater community to which we serve. The funds go far in support our studio and its artists.
We discuss your dance needs and intentions and then create a customized class package involving many styles ; American Belly Dance, Modern Egyptian, Folkloric, Rhythm classes for drum and finger cymbals, live drum solos, performance, costume construction, cultural research past and present. You also enjoy personal practice time in the studio with mirrors sound and lights. You can also study drumming with Erik Brown along with dance.
The idea is to provide an extended refuge for students to pursue the art. The retreat can be just a couple days long, but the unique benefit to this experience is that you can stay for weeks or months and fine tune your study. Individuals can stay at Delilah and Erik’s big house across the street from the studio and get totally engrossed in the belly dance world! She has a fascinating library and the band is often rehearsing at her house which has two guest rooms.
There is no need for a car, as there is a good bus line on the street. We are located 4 min from downtown Seattle. We will even pick you up from the airport.
Or you can always rent a car and stay somewhere else if you prefer to make your own arrangements.
These times spent nurturing fellow dancers have been richly rewarding for the entire staff and other students. We prefer you book at least 21 days, so that we are seeing realistic development while you are here. We can do shorter and longer of course.
A Dance Adventure
Students can be any age and any ability. This is meant to be a meaningful personal growth experience.
We love having guests, and hope to see you soon!
Delilah
Reasons
• Improve your belly dance skill sets.
• Learn Middle Eastern rhythms, dumbek or ney.
• Get experience dancing a live drum solo.
• Explore your inner belly dancer.
• High School or College Project fulfillment.
• Develop yourself as a instructor w/ Delilah’s Visionary Dance skill set.
• Become a “Power Belly” Instructor, with discounts on weight belts.
• Study with Delilah and the “Neighborhood Temple Priestess” dance group and learn how to be a creative resource in your own community.
• Get-a-way to immerse yourself in dance, sharpen skills and explore your dance as a form of personal growth and healing.
• Increase repertoire in Folkloric styles with Dahlia.
• Write about the dance in some capacity. Seattle has a rich mother load of belly dance with action going on all the time with very famous artists.
• Your personal collection of reasons.
Location:
Visionary Dance Productions
4128 Fremont Ave North, Seattle Wa 98103
206 632-2353
VDP Studio has been open since 2004. It’s a busy place full of dance music and creativity. It hosts an array of Seattle based award winning belly dance instructors, classes, performance artists and musicians. Nightly classes, on line classes and special workshops with out-of-town dance artists are common, along with monthly performances.
Delilah
In 2010, Delilah was honored as being one of the pioneers in belly dance in America at the annual International Conference of Belly Dance (IBCC), held in Toronto. She earned this title because of her years of teaching women to belly dance from a deep seated place of feminine power, liberation and expression. Many of the most successful belly dancers today started with Delilah’s Belly Dance Workshop, original series; Volumes I, II, III. Her leading instructional video series was the first to go international; her deeply passionate and soul inspiring dance reaching dancers all over the world. In Seattle, Delilah performs with House of Tarab (6 piece Middle Eastern Ensemble), teaches daily and nightly classes at VDP Studio, records the on line Power Belly Show with Erik Brown and the gang, runs a dance studio, writes, creates new projects and is leading a tour to Egypt in 2011.
More about Delilah http://visionarydance.com/delilah/delilah-bio/
Dahlia
This young woman is one of the highest caliber performers and master instructors. She was classically trained in music and ballet as a child and then discovered belly dance. She has won many awards one of which was Belly Dancer of the Universe, 2008. Her forte is Modern Egyptian and folkloric, of which she is very integral in her line and design. Then she departs in an array of fusion styles and creative license. She is a jewel to have on board at Visionary Dance. She appears from time to time on the Power Belly Show as well as performing with House of Tarab.
Laura Rose
The apple never falls far from the tree. Laura Rose has that special something her mother has that if they could bottle it, they would be rich. She is a skilled traditional American Classic belly dancer that also likes to dance to modern music. However, depending on which day of the week it is, Laura Rose, also known as Seattle’s Wild Child, Evilyn Sin Claire; where she brings a another dimension to light as she is a performance artist, actress and neo burlesque circus performer. Do no forget amazing costume designer. She has a large and growing Seattle night life fan base.
Growing up as Delilah’s daughter on one side; her daddy was a rock’n roller who played with Chuck Berry on many occasions. Laura Rose went on retreats and tours with Uncle Mafufo and Sulyman El Coyote as Sirocco, Jeremiah Sotto of Solace, all the members of House of Tarab and has performed locally with Brothers of the Baladi and Ala Nar from Oregon.
Bella Jovan
She is our most prized accomplishment next to Nicole (but Nicole is away studying in Egypt at the moment). Bella is very hot with a sparkling in luscious personality. She loves dance. Her style is spicy. She has been teaching power belly at VDP on Sundays and is a member of the fantastic belly dance troupe called the Fluers de Egypte Dance Co. She has been teaching teens this past year and is eager for their debut.
Christine Hamby
Christine has been diligently studying belly dance from Tribal, and American Classical perspectives for over 10 years with Zanbaka, Delilah and more. She is a current intern student with Lorraine Lafata of Boston working with belly dance as healing dance. She is a regular dancer in many of the Visionary Dance projects such as Summer and Winter Solstice events and the Spring Garden of Allah Show. Christine is also a leading component in the NTP Dance Cooperative and specializes in Labyrinth Dances.
Erik Brown
Musician and percussionist, Erik originally played bass with heavy metal bands in the 90’s. He has dedicated his time to playing middle eastern percussion for the past 7 years. He is a great drum instructor for anyone wanting to learn the Middle Eastern Arabic hand drum; called the dumbek; from a solid foundation that will allow them to progress their technique for many years to come. Nothing worse than learning the wrong way and finding yourself with no way out, but to retrain your hands. Erik believes in learning it right the first time (he knows from experience).
Delilah and Erik work together teaching drum solo work to dancers. It’s an advantage to have a seasoned dancer demonstrate and lead you through drills and get the feed back from the drummer at the same time! Excellent!
David McGrath
David was called to play the ney with heart and soul. So lovely is his feel for this instrument. He is glad to share with those desirous of a beginning approach to this light weight little instrument. You can carry it with you everywhere you go so practice is easy and relaxing. Originally this instrument was made of reed, but a practice ney can be made out of PVC for a few cents. The sound of the ney is beautiful and it is a breathing meditation at the same time. David is seriously dedicated to learning the classical Egyptian concert songs as well as dance melodies. He also plays zorna.
House of Tarab
Is a Middle Eastern band made up of 6 players; oud, violin, riq, ney, zorna, drums, . They practice weekly and are available for parties, weddings, concerts, belly dance shows, sound recordings, and video work.
Seattle Community
VDP Studio is supportive of all belly dance around town. They work harmoniously with all performers in support of the same goal; educating and enlightening folks to the joy of the art of belly dance and its many expressions.
Other dancers we work closely with are Mellelah, Tayissa Blue, Elisa Gamal, and more,
There are major studios in the area we are glad to connect you with.
We draw from our staff of dancers and musicians to give the intern a rich experience of cultured belly dance. We create a program that is unique to your needs and desires and fits in with what is going on in the studio. We have an amazing live band and hand drummers.
Seattle is rich in belly dance talent and we can bring in other instructors and styles of belly dance to our studio to fit your dance study needs.
Accommodations Photos Click Here
The Apprentice includes private room and partial board in Delilah’s 3 story craftsman style home. Food is family style and guests contribute, help prepare and clean up. It’s located right across the street from the studio so transportation is simple. Delilah’s house is not much to look at on the front, but very charming inside with a very secluded nicely landscaped back yard. Living room, dinning room, two extra bedrooms for guest dancers, 2 bathrooms, and a modern kitchen with bay windows that look out on the garden and deck. The house has a large hot tub, which is great after a long day’s work out. Washer and dryer. Oh, and there are 3 visionary cats, Sophie, Kinko, Tiamut. We keep them out of guest rooms, but they do live in the house.
Check out one teen’s Apprentice report on Gilded Serpent.
"Dance is a metaphor for
life. As we are born, we are destined to move in life through
time and space. As we learn to dance, we are also learning
to move through time and space. Thus, the process of learning
to dance can also bring us information about living our lives,
if we allow it to. We can learn how to move through our lives
with fearless autonomy, grace and spirit; to flow with the
melody line, be in the stillness or ride the chaos; to overcome
the fear that puts us on the sidelines. We can learn to listen
to the voice in our head that says, 'I CAN DANCE!' "
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