Shimmy Shape Belly Dance and Miramar Mini's are the classes for you! Miramar is currently planning new Shimmy Shape classes in Cross Junction studio. Check out my Miramar Mini Workshops on Sundays! For more infor. please contact Miramar or check my Schedule of Classes. These classes are on-going throughout the year and are always changing and challenging! Have some experience? Miramar's Shimmy Shape Belly Dance classes cover numerous topics. Challenges will be given to dancers who have some belly dance experience. Miramar also offers intermediate level semi-private classes - please enquire to see what will be a good fit for you.
Private/Semi-Private Classes: Available at Miramar's Cross Junction, VA address. Please contact Miramar for more information.
SELECTED COMMENTARIES"I had the most wonderful experience observing one of Miramar's classes. Those of you who know me know how much joy I get from dance. It has always saddened me to realize how many people there are in the world whose immediate reaction to dance is one of fear, trepidation and shame. How many times have you heard, "Oh, I can't dance," or said it yourself? One evening, I was at the studio attending a ballroom class that was at the same time as one of Miramar's classes. I walked back to the studio where Miramar was teaching and peeked into a class that had met maybe twice before. Here was group of women who, a week or so before, had little or no dance experience. Miramar had provided each woman with a huge, colorful, flowing veil had shown them some basic veil dance moves and then had put on some Middle Eastern music and told the women to dance freely, using the moves she had shown or whatever they felt inspired to do with the veil. These women were twirling joyfully around the room, like a bunch of playful and free-spirited kindergartens. The swirl of colors and the joy the women obviously felt brought an instant smile to my face that returns every time I think of that vision. How I wish everyone could experience that blissful feeling as they allow their bodies to move to music." Julie K., January 2006 e-mail communication
“Oriental dance lessons were a consolation prize I gave myself when I couldn’t find a samba teacher. Miramar’s studio was my only option in Winchester, VA, so it was “belly dancing” by default. But as so often happens when we least expect it, making that call to Miramar’s Mid East Dance Studio (now Miramar’s Danse Arabesque) changed my life. I’ve told Miramar many times that I probably wouldn’t have made it past that first six weeks of lessons with any other teacher. In a class of about a dozen people I was easily the last graceful and slowest to learn movements, must less choreographies, but Miramar finds a way to praise and encourage you even as she’s having to come up with yet another way to break down for you how to do a camel. She has a knack for working with you at your level, whether you want to turn pro or just stop tripping so much (my own personal goal). At 75 minutes, our classes are long enough to allow for socializing, checking out each others’ new costume pieces and earrings, and discussing when to schedule our next hafla (we have plenty of parties) without cutting into serious dance time. The information Miramar gives us about the dance and Middle Eastern culture appeals to my bookworm side, and the fact that she is so supportive of her students and of other teachers, promoting their workshops and shows, appeals to me as a feminist. Miramar radiates niceness the atmosphere in class is welcoming and relaxed, and classmates quickly become friends. She takes her art seriously, but not herself. When it has been a long day and she loses her train of thought, having what one student dubbed a “Miramar moment,” she announces, “I need some protein” and digs into the jar of peanut butter she keeps on hand for just such emergencies. A constant challenge is maintaining the proper temperature in the studio, especially for the class I’m in, since some of us joke that we can’t tell if it’s hot or just hot flashes. Even when menopause is a distant memory, as long as Miramar is teaching, I’ll be taking lessons. Some of her students have gone to teaching others perform beautifully. As for me, thanks to Miramar’s patience, I long ago surpassed my original goal. After only 18 months of oriental dance lessons, I was with my brother Bill one evening, walking all over D.C., when he looked over at me and said, “I just noticed you haven’t tripped at all today—those belly dance lessons must be working!” Susan Loving, WAMEDA, Jan/Feb 2005.
