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Huraiva founded Belly Dance Topeka in May of 2008 when the belly dance school she had been teaching for decided to concentrate its efforts on the Kansas City market. Huraiva took that opportunity to develop her own curriculum and expand the amount of information presented in each level. The curriculum now in use incorporates Vintage Oriental and Group Improvisational styles. Huraiva has also added information on Middle Eastern Rhythms, additional props to the Intermediate level classes and additional emphasis on playing finger cymbals.

Currently , Belly Dance Topeka offers classes only through Topeka Parks and Recreation, if you are interested in having regular weekly classes at your location, please email Huraiva at huraiva@huraivaalimah.com and let her know where and when you are interested in holding classes. She is always happy to discuss other options with  you.

Belly Dance Topeka's curriculum is divided into three levels, beginner, intermediate and advanced. Beginning Belly Dance takes 21 1-hour classes or three session to complete the full course, however many students choose to continue Beginning Belly Dance for an additional round of session or to take it concurrently with their first few sessions of Intermediate. The Beginning Belly Dance sessions each focus on a different kind of circle (horizontal, vertical and sagital) as well as covering basic cabaret and group improvisation moves. Huraiva provides a student manual via email for free to all Beginning Belly Dance students. The student manual includes a checklist to help the student determine when they are ready to move on to Intermediate Belly Dance.

Intermediate Belly Dance takes 28 1.5-hour  classes or four session to complete the full course. Most students take a second round of all four sessions as there is a lot of material covered and it is difficult to master it all the first time through. Some students also choose to continue enrollment in Intermediate Belly Dance concurrently with Advanced when they first move up. Intermediate Belly Dance focuses on figure 8s and the use of props (skirt, half circular veil, rectangular veil and cane.) Huraiva provides a student manual via email for free to all Intermediate Belly Dance students as well as links to youtube videos of the choreographies taught in intermediate. The Intermediate Student Manual includes a checklist to help students decide when they are ready to move on to Advanced Belly Dance.

Advanced Belly Dance is a constantly changing curriculum. The topics covered in Advanced depend on the interest of the students in the class and materials that Huraiva feels are important to cover or topics that she feels would be enjoyable. Recent topics have included Spanish Gypsy, Advanced Zils, and Fans. When a student joins Advanced Belly Dance it is assumed they are familiar with the props covered in Intermediate Belly Dance and that they can play their  finger cymbals while dancing.

In addition the the three levels mentioned above, Belly Dance Topeka offers a Belly Dance Cardio Workout class which uses beginner level moves to create a low impact workout.

You can find out more about all of the above classes by visiting the Class Information page.

E-mail Huraiva at huraiva@huraivaalimah.com