The New York metro-area belly dance

Body and Soul interviewee Sandra Catena, author of The African Belly Dance, has a new batch of events coming up very soon:

Saturday, April 12 (1pm-3pm): Everything You Need to Know About Beginner Belly Dance ($40). Workshop focuses on posture, breath and movement, head-to-hip isolations. All teachings of the day are combined into sexy beginner choreography. Location: Yamuna, 132 Perry Street, Manhattan. To register: 212-633-2143

Saturday, April 19 (3pm-4pm): Free Beginner Belly Dance Class at Five Corners Library, 678 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ. For directions or more information, call 201-547-4543.

Wednesday, April 23 (8pm-10:30pm). Class + performance ($10 cover). Sandra will be teaching a free belly dance class from 8pm-8:15pm then performing to the live music of Djam at Je'Bon, 15 St. Mark's Place, East Village. Sandra's dancers--Vanessa, Belinda, Sherri and Lucy-- will also perform solos, and there will be additional dance performances.

Saturday, May 17 (two shows: 4pm and 6pm) Spring Belly Dance, Sandra's 29th belly dance production, includes ten solo performers and Sandra's grand finale. All tickets are $20 and will go on sale next week. Both performances will be held at Yamuna, 132 Perry Street, Manhattan.

Contact information for reservations: here

Sandra's interview: here

Sandra Catena: Body and Soul podcast

Here’s my conversation with Sandra Catena, popular belly dance instructor and performer, personal trainer and author of “The African Belly Dance”–the first murder mystery to feature a belly dancer as its protagonist.

BOOK FACTS

“The African Belly Dance” is a murder mystery featuring Santina Cole, a first generation Italian-American from Newark, New Jersey. Santina was raised in a blue-collar family with deep Catholic roots and much to the chagrin of her family, becomes a belly dancer. Santina is a feisty, funny, red hot woman from the hood who finds herself in the middle of trouble. While performing in West Africa at a Lebanese nightclub, a murder occurs. Santina is in the thick of it and helps find the killer. Get on this magic carpet ride that takes the reader from Newark, New Jersey to Manhattan to West Africa!

BIO

Sandra Catena has performed in Europe, West Africa, Canada and the United States. She has also performed on national television shows such as MTV, The Joy Brown Show and WB11 News. Since 1980, Sandra has performed in New York's Oriental nightclubs, theaters and colleges. Sandra starred in a 14-week run of "A Belly Dancer's Story" (10/96-2/97) in New York City. "A Belly Dancer's Story" was written, choreographed and performed by Sandra. She also produced and choreographed the following shows in theaters in New York: "A Night of Middle Eastern Dance" (6/01&02/00); "A Belly Dance Extravaganza" (11/18/00); "Belly Dance Nights" (01/07&14&21/01); "Arabian Nights" (06/03&04/01); "Holiday Exotica" (12/18/01); "Belly Dance Fever" (5/25/02); "Holiday Hafla" (12/15/02); "Oriental Dreams" (7/03/03); "A Belly Dancer’s Story" (3/14/04 and 6/15/04); and belly dance recitals at Lafayette Grill (6/12/05, 10/23/05, 3/23/06); “Modern Egyptian Rhythms” (12/3/06).

Sandra Catena is a master teacher of Oriental dance. She teaches private and group classes regularly in New York City. Sandra also teaches at Shakti Yoga, The 14th Street Y and has taught at New York University, City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College, The New Age Health Spa, The Hospital for Joint Diseases, The Seminar Center, The Discovery Center, Asphalt Green, Carmine Street Recreation Bureau, Broome Corner Studios, Rod Rodgers Dance Studios, Dance Theater Workshop, Joyous Life Energy Center, Five Points Fitness and Djoniba's Drum and Dance Center, all in New York.

EVENT

Wednesday, March 26 (6:30-8:30pm): Book signing party (with performance, reading and cash bar) at Boucarou, 64 East 1st Street, East Village, Manhattan

LINKS

Sandra Catena
http://www.bigapplebellydance.org

Boucarou Lounge
http://www.boucaroulounge.com

Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.

(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

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