Dance de la Terre
Original Contemporary Dance, with a Fitness Flare
Created & Taught by Romy Keegan
HEALING * JOYFUL * COMMUNITY DANCE
Dance de la Terre is an original, welcoming, beginner-friendly, community oriented blend of natural, organic West African movement, accented and embellished with the most accessible elements of ballet, modern and jazz. This playful fusion produces a unique contemporary style of dance that gets your beautiful, powerful body moving, while offering extended lines, dynamic shapes, and joyous self expression!
Schedule
Dance de la Terre I & II
Mondays & Wednesdays
6:00-7:30pm
Monday evening introduces a FUN, basic combo, while Wednesday evening adds some “bells and whistles”, for a more developed combo. Both classes are mixed level, perfect for beginning dancers, yet layered with optional complexities for more experienced dancers of any level.
Dance de la Terre III
Sundays
3:30-5pm
Sunday afternoon, while standing on it’s own, builds on the foundational movements from Monday and Wednesday classes, offering longer combos for a full, super fun, expressive and dynamic choreography. This is an intermediate to “advancing” level class, for dancers with a little more experience.
Ceremonial Dance de la Terre
Tuesdays
11:00-12:15pm MST
This online and in-person class opens with prayer and a short oracle card reading, along with the “calling in” of the Directions and Elements for Sacred Space in which to dance and celebrate the Wild Natural Divine, within and without. It draws on the joyful, beginning level movement from Monday evening class, and closes with a meditational cool-down and blessing.
Class Cards & Discounted Monthly Payments
To make a payment for a class or to purchase a class card, please visit the link below.
Make a PaymentMore about Dance de la Terre: Dance of the Earth
Original Community Contemporary Dance & Fitness, for dancers of all levels!
With a reverent bow to ALL my dance teachers along the Way,
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first and foremost, my inspirational mother, dancer and painter, Gina Shaw,
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through her to my Grandmother and Great Aunt, who were known as Sonja & Bianca, a celebrated dance duo in Germany, Europe and the US,
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to my primary West African dance teachers, Sarah Brown, Kim Vetter, Rujeko Dumbutshena and Mary Nakigan, as well as deeply valued guest, master teachers, Yousef Kombasa, Amara Camara, Titos Sampa, and M’biba Benge, among others,
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to my secondary ballet and contemporary teachers, Suzanne Johnson and Celia Dale,
Dance de la Terre, (Dance of the Earth), is the original, joyful expression and continued exploration and development of my own unique, personal, dance and movement vocabulary. It is inspired by a lifetime of ballet training and over 25 years of West African dance, and intended to capture the spirit, energy, and open-accessibility of a community African dance class, (with its repetitive, organic and natural movement), while harnessing the focus, flexibility, strength, and grace, inherent in the most accessible elements of ballet, modern and jazz.
The original and creative utilization of these movements produces a playful, dynamic, and exuberantly graceful contemporary fusion, suitable and accessible, for everyone who LOVES TO DANCE!
Dance de la Terre, (formerly Ballet-Afrique) was first introduced to my closest students in the autumn of 2012, and continues to blossom and grow through these on-going, supportive, playful, community dance classes. It is also the unique and magickal movement used for choreography in Dancing Our Magick: Dancing the Directions to Awaken a Magickal Life, a seven week workshop blending magickal principles with magickal movement.
Curious? Check out Seasonal Ceremonial Workshops.
CLASS
Naturally aerobic and energizing movements are broken down and moved across the floor, both right and left sides, for initial exercise and pure joy of natural movement. Totally accessible lines, shapes & movements that flow, utilize core strength and develop inherent grace, are then woven throughout, embellishing and accenting the overall expression of the choreography and of the dancers present. Class begins and ends with stretching and strengthening exercises and important technique designed for the whole dancer. Each class is its own full lesson, so dancers have the freedom to drop-in, building their abilities and comfort levels based entirely on their own time and inspiration!
ATTIRE
Wear anything that you can move and stretch in, and feel joyful, beautiful, handsome and free in – we tend to wear leggings or dance shorts with a dress or skirt & shirt on top. We dance barefoot, but ballet shoes, jazz shoes, and even sneakers are welcome if needed or desired!
