Austin Bellydance

I take classes from Liora and just had to write her a glowing review! She teaches the history of bellydance, traditions based on region, instruments, songs, sounds, and the dance moves themselves with enthusiasm and a smile. The studio has a full mirror so you can see your form and make corrections as you practice and learn. Liora’s teaching offers no judgement and breaks down dance movements by muscle group to really help you understand and learn at a base level before speeding things up. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys dancing or wants a good workout while learning something fun.

I take Lily Tsai’s Thursday night belly dance class. She is a fantastic teacher. She is kind, motivating and able to help us understand complex steps in a more simple way. One of the very special things about Lily is her dedication to understanding the history of belly dance. She knows why something is Egyptian or Turkish, for example, and what it conveys. As a performer, she is absolutely sublime.

The desire to shimmy and shake my way across ATX overtook me recently and my search for the right class took me to Bahaia’s belly dance class. And, right away, it was obvious that I wiggled in the right direction. Bahaia is a great instructor. I almost don’t want to put her on Unilocal.I feel like the survivor of a plane crash with that one lone bar of chocolate, asking myself if I really want to share. But just like the plane crash survivor, I know it isn’t fair to keep everything for myself. So, here goes… I give you… Bahaia.
Seriously, these classes are mega-​fun. She teaches the techniques of belly dances, interspersed with just the right amount of the history of belly dance to keep it grounded. Plus she adds in the that extra bit of sparkle that keeps it interesting. (Not that a jiggling belly isn’t interesting enough.)
Bahaia has a history as a performer and still performs here in some ATX clubs on occasion. She has been studying or teaching belly dance throughout her adult life. SO, you know that she is teaching you the real thing. Plus with her history as a performer and belly dance choreographer, she teaches you how you can put all those techniques together into actual dances. Most importantly, she never loses sight of the fun.
As for me, well, I’ll keep attending because I have a thing for dance classes that are taken barefoot while sultry, rhythmic music plays. Nothing better than that on a Sunday evening.
A final word about the particulars: She teaches classes in belly dancing at Arthur Murray Dance Studios and Flamencura. The classes run in 8 week cycles at a cost of $ 120.00, with discount given for taking more than one class per week. The Arthur Murray studio is a large studio located off of 183, and Flamencura is a smaller, intimate studio located off Burnet Road. I mention studio size because it necessarily imposes limits on class size. The classes held at Flamencura have fewer students in them so they fill up quickly.