Devi Moon Bellydance Troupe, formerly Raks Attarab, Miles City's own belly dance troupe, is excited to announce that they are offering lessons for young ladies!

Classes will run on Saturdays starting Mar. 17th and last 6 weeks. All classes will be held at the top floor of the Ursuline Convent and taught by members of Devi Moon.

Groupings will be 7-9 years old and 10-12 years old. Fee is $30/student and will be required the first day of class.
7-9 yr old class time will be 10-10:45 a.m.
10-12 yr old class time will be 11-11:45 a.m.

Registration runs Mar. 5-14. To sign up or for more info contact Carol 234-5797 or Cherrie 234-4715 (evenings). Please note a minimum of 10 total students is required for classes to be held.

All that is required of the students is that they wear athletic clothing--sweats, shorts, etc. This is a great different activity for young ladies and will help build their creativity, flexibility and confidence!

Check us out on Facebook: Devi Moon group!

Is it 30 dollars for the full 6 weeks or 30 dollars every saturday?

If it's every Saturday, I am changing my name to El Sahib and starting a belly dancing teaching harem. Miles City will be just the beginning. My dancing troupe shall wiggle the bellies across the state of Montana, belly dancing capital of the world!

FH

I'm sorry. But this is just wrong for those age groups.

Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinions, but I personaly think this is great and my daughter couldnt be more excited. I will definately be calling to get her set up

Jessica,
Cost is $30 for all six weeks, not for each class. We look forward to hearing from you!

Bob: We're sorry you feel that way. We can only guess that you, like many others, are mistaken about belly dancing and its real meaning. It is NOT meant to be provocative, sexual, suggestive or anything of the sort. It is not and has never been a form of male entertainment. It actually stems about 6000 years ago and came to be as a celebration of a matriarchal diety, or the celebration of women as life creators. Its about freedom, expression, joy and confidence. Its actually a low-impact, weight-bearing exercise that is suitable for all ages and is very good for improving flexibility and is beneficial for the spine. Its even great exercise for prevention of osteoporosis in older women.

At a large workshop and gala performance in Billings that we attended last summer, there was a young gal who was all of 8 yrs old and she was phenomenal! It takes great confidence, poise and control to perform on stage at the Alberta Bair in front of hundreds of people like she did--just some of the many things we hope dancers learn in our class. We are not promoting any sort of inappropriate or suggestive behavior from anyone, espcially little girls; quite the opposite actually. This is a fundraiser for our troupe members to be able to further our endeavors into training and workshops and to continue educating others in this great activity. We would appreciate an open mind. Thank you.

Me before the class:



Me after:



I changed color outfit!

FH

The climb to the top floor of the convent would be enough for me.

Great. A post about furthering cultural education for little girls in Miles City devolves into posts containing jokes that little girls should be protected from. Way to go Miles Citizens.

Well said Erin.

I taught two sessions of little ladies bellydancing in Miles City. I had such a good learning experience with the girls. We explored geography, cultural, and various examples of music together as we learned various dance moves.

It is very important for young adults - especially in their early teens- to develop a sense of confidence and pride. Not only in their sense of self-worth, but also within their own skins. As bodies change into adult forms, many young women are uncomfortable, ashamed, and lose confidence. And no wonder, popular culture is full of contradictions and pressure (Do I need to elaborate more here?).

Within the book, 'Grandmother's Secrets" Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi grew up in a culture where young women expected to tie a red silk scarf around their middle and dance with the other women upon entering puberty. This was done within the collective group of women (nuclear and extended) in her household. Can you imagine, a celebration, an announcement of joy of a women's new status? This is an example of where bellydancing came from.

Bellydancing at it's heart is an emotional form of dance. Traditional dances were for everything from joyous celebration to intense grief. For example, the Raks Attarab dance troupe performed a traditional Saidi dance with canes in 2010 in Billings. These dresses, to put it mildly are not "sexy" at all. In fact the Saidi cane dances have their tradition of women making fun of men - using the cane to imitate the fighting moves of men in battle. This is also the origin of sword dancing in bellydancing.

Women carry a lot of stress within their core body muscles. As the sex appointed with carrying and nurturing offspring women also need strong core muscle groups. The dance focuses on moves to develop a strong posture and core muscle groups - for this is needed in women (not because they suit the fantasies of men).

-Jen Nagy

My daughter would love to join, but it's right in the middle of soccer games on Saturdays. Any other time options possible?

Food Critic:

Unfortunately for this session, there was no other time except for Saturday mornings. We tried to get our classes at Studio M but they did not have room for us with their own schedule right now. Saturdays was what worked best for the Convent, which was about our only other option for a venue. Sadly places to hold things like this are hard to come by in Miles City. (As I'm sure you've seen we're a little "misunderstood" by some people, so some places don't exactly welcome us with open arms.) We had to consider cost in having to rent space as well and the Convent was most reasonable at this time.

If this session goes well--provided we get enough students to hold it--we're hoping to maybe do another one in the fall.

If you'd like, please give Carol or Cherrie a call and ask if they can put your name on a list of folks to contact for future classes.

Thanks for your interest!

BUMP

Bravo! Jen Nagy. Well said. Miles City is a poorer place with your departure.

The worse thing that can happen to these young women is that they will have a good time and learn something.

+7 trillion ErinE

Sadly, we are a few girls short of the number we need to do the class this time, so there will be no class. It seems there is too much else going on with soccer, etc. right now.

We DO intend to try to do this again--possibly sometime this summer! Stay tuned...

Thanks to all for your interest and support!

So it is a no go? If one more would make it happen....I would love to sign up my 10 yr old....just saw this.

Unfortunately, we had to have a total of 10 kids and we fewer than that. One more wouldn't be enough.

We're hoping to try again possibly later this summer or this coming fall. Seems there was too much competition with other things, especially soccer, right now.

Thanks for your interest!

Stay tuned!

We mustn't forget mention the possibility of an adult class coming this summer!