DANCE STYLES
ODISSI: Classical Indian Temple Dance
Odissi offers an embodied culture of devotion that weaves languid stances with poetry, musical complexity and acting.
I invite you into a safe and sacred space for deep transformation.
Explore the intricate footwork, nuanced gestures, and sculptural poses of Odissi through a yogic lens. Both languid and vigorous, Odissi embodies a dynamic balance of masculine and feminine energies within the dancing body. Renowned for its sensuous tribhaṅgī S-curve and expressive sidelong glances, this devotional dance form is rich with ritualized movement, sanctifying the body as an offering to the divine.
Each person comes to the dance for their own reason, yet all encounter a process of inner transformation.
Classes begin with warm-up and conditioning, followed by technical training, choreographic compositions and when time allows, engagement with the theory, philosophy, classical music and cultural context of the form.
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 ~ a continuous exploration of shape, curve and musicality.
Move through rich, immersive soundscapes as the body leads the way into unfolding sequences ~petals peeling back to reveal rippling undulations, generous arches of the spine, and grounded, earthy hips that drop into deep, bass-driven rhythms.
Rather than relying on the patriarchal and colonial framing of the term “bellydance,” we reclaim these movement pathways from the inside out. Drawing inspiration from fusion movement vocabularies, we approach them through felt experience rather than fixed labels, allowing the body’s own intelligence to guide expression.
These classes invite an exploration of Śṛṅgāra Rasa: the fullness of femininity, beauty, sensuality and emotional depth through both structured technique and intuitive movement exploration.
Less about technical perfection and more about embodied feeling, these sessions still include foundational technique, compositional phrases and guided sequences.
All levels welcome ~ 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 woven through the arts of India - present in yoga, martial traditions and classical dances. Rooted initially in Odissi, Colleena has been exploring this theme for decades, presenting Pranam as the very essence of Indian classical dance when approached as a yogic practice.
Enter a space where the body becomes a site for the sacred.
Discover what movements wish to arise as you explore embodied storytelling through somatic inquiry and gestures of reverence. This is a space that leans into ritual, repetition, trance and the sacred dimensions of movement.
Classes weave together elements of technique (from Odissi to Sufi whirling) with expansive guided exploration, allowing the body’s own symbolic language to emerge.
Each session is centered around a theme or poem, held within a deeply evocative soundtrack, through which choreographed phrases and self-directed exploration come together in a co-creation.
Each summer, Colleena offers this work in her Mythic Body Dance Residency in Crete.
All levels are welcome.Techniques can be adapted according to each individual’s capacity.
WHAT IS PRANAM?
Further Questions about a specific upcoming event or to host Colleena in your city, please contact: