DANCE STYLES
ODISSI: Classical Indian Temple Dance
Odissi offers an embodied culture of devotion and a liberatory technology which weaves languid stances with poetry, musical complexity and acting.
I invite you to a safe space for deep transformation…
Explore Odissi’s complex steps, nuanced gestures and sculpted poses through a Yogic lense. Languid and vigorous; a balance of energies in the dancing body, Odissi is known for its emphasis of the S-curve Tribhangi stance and sidelong glances. A devotional dance form filled with ritual movements that sanctify the body as the offering to the divine.
Each person comes to the dance for their own reason, but all will find a transformation taking place. Classes always begin with warm up, conditioning, techniques, compositions and if time permits we will engage in theory.
ODISSI CLASS
LASYA FLOW
Feel ‘Fusion Bellydance’ flow - from the inside out, drop into rich trance states in celebration of the feminine.
WHAT IS LASYA FLOW?
Free Flowing… continuous explorations of shapes and curves on rich musical tracks. Dial back your mind and let your body guide you into sequential unfurling - petals peeling back… revealing rippling undulations, ripe arches of the spine and heavy earthy hips that drop on basey beats.
Withholding the patriarchal / colonial term ‘bellydance’ which invokes the male gaze - we take back the movement dynamics and pathways from ‘fusion bellydance’ and seek them from the inside out without needing to name them. Seeking the expression of Sringara Rasa - femininity in its symbolic fullness through both structured techniques and sequences, as well as explorations.
These classes are less technical and more about feeling, yet with some technique and composition.
All Levels - Women only please
INDIAN FUSION
Drop into Colleena’s signature Indian Fusion dance style codified in her dance training program: Indian Fusion Formation (IFF)
WHAT IS INDIAN FUSION DANCE?
Stylistically speaking, Indian Fusion movement vocabulary is inspired by cultural dances of India and the Middle East (including its modern evolutions). This dance bridges modern and folkloric Bellydance/Raqs Sharqi vocabulary with extensive postures and spins of North Indian classical and folk dance, intricacies of eyes, hands and facial expression from Eastern Indian classical dance and draws in elements of Central Asian dances as well. Woven seamlessly together, Indian Fusion Dance is both Ancient & Modern – expressing timeless qualities and values.
INDIAN FUSION FORMATION (IFF) DANCE CLASSES BY LEVEL
Each Class Includes:
Warm up, embodiment practices and dance conditioning specific to the demands of the dance
Carefully crafted drills and training methods to develop techniques through repetition
Choreographed compositions to help you practice these steps and their transitions
INDIAN FUSION - PRELIMINARY
Earthy and percussive, smooth and sinuous… discover the beauty of fusion.
These classes are designed to establish a strong base in Fusion Bellydance for new dancers and dancers with experience who want to brush up on technique and learn about Colleena’s stylistic approach as an early pioneer in the style. Technique include: gesture/isolation vocabulary of fusion bellydance, as well as a movement vocabulary inspired by: ATS, Tribal Fusion, Raqs Sharqi and folkloric Egyptian dance.
Level 1 focuses on the careful breakdown, drilling and memorization of IFF codified movements. Level 1 vocabulary uses derivations of commonly known Fusion Bellydance movements, layered with distinct movement principles from Indian dances that Colleen popularized over the years. These movements are templates through which to explore movement principles and qualities unique to this style. This workshop uses a handful of Level 1 Moves, Phrases and Spins to build a graceful choreographed composition.
INDIAN FUSION - LEVEL ONE
Technique, Codified Movement Vocabulary, Composition within the training methodology
INDIAN FUSION - LEVEL TWO
Expanding Concepts, Techniques & Compositions
Level 2 IFF material challenges dancers to work on more complex ‘hidden’ structures of dance making. Through the choreographed phrases taught in this workshop students will develop: an understanding of musicality, explore classical Indian dance dynamics, cultivate powerful momentum and movement dynamics all within this specific aesthetic. This class will be more fast paced than Level 1.
PRANAM: Reverential Salutations
Reverential Salutation: crystallize intention through the body. Experience a creative flow of movements and shapes from Indian dance practices, yoga and the naturally abundant inner landscape of our own body.
Pranam is a reverential salutation common to all the arts of India; including yoga, martial arts and dance. Inspired initially by Odissi, for decades Colleena has been exploring this theme of Pranam which she presents as the very crux of Indian classical dance when viewed as a Yogic practice.
Enter the space where our bodies become a site for the sacred…. Discover what movements want to come through your body as you explore the sacred storytelling through - somatic exploration and gestures of reverence. This is space where we lean into ritual, repetition, trance and all things sacred. You will find some technique (from Sufi whirling, to Odissi) and lots of exploration.
Each class centers on a theme/poem and through choreographed phrases and self-exploration choreography is co-created on a deeply moving soundtrack.
Each Summer Colleena offers this work as MYTHIC BODY DANCE RESIDENCY in Crete, Greece.
All Levels welcome to these classes! Technique can be modified according to one’s capacity.
WHAT IS PRANAM?
Further Questions about a specific upcoming event or to host Colleena in your city, please contact: