Where can you get bellydancing lessons?

Question

to learn how to dance like Shakira?

Answer 1

I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone else who tells me they want to dance like Shakira.... Shakira's style is comprised of many styles of dance and to truely dance like Shakira you will have to learn many latin dances, modern dance, and belly dance. Besides that although I find Shakira entertaining and appreciate the popularity she has brought to bellydancing, Shakira's really not all that great of a bellydancer. We generally have a scale of beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Shakira generally falls somewhere in between beginner and intermediate. Videos like "hips don't lie" seem as though they should be chock full of bellydancing but feature very little. Most of her videos showcase a small section of her doing some hip isolations like figure eights are shimmies but little else of her skill is shown so it's hard to say what she even has. She comes off to most dancer as a novelty. You might not particualraily like what I'm telling you but here's the reason I feel it needs to be said. Ever since Shakira's debut in the US young girls have become increasingly interested in bellydancing so that they too can "dance like Shakira," yet 80% of them drop out of classes after just a few weeks. Why? Because bellydancing is a serious art form which requires dedication and hard work. Many people struggle with the basics for 1-2 years in beginners classes before having the skill to move into an intermediate classes where they may stay for an aditional 1-2 years before advancing to advanced level classes and then teqnique courses each generally another 1-2 years minnimum spent in each course. Some dancers stay a specific level for 5 years or more. Some moves are very difficult for some people to learn while others get them very quickly. When young girls struggle with the moves they want to learn they soon get bored and leave. I'm glad you are actually looking for classes since alot of girls just think they will be able to learn it from a video. A video is not a good way to learn and neither are websites they should be used as supplement to your live courses, because the instructor is neccessary for correcting posture so you avoid injury and also because a 3d visual is by far a better teacher than a 2d visual. All that being said here are some resources for bellydancing which you may want to check out.

WEBSITES (for finding teachers/classes)
http://www.shira.net - probably the most extensive directory
http://www.middleeaseterndance.net - my site which has a decent sized directory as well
http://www.bhuz.com - another large directory as well as a great forum which can answer pretty much every question you will ever have about bellydance since it's comprised of bellydancers from all over the world.
If you can't find lessons looking on these three sites their may not be any in your area.

WEBSITES (for learning moves on-line)
http://www.middleeasterndance.net - my own site look under the movements section, there will be enough to keep you busy for a long time. Also please read the before you begin section with the disclaimer, warm-up, cool-down, and basics about posture.
http://www.shira.net - don't mind what the other person said about this site I doubt she even knows how to bellydance. Shira's site is an extensive collection of articles written about and for bellydancers and can provide you with a wealth of information that will be very benificial. It's one of the oldest and most respected sites on the internet and is referenced by bellydancers world-wide. She has a specific page which tells you how to do some moves as well as extensive links to other sites that offer online lessons as well.
http://www.venusbellydance.com/vocabulary.htm - More movement descriptions.
http://www.aleena.com/miramar/ - go to on-line dance lessons there are several articles about dancing there.
http://www.zilltech.com/OnLineLessons.html - Another old, well, respected website full of information you should check out. She offers a few instructions for several basic moves.
http://groups.msn.com/ankestamen/yourwebpage1.msnw - offers selected lesson on-line each week. Lessons are excerpts from her book. There's also additional information and choreographies, which may interest you as well.
http://www.kawakib.com/page-30.html - more of a technique lesson but might be helpful after learning some basics.
http://www.raqs.co.nz/moves.html - has some descirptions of select movements.

BOOKS
Belly Dancing Basics by Laura A. Cooper (ISBN: 140271078X) - newer book, not great but not bad either.
The Art of Belly Dancing by Dahlena with Dona Z. Meilach - This book is out of print but shows up on amazon and e-bay from time to time. It's ok but it's written for a different time the history part is especially questionable but the moves are pretty straight forward.
Grandmother's Secrets by Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi (ISBN: 1566563267) - An interesting read has several descriptions of dance moves as well.
A lot of books have been coming on the market recently and most of them (excluding out of print books) are available at barnes and nobel or borders books as well as other chains and smaller stores.

VIDEOS
(not online one's theres not to many lesson videos online)
Prescision Motion Workout Series by Suzanna Del Vecchio - offers good posture basics as well as quality instruction on many moves.
Bellydance for Fitness Series by Neena and Veena Bidasher - this series is very cheap and available from major retailers like target, walmart, borders, and Barnes and Nobel but the quality of instruction is low. This is more of a workout for beginner dancers who already have had some training. The videos are a good quality as far as picture and sound but these are not good for an absolute beginner.
There's tons of them available if you want to read some reviews I've written about various videos go to my site and check out the reviews section. http://www.middleeasterndance.net you can also e-mail me with any other questions you might have about bellydancing or related subjects directly through my site (sorry, I rarely respond to e-mail from my yahoo account).
I hope this helps you and I hope that you stick with it as it's (in my opinion) the best art formk you can learn.

Answer 2

first off, shakira doesnt' belly dance.... its a mix of salsa and belly dancing. just do what i did.... watch the music video of hips don't lie a hundred times and u'll get it.... my grandma can dance like shakira. lmao im sorry, im just messin wit ya but yah she can. shes 60 but i thought she was like 45 or something

Answer 3

depends on where you live...maybe there's a community center that has dance lessons or a dance school.

Answer 4

in dance school

Answer 5

that's funny, I have been looking for classes for the same reason...I found some classes in my area by looking online...

Answer 6

dance studio (arthur murray)

Answer 7

look in the paper