Sep 22-26, 2025
Los Altos High School
Janelle Rodriguez
Artistic director
Desert Dream Dance Company
The physiology and math of belly dance
Art & Science
As a long-time Middle Eastern dance artist, I will discuss some of the art's history, music and context of what we sometimes call "Belly Dance". The rhythms of this music might be new to some of you or you might find some similarites to popular music in the States. I will play a few of these rhythmic patterns and have the students follow along with clapping or body percussion (we can play our legs and bellies). After a brief warmup, we will work on body movement isolations of the torso and hips. The students can do this at their seats. The defining feature of belly dance is isolation of hip and abdominal movements, which involve the gluteus, oblique and both upper and lower abdominal muscles. It might be a new way to move the body and mind connections but we can collectively fake it to gain an appreciation of what the dancer works with. We will also briefly talk about the different shapes we can create with our bodies to further express the music.
We will work out a sequence of movements to several bars of music - a small choreography to take home!
Meet the Speaker:
Janelle Rodriguez is a belly dance performer, choreographer and instructor who has trained in many styles of dance since the age of 5. Based in Santa Cruz, California, Janelle teaches classes and serves as artistic director/choreographer of Desert Dream Dance Company and leads the local Salimpour Dance Collective. She also directs the Desert Dream Music Ensemble (has been on hiatus since 2020). With Desert Dream Dance Company and as a solo artist, Janelle gives workshops and performs across the US, inspiring audiences with her musical interpretation and creative expression of belly dance. Janelle’s early background includes ballet, jazz, tap, modern dance, gymnastics, hip-hop and Mexican Folklore.
A prominent and respected instructor throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast of California, Janelle enjoys sharing her knowledge and love of Middle Eastern and Arabic dance through teaching, which further encourages her to improve and grow in her own dance training and artistry.