faelanshiva.com

Nellie Thorngate

is an enthusiastic and compassionate movement practitioner and dance teacher, being a perpetual student of dance and movement as well as a physical therapist assistant and yoga instructor.  She finds great joy in helping her students find ease and healing in the motion of their bodies, and  especially relishes those moments when her own understanding of movement through dance and yoga informs her ability to help others move with greater proficiency and comfort. She has been studying dance since 1994 with a wide range of teachers including Shoshanna Rose, Crystal Silmi, Zoe Jakes, and Donna Mejia.  She has studied most extensively with Kami Liddle and Mira Betz, whom she considers her root teachers.  She dances in a contemporary fusion style, endeavoring to use dance to foster connection, communication, and joy.

Nellie’s introductory fusion bellydance classes are built on foundational technique breakdown and practice,  including axial and appendicular isolations as codified in Kami Liddle’s Krysalis Dance Program, movements across the floor, and basic layering; using this technical foundation, we will then explore dynamic dance combinations to a variety of classic and modern music.  Expect to start each class with a grounding core sequence based on Bartenieff Fundamentals of Movement, and a warm-up incorporating arm and leg positions and movements.  We will practice basic torso and pelvic isolations  followed by an exploration of specific bellydance movements and combinations drawn from golden age and fusion bellydance dialects.  Each class will culminate with the incorporation of the movements learned into a fun choreographic sequence.