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Sonya Blacker founded Arabesque in 2004, herself an Award-Winning belly dancer, certified in Cairo Egypt 2006 (her 10th year of dedicated study), who was looking to offer the dance community a choice for open & honest sharing of this beautiful & sacred art through dance instruction for adults. She believes that dance lessons should offer quality instruction as well as fun. Sonya strives for good communication between instructor and student so that the student can be excited about their progress. Every single student is different & that is an important spice of life.
Choreography-The Discipline of Mind & Body. Arabesque classes focus on the individual, with technique over choreography in goal - Not just leaning a dance, but how-to dance. Classes begin with warm-up stretches & isolation training, instruction in the basic steps then move to more polished combinations followed by options for clean layering, in the more complex combination classes. Sonya begins by demonstrating the move or combination, then breaks it down into its parts. Students would then have the chance to practice the elements slowly without music or half-tempo, and finally up to speed with music. Individual attention is given to all students, with variations to accommodate differences in students if need be.
A lifetime student, Sonya is a firm believer in furthering her own education & experience by taking and teaching Seminars across the globe, believing we all have more to learn in this rich, cultured artform that brings expression, pride & dignity to hundreds of women each year.
For Sonya's Full Bio Click Here
Arabesque Facebook Fan Page
Sonya on Tribe.net
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Eliza was first exposed to tribal bellydance when she attended a FatChanceBellyDance performance in San Francisco. Instantly drawn in by the mesmerizing and earthy movements, she began studying the dance form under the instruction and influence of Read My Hips' Artistic Director Stephanie Barto and Co-Founder Heather Stants (now director of Urban Tribal Dance Company in San Diego). Eliza was a principal dancer with Read My Hips from 1999-2004 and is one of the founders of the Chicago tribal bellydance troupe, Jezebelly.
2009 Maqam Bellydance Challenge 2nd Place 'Tribal Fusion' Award-Winner - Eliza's training in tribal bellydance began with American Tribal Style (ATS) and has evolved to the broader Improv Tribal Style (ITS) of group dancing that uses cues and other forms of communication between dancers to create fresh and spontaneous performances that are often peppered with spot choreography. Her intermediate tribal class at Arabesque focuses on the form and movements particular to ITS bellydance and emphasizes proper posture, fluidity, strength of movement, and technique. Eliza's class is for intermediate as well as for more advanced dancers who want to add tribal elements to their current repertoire.
www.ElizaBellyDance.com
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Although she’d been drawn to Bellydance for many years, Lisha didn’t begin dancing until 2003 when she took her first class with Sonya. Lisha found that Bellydance helped her develop more body awareness, grace and strength, and credits Sonya with being her most important influence and inspiration in her dance career. Lisha also greatly admires the work of Mahmoud Reda, Aziza, Shoshanna, and Yasmina Ramzy as dancers and teachers and has enjoyed multiple workshops with all of them.
Lisha began dancing with Troupe Ro-He in 2005 and has been performing as a soloist since 2006. Although she enjoys dancing to non-traditional music occasionally, she feels more inspired by the rich music of the Middle East. The music and the dance are made for each other and Lisha hopes to inspire her students to understand this.
2008’s Midwest Bellydance Challenge named Lisha 2nd Place 'Student Soloist' winner and Peoples Choice Award-Winner, she also received Hadia’s Level 1 Teacher Training Certificate in 2008, which has helped her gain more knowledge of the muscular system and how it works for us as dancers. Lisha wants her students to understand how their bodies work so they can create the movements correctly and safely at any age. She hopes to inspire her students to challenge themselves to learn the basic movements and simple combinations in a fun, non-competitive environment.
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Mae the Bellydancer is a gothic and tribal fusion dancer in Chicago who has been dancing since 1991 and teaching since 2004. A creative soul, Mae began her belly dance interest studying under Amaya's protégé Karen Sharma in Midland, Texas, studying Arabic Cabaret Belly Dance, Mid-East folkloric dances and Polynesian dance. In 2005 she moved to Chicago and began her specific study and performance career of tribal fusion bellydance. Performing tribal fusion to gothic and hard rock music, Mae was quickly embraced by Chicago’s burlesque community & has performed with many pro Variety shows such as the Girlie Q Variety Hour, Fleshtones Burlesque, her own troupe Caoba & Varietease, and co-produces her own fantastical events such as The Glint & Knock Knock Hot Spot.
2008 Midwest Bellydance Challenge 2nd Place 'Tribal Fusion' Award-Winner, Mae is a popular performer in the Hafla circuit across the US. Talented seamstress, she is well known for her striking costuming ideas. As an instructor focusing on posture, strength, body awareness, and that special something found in born performers, Mae would like to share her art while guiding her students to develop an ethereal yet striking composure, while executing spooky combinations that will captivate and bewitch.
MaeTheBellyDancer.com
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Jonsey had never seen a belly dancer when she walked into her first class at Arabesque. One class was all it took; she was hooked and has been studying various forms of belly dance continuously since 2005. An active member of the award-winning Troupe Ro-He since 2007, 2009 found Jonsey competing solo in the Maqam Challenge Chicago, winning both 1st place and people’s choice trophies in the student soloist category. She has studied extensively with Sonya and such a love of belly dance has lead her to study with a wide range of instructors in various belly dance styles such a Orientale, ITS, and Tribal Fusion. A teacher by trade, Jonsey firmly believes that learning never stops, and it’s never too late to learn something new, as her passion for belly dance has now led her to introduce others to all the beauty belly dancing offers.
JonseyBellyDance.com
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Christine first discovered bellydance while attending a friend’s performance at a local suburban festival, but it wasn’t until 2007 when she took her first class at Arabesque Dance Studios. Immediately hooked, Christine has continued her study of both Tribal and Orientale bellydance at Arabesque under the direction of her mentors, Eliza and Sonya.
Christine enjoys performing for all types of audiences, especially those that are unfamiliar with bellydance. She has been a proud member of BellyRing since its formation under the direction of Eliza of Jezebelly. BellyRing is a tribal bellydance troupe that incorporates Improv Tribal Style (ITS) and choreography to create unique group performances. Her passion for bellydance has encouraged her to perform regularly with several other troupes. Since 2009, Christine has been actively performing with Troupe Ro-He and Tandava Tribal Belly Dance, a self-directed ITS-troupe.
Christine strongly believes in continuous learning and expanding one’s dance vocabulary, no matter what the dance form. Her mentors, Eliza and Sonya, as well Aziza, Mahmoud Reda, Mardi Love, Mira Betz, Rachel Brice and Zoe Jakes, have influenced her love of bellydance. Christine has a deep admiration for each of these artists and has enjoyed learning from each of them. Christine’s life-long passion for dance has led her to the study various dance forms throughout the years including hip hop, burlesque and 11 years of ballet, tap and jazz.
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She’s a time capsule of beautiful oriental dance, a gem since the early 1970’s. Her teacher, Anne Lippe, was a student of Jamila Salimpour, performed with Bal Anat in San Francisco, and also studied with Ibrahim "Bobby" Farrah and Serena Wilson. Sophia performed in Ann’s troupe throughout Florida and in this style Sophia had the great benefit of performing with artists from all over the world. A primary influence were the Turkish dancers who had come to work, Arabian women and Roma as well, and many wonderful American and European artists, learning the dance from many angles and many sources. She has performed primarily for people from the Mediterranean and the Middle East, although Sophia was also tapped to create homage to Ruth St. Denis, the great modern dancer.
Moving to Chicago in 1976, Sophia worked steadily in several Chicago Greek and Middle Eastern clubs, started teaching in about 1979; and formed her own dance and music group that performed all over the area, at street fairs, cultural events, of course weddings and political affairs, before happily landing at the Athens where she worked until the late 1980’s. After a break, Sophia started performing again and teaching again in 2008, beginning at the Art Institute of Chicago where she helped form a student group focusing on Raqs Sharqi style; then, teaching privately and at Cheetah Gyms.
She continues to learn from her fellow dancers and students and looks forward to learning and teaching here at Arabesque - and we're delighted to have her!
Elibelinde.net
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