Bellydance & Yoga
I’ve been studying and performing Tribal Bellydance for over 6 years. It never stops to amaze me when I see other performers: the way they use their bodies, the music they choose to dance to, how they interact with troupe members and with the audience.
I love to try new movements, to see how far I can push my body. To take a movement I see being performed and twist and change it until it’s mine. To mix my modern and Latin dance training with bellydance to create unusual choreographies. I also love to perform with swords, and I am one of the few dancers in the world to perform double-sword routines.
Tribal Bellydance has taught me so much about myself and my body, and it has given me a sense of community I had not known before. I am now more graceful, yet more powerful. I have a lot more self-confidence – when you’re on stage performing for hundreds of dancers, you need all the confidence in the world!
In all these years training as a bellydancer, I was blessed with the opportunity to learn from the world’s most renowned Tribal teachers, who I continually go to for inspiration and knowledge: Heather Stants, Samantha Hasthorpe, my teacher,Wendy Marlatt, and so many more.
I’ve also had the opportunity to teach workshops at several events in Ireland, for different skill levels, and I teach weekly classes. I love to teach class, and I like my classes to be fun for the students, so I invite them to participate with ideas and requests. The classes normally focus on drilling the movements over and over to create muscle memory, while always working from the core, and then using those movements by improvising in groups or to create a choreography. Warm-up and cool down are all yoga-based, so we can work out safely.
I also perform with my husband, who is a musician and plays the doumbek for our troupe and for solo dancers.
If you are interested in having me perform or teach at your event, please contact me at bellydance@tattyfraney.com
