Belly Dance Circle Co-op

Belly Dance Circle Co-op AKM Productions presents this club and performance venue dedicated to artistic growth. Dancers of all

04/21/2022

AKM Productions is now presenting The Belly Dance Circle! Stay tuned for details about the first show of this new era featuring live music and belly dancers of every level for everyone to enjoy! Save the date of June 10th!

03/17/2020

Hi, sorry I know this is probably posted somewhere. But the Arabic show is Sunday july 19th is that correct?

And now for our headliner of the evening, Cristina!Cristina’s captivating dance style reflects her continuous practice, ...
03/01/2020

And now for our headliner of the evening, Cristina!

Cristina’s captivating dance style reflects her continuous practice, work and dedication of the art of Belly Dance. Wearing colorful costumes and using a variety of dance props such as candle tray or sword, she brings joy and excitement to the stage and into the audience. She has been studying belly dance for over 10 years with various local (Holly Ferreira, Kanina, Phaedra, and Aurel) and international teachers and continues to deepen the knowledge of the Middle Eastern culture, musicality and dance. While studying under Kanina, she proudly helped run the Beledi Dance Company as the Assistant Director. At the same time, she was also a member of the former Mirza Dance Ensemble, a folkloric dance company under Shadia’s tutelage. After Mirza dissolved, she didn’t want to stop dancing and learning folkore so she decided to co-found the Alwan Dance company with Carolina and Aurel. Alwan has brought pure joy and happiness into her life.

Cristina has been performing at restaurants, private parties, and corporate events throughout New England. She was the house dancer at India Restaurant for over 6 years and currently you can catch her performing regularly at Opa (Providence), Nara (Providence), Efendis (Cranston, RI) Byblos (Norwood), and the Middle East (Boston). Cristina loves sharing what she has learned throughout the years and has also taught bellydance classes under Kanina, at the YMCA in Pawtucket, and at Rhode Island College. She has also taught workshops on fan veils. In addition to teaching and performing, Cristina has contributed to the local bellydance scene by organizing a monthly event at Terrazza where dancers from all levels got to perform to a live music Middle Eastern band.

Photo credit: Bailey Fox Photography

Don't miss our show this upcoming Friday, March 6 at Ancient Art Studios! Show starts at 7:30 pm. Buy your tickets here: https://www.ancientartstudios.com/events/belly-dance-party/?fbclid=IwAR3lFoT_FieMSpW6-oHE07-qQANs3khhiVShHjOLX0uka7Ugu5f7l0rmaV8

Or you can buy tickets at the door, or in lieu of a ticket, bring a potluck food item and get in for free!

Meet our featured dancer for the evening, Eunice MEDA! Eunice MEDA has been practicing and studying the art of Belly Dan...
02/29/2020

Meet our featured dancer for the evening, Eunice MEDA!

Eunice MEDA has been practicing and studying the art of Belly Dance since 2001. She has an extensive background in performance arts. During her undergraduate career, she studied and trained in various dance and theater courses including Acting, Improvisation, Tai Chi, Flamenco from the renowned Andrea del Conte, Modern Dance, Bharatanatyam (Classical Indian dance), Hip Hop, and Afro-Caribbean Dance.
Eunice is a member of the belly dance group, Middle Eastern Dance Academy of Connecticut (MDA), where she receives a lot of her formal training from the crowned 2019 Belly Dance Queen, Kelvia Mitri-Haddad, as well as performed for several events including Hips Against Hunger at Yale University, two of the Connecticut Pro Shows, as well as part of the opening act for Lebanese singer's, Ragheb Alama, concert in Boston, MA on June 2019 and other private events.

Eunice is also a member of the folkloric dance group, the Alwan Dance Ensemble and has performed for Aurel’s Yalla show on November 2019 and private event.
Eunice was also one of the dancers featured in Jillian’s Belly Dance Evolution Experience for the Wonderful Wizard of Oz production show on June 2019.

Some of the dancers/instructors Eunice has learned from and continues to learn in the Belly Dance community include Amar Gamal, Karim Nagi, Nourhan Sharif, Ala Kushnir, Valerick Molinary, Shahrzad, Kelvia, Madam Raqia Hassan, Sadie, Oscar Flores, Pierre Haddad, Samantha Diaz, Vanessa Raqs, Katerina Shereen, Aurel, Jillina Carlano, Luna Poumian, Jill Collins, Aaliyah, Nada El Masariya, Yamil Annum, Ashley Rihanne, Natalie Hatab, Ju Nahid, Amara Nuit, Nabila Nuit, and Jennifer Belly Dance.

Eunice can be seen dancing around in several Middle Eastern restaurants and Belly dance events in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Featured in photo: Eunice MEDA performing with shamadan (candelabra) at Le Souk Ho**ah Lounge

Don't miss our show this upcoming Friday, March 6th at Ancient Art Studios! Show starts at 7:30 pm. Buy your tickets here https://www.ancientartstudios.com/events/belly-dance-party/?fbclid=IwAR3lFoT_FieMSpW6-oHE07-qQANs3khhiVShHjOLX0uka7Ugu5f7l0rmaV8.

Or you can buy them at the door, or in lieu of a ticket, bring a potluck food item and get in for free!

"The Circle" would like to welcome our newest members: Kristin Bomber, Tina Campbell, Dawn Chalmers, Andrea Corrieri, Ca...
01/20/2020

"The Circle" would like to welcome our newest members: Kristin Bomber, Tina Campbell, Dawn Chalmers, Andrea Corrieri, Carey Mullen, and Ruth Young! Welcome dancers ♥

01/15/2020

Are you interested in joining our circle? Registration ends this Friday!

Meet our headlining dancer for tomorrow evening, Aurel!photo by Peter ParadiseA professional vocalist and a conservatory...
01/09/2020

Meet our headlining dancer for tomorrow evening, Aurel!

photo by Peter Paradise

A professional vocalist and a conservatory trained actress with a variety of classical dance training already under her belt, Aurel’s trajectory changed when she took her first belly dance class. Meeting amazing women as mentors and friends, learning about the root-cultures of the dance, enjoying the challenges of the many dances beneath the Oriental dance umbrella, these became and still are Aurel’s deepest passions.

After five years of study, Aurel began accepting bookings as a dancer. Patterning herself after her beloved mentors from Boston’s golden belly dance era, Aurel strives for fluency in both Turkish and Arabic-influenced belly dance show styles. Also reflected in Aurel’s shows is her love of folkloric dances. This due to teachers who under-scored the cultural context of the dance from her earliest lessons, from cherished membership in professional folkloric troupe, the Mirza Dance Ensemble by Shadia, studies in Egypt and with master teachers visiting the USA from abroad, and current work with the Alwan Folkloric Dance Ensemble. The most recent performance chapter for Aurel is a truly unique collaboration between Alwan Dance Ensemble, George Maalouf Ensemble, and use of both Aurel’s dance and vocal skills in a 90 minute, multi-act presentation at a dinner theater akin to the nightclub shows in Cairo, Egypt.

The founder of Ancient Art Studios (in Berkley,Mass), Aurel is also passionate about sharing what she has experienced, learned, and is still learning. Her curriculum ranges from beginner to professional level troupe-work and solo performance coaching. Another arm of the studio is a belly dance costume and accessory store, Alimah’s Closet, which draws students, teacher, and colleagues from far and wide to shop. New and consigned items are curated for Alimah’s Closet shoppers of all sizes, ages, and shapes who come by appointment or to Aurel’s special shopping-and-education theme parties.

Determined to expose the public to the sophistication of the art, the mastery of her mentors and colleagues, and the belly dance community, Aurel has hired countless Middle Eastern musicians and dancers as a show producer raising funds for charitable organizations, for recurring restaurant shows, presentations for colleges and multicultural events, and casual performance opportunities for her students every 10 weeks as her class sessions close.

In 2019 Aurel's vision for a new kind of venue was born. This venue was to be run by the dancers as opposed to a restaurant owner. With help from the amazing dance community who is still fine-tuning this co-op venue The Belly Dance Circle was born based on peer-support and the traditions around live-music belly dance shows. Aurel will be releasing her Belly Dance Circle membership after this show so that others may take advantage of the now-rooted venue. Aurel is honored to headline this show and dedicates her every move to the spirit of the journey. Aurel seeks to cherish the triumphs, the mistakes, the tears, and the joy of growing as an artist and as a human. Please join Aurel and this amazing band as her partners during her show and share in the wonder of letting the moments develop.

The show is TOMORROW: Friday January 10. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.ancientartstudios.com/portfolio-items/belly-dance-party/?fbclid=IwAR3VtN6w7hfDkD3TviB7YPYcutfPXI-UIcYCjQe66oy6nhJRGCNSiagz0eA

Or you can buy tickets at the door, $12, or bring a food item and get in for free!

What is the Belly Dance Circle?We have been receiving a lot of interest and inquiries into the Belly Dance Circle, and w...
01/09/2020

What is the Belly Dance Circle?

We have been receiving a lot of interest and inquiries into the Belly Dance Circle, and we'd like to explain what we do in further detail.

The Belly Dance Circle is a co-op consisting of belly dancers from the local area. As a co-op, the dancers produce the shows. Everyone has a job: marketing, ticket sales, warm-up leader, band liaison, someone to make the program on band night, set-up and break-down, procuring a photographer and videographer, etc. The guests are even a part of this co-op! If you bring a food item to the show, you get in for free! It's all about community. These co-ops have been going on since the 70s and 80s with Nancy Barber and Barbara Brandt. These women created these co-ops as a reaction to the male-dominated club owner scenes. The local community would bring food and their families to these events even though they were out of the way in rented spaces. It had great appeal, celebrating the musicians and dancers in a respectful manner.

We meet once a month at Ancient Art Studios in Berkley, MA. All levels welcomed! The meeting is either a band or non-band night, which alternates.

On non-band nights (Wednesday nights), we are an artists' circle. Dancers each have a chance to share what they're been working on and have the option to receive feedback or not; they can even use their time to ask the co-op for ideas on how to get a project started or just dance-related questions in general. For example, you can present a solo you've been working on, you can play some music and ask the group for ideas on how to dance to it, you can ask the group a dance-related question, etc. Your time is what you want it to be and your content is what you want it to be! And, you can also choose to pass your time onto the next person if you don't feel like sharing. In addition to sharing our work, we also have the opportunity to dance to traditional music selected by our DJ to gain experience improvising to music. We also use non-band nights to select our music and featured and headlining dancers.

On band nights (mostly Friday nights), the co-op dances to a live band featuring some of the best musicians around: Joey Kouyoumjian, Ron Sahatjian, Harry Bedrossian and Arthur Chingris, who play Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, and Greek music. The show is open to the public and is held at Ancient Art Studios. And the show is produced by all of us in the co-op, each person pitching in some way.

Interested in joining? Only $30 a month for membership dues and once-a-month meetings to gain access to an artists' circle in a supportive environment, experience dancing to a live band, professional photos and a video of your performance. What are you waiting for?
www.ancientartstudios.com/portfolio-items/belly-dance-circle/

On the fence? Come see our next show this Friday night at 7:30 pm at Ancient Art Studios. Our featured dancer is Ameena and our headliner is Aurel!

photo by (Instagram)

Address

590 Berkley Street
Berkley, MA
02779

Telephone

+15088226449

Website

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