Schedule breakdown in 3 hour segments:

Friday Nov 19: 6pm-9pm: Foundational Technique Overhaul: The CORE of Tribal FusionThis opening module of the weekend will include an introduction and setting the stage for our time together. It will serve to introduce Deb’s core-integrated approach to the dance, and the flow of the weekend’s activities. After a brief Yoga practice, we will drop directly down into the roots of the practice, building a strong technique foundation and movement vocabulary, from which all other work this weekend will be based. Material will include: Drills & skills of basic hip and torso shapes, and proper biomechanics of foundational Tribal Fusion movements. Focus will be on: Cleaning up our shimmy, creating controlled, intentional, juicy hip work, torso work, footwork, and isolations; how to stack functions to layer it all together cleanly while moving effortlessly across the stage. Please bring yoga mat and water bottle! Smaller group setting allows for individual attention, hands-on adjustments and fine-tuning of technique to take your dance to the next level.

Saturday Nov 20: 10am-1pm: The Ultimate Slink Factor
Part 1: In this workshop, we will deepen our slow, ooey-gooey moves to achieve that slinky, sultry, intoxication look and feel of Tribal Bellydance. The yoga warm-up of this workshop will pull from Deb’s unique Dance Therapeutics Material for the Upper Body, core integration, spinal articulation, and building the foundational strength and flexibility in the hips, spine, core, and shoulders to directly support controlled, snake-like dancing; and create ‘floating upper body’ dance posture for stage. All this will be applied to belly dance technique, and elegant, juicy fusion combos. Focus will be on ARMS, shoulder girdle, upper body carriage, and gooe-y serpentine slink movements from the core. She has often been coined the ‘Queen of Slink”. Come learn Deb’s unique tribal stylization and core-integrated slink secrets.

Part 2: Taking our ooey-gooey technique to the next level, we will play with more advanced concepts such as creating more decadent dancing, “the tension of opposites,” and powerful performance quality to captivate audiences even with your back. We will explore shapes, dramatic pauses, and smooth transitions to empower the student begin to cultivate her own voice and style and confidently transition their dance from studio to stage.

Saturday Nov 20: 2pm-5pm: Performance Quality & Musicality for the Tribally Inclined
Part 1: In this module, we will explore movement quality, intention, emotionality, character work, and storytelling for creating captivating performance and engaging the audience—for both solos and groups. Exercises drawn from Deb’s studies in theatricality, somatic inquiry, contact improv, yoga, and many dance forms.

Part 2: Musicality: Cultivating your ear and your improv. As Dancers, we are the visual representation of the music. Learning foundational music theory, phrasing, and to ‘sing’ the music through your body, we will cultivate tools and framework to increase confidence and experience with live music, music of unique time signatures, and developing a captivating improv solo that represents both the music and your own unique style of interpretation. Please bring journal, pen, water bottle and yoga mat.

Sunday Nov 21: 10am-1pm: “Good Morning, Sunshine!” and Costumery Cauldron & Creative Process 101
Part 1: On this last day of the Intensive, we will warm up the body with a short Yoga Practice, high energy drills &skills, cardio combos, and choreography creation. Concepts and material will be integrated from days 1 and 2, for better embodied learning. Focus will be on Layering, Shimmies, Traveling Steps, and putting it all together with seamless transitions. Introduction of building blocks for Choreography creation, and partner work.

Part 2: Please bring in any concepts, pieces, photos, artwork, fabrics, partial costumes that you may be working on or are inspired by to share with the group. And any questions you might have about this topic. This 1hr segment is intended to just be an introduction—a launching platform so to speak to help inspire and spark the creative process—in creating stage work, costuming, character work, dances, art, etc. Deb will guide you through exercises of self-discovery and artistic inquiry intended to help formulate and organize ideas into a more cohesive ‘full package’ for stage. This module is structured more like a working lab, with discussion. Please bring journal and pen.

Sunday, Nov 21: 2pm-5pm: Dance Therapeutics: Saving Your Belly Dance Body
**The material offered in this workshop includes the foundational practices and biomechanics of movement that Deb draws upon for her own daily practice and belly dance hip work and torso technique.**

Drawing from Yoga therapy, Traditional Thai-Yoga Massage, Feldenkrais, Somatic education, partner yoga, and Deb’s personal “stash” of dance therapeutics, this workshop will deeply and safely help you increase spinal articulation, release the low back, hips, gluts, sacrum, and legs; dramatically increase ability for belly dance isolations, layering, and juicier hip work; and give you lasting tools for your own personal practice and necessary dancer self-care. All of this will be directly applicable for belly dancers—of any style. Workshop will also include basic belly dancer anatomy, with focus on the IT band, Psoas, & shoulder girdle as key target areas for belly dancers. A therapeutic daily series will be given for low back/hips. Time will be given for Q&A discussion of injury prevention, common belly dance injuries, proper warm-up and cool down, and hot topics in the community. Also includes: Teaching Module for how to integrate some of this material into your classes, as the basis of tribal fusion belly dance technique foundation.

FOR ALL SEGMENTS OF THE INTENSIVE: Please bring yoga mat, strap or scarf, and journal/pens. Please note: this workshop breakdown is a guideline. Material is subject to be augmented during the weekend to best serve the group.