Dancing Inside the Music ~ How to Dance Like an Egyptian or Any Other Arab
Monthly 2-Hour Workshops ~ With these workshops under your belt, you need never
feel insecure about dancing to Arabic music again! Each workshop is an affordable $25
in advance (Paypal to leyla@leylalanty.com or contact Leyla) or $30 at the door.
Session #3 ~ Save the Date! ~ Sunday, May 20, 2012, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
(registration at 1:00 pm) at Menlo Gift Bazaar, 780 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, CA
It's time to put a few things together! Quick review of Session #1 and Session #2
technique plus more on listening to music in the Arabic way, followed by putting it all
together and dancing to a classic belly dance musical piece.
Workshops are aimed at student to professional dancers who want to make their dance, choreographed
or improvised, express Arabic music in the moment, from within. Each session, Leyla will break
technique down, body part by body part, then put it all back together in its modified form so you can
achieve an Egyptian/Arabic look and feel in your performances.
You will learn:
Session #1 was presented on Sunday, March 4, and concentrated on head, hands, arms, attitude,
posture, traveling, expressing meaning. All workshops are a very affordable $25 at the door.
Session #2 took place on Sunday, April 22, and concentrated on "On the Spot Dancing" ~ Hip snaps,
tummy pops, squishy squiggles the Egyptian/Arabic style and the music that inspires them.
Send email to leyla@leylalanty.com for more information and to sign up for Leyla’s “Dancing in the
Music” workshops mailing list. There's plenty of free street parking. Following workshops will be on
the 1st or 2nd Sunday of each month.
Leyla: “I want to teach what I’ve learned from studies and workshops with Egyptian master dance
teachers over the last 20+ years, 7 years of performing to live Arabic music for Arabs and hours of
‘just plain dancing’ with Arabs from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and other parts of
the Arab world.”
How do native Arabs react to Leyla’s performances?
--------------------------------------------
Habibi, You Are My WHAT?!
Leyla Lanty's Essential Arabic for Dancers
If you want to know how to put real meaning into your dancing,
this fun, informative workshop is for you.
Leyla presents a toolkit of over fifty of the most commonly heard words and
phrases found in Arabic songs along with gestures and body language that go
with them. She includes cultural notes throughout to explain the context and
underlying meaning of those words and phrases. This will help you understand
the tone and emotion of Arabic songs and how to express them to your audience.
You'll have everyone, even Arabs, wondering where and how you learned Arabic!
Leyla will have you "singing along" with a well known popular song and will give
you insights into two other favorites.
Now Available on DVD.
-----------------------------------------
Play Finger Cymbals Musically & With Confidence
How to play cymbals while you are dancing without
losing either the music or the dance.
In this workshop, you will learn the best cymbal patterns to play with these rhythms and more
plus the most effective way to practice playing while dancing. You will learn the rhythms, their
names in Arabic, and how to differentiate them from one another.
Leyla developed this workshop to teach at Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival in Cairo, Egypt. She has
returned to Cairo to teach it every year since 2006.
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Egyptian Folk Style Cane Dance
You will learn the answers to all these questions and more plus a brief
choreography using Egyptian Saidi, Balady and Ghawazee movements.
Monthly 2-Hour Workshops ~ With these workshops under your belt, you need never
feel insecure about dancing to Arabic music again! Each workshop is an affordable $25
in advance (Paypal to leyla@leylalanty.com or contact Leyla) or $30 at the door.
Session #3 ~ Save the Date! ~ Sunday, May 20, 2012, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
(registration at 1:00 pm) at Menlo Gift Bazaar, 780 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park, CA
It's time to put a few things together! Quick review of Session #1 and Session #2
technique plus more on listening to music in the Arabic way, followed by putting it all
together and dancing to a classic belly dance musical piece.
Workshops are aimed at student to professional dancers who want to make their dance, choreographed
or improvised, express Arabic music in the moment, from within. Each session, Leyla will break
technique down, body part by body part, then put it all back together in its modified form so you can
achieve an Egyptian/Arabic look and feel in your performances.
You will learn:
- How to listen and dance to the music the way Arabs do, how to choose dance movements, body
language, gestures and expressions appropriate to the different layers of Arabic music. - How to dance to live Arabic music even if you've never heard the piece before by improvising the
way an Egyptian or other Arab dancer would improvise. - How to hear what's coming next in an Arabic music piece to make improvising easier, based on
typical structure of most dance songs and compositions. - How to modify your moves for raqs sharqi, folklore and shaabi styles.
- Rhythms for dancers and how to improve zill playing to coordinate with the musicians.
- Arabic words and phrases useful for dancers to know.
Session #1 was presented on Sunday, March 4, and concentrated on head, hands, arms, attitude,
posture, traveling, expressing meaning. All workshops are a very affordable $25 at the door.
Session #2 took place on Sunday, April 22, and concentrated on "On the Spot Dancing" ~ Hip snaps,
tummy pops, squishy squiggles the Egyptian/Arabic style and the music that inspires them.
Send email to leyla@leylalanty.com for more information and to sign up for Leyla’s “Dancing in the
Music” workshops mailing list. There's plenty of free street parking. Following workshops will be on
the 1st or 2nd Sunday of each month.
Leyla: “I want to teach what I’ve learned from studies and workshops with Egyptian master dance
teachers over the last 20+ years, 7 years of performing to live Arabic music for Arabs and hours of
‘just plain dancing’ with Arabs from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and other parts of
the Arab world.”
How do native Arabs react to Leyla’s performances?
- “That’s REAL Arab dancing!”,
- “If I did not know she’s not Egyptian, I would think she IS Egyptian!”
- “Leyla, THANK YOU!”
--------------------------------------------
Habibi, You Are My WHAT?!
Leyla Lanty's Essential Arabic for Dancers
- Do you wonder what Arabic singers are singing about?
- Do you wonder how to interpret Arabic songs to your audience?
If you want to know how to put real meaning into your dancing,
this fun, informative workshop is for you.
Leyla presents a toolkit of over fifty of the most commonly heard words and
phrases found in Arabic songs along with gestures and body language that go
with them. She includes cultural notes throughout to explain the context and
underlying meaning of those words and phrases. This will help you understand
the tone and emotion of Arabic songs and how to express them to your audience.
You'll have everyone, even Arabs, wondering where and how you learned Arabic!
Leyla will have you "singing along" with a well known popular song and will give
you insights into two other favorites.
Now Available on DVD.
-----------------------------------------
Play Finger Cymbals Musically & With Confidence
How to play cymbals while you are dancing without
losing either the music or the dance.
- Do your feet lose their way when you play
- Does playing cymbals twist your fingers into
- Do you know a "malfouf" from an "ayoub," a "balady"
In this workshop, you will learn the best cymbal patterns to play with these rhythms and more
plus the most effective way to practice playing while dancing. You will learn the rhythms, their
names in Arabic, and how to differentiate them from one another.
Leyla developed this workshop to teach at Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival in Cairo, Egypt. She has
returned to Cairo to teach it every year since 2006.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Egyptian Folk Style Cane Dance
- Do you know what kind of music is appropriate for cane dance?
- Which dance movements?
- Which cane movements?
- How to pick a cane up or put it down on stage?
- How to balance a cane on your head (or anything else)?
- How to avoid dropping a cane or throwing it across the
You will learn the answers to all these questions and more plus a brief
choreography using Egyptian Saidi, Balady and Ghawazee movements.
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Leyla Lanty
Hear the Music, Be the Music!
Hear the Music, Be the Music!
Leyla Lanty is available for the workshop topics listed
here. Scroll down farther for workshop descriptions
then click on "Contact" for booking information.
here. Scroll down farther for workshop descriptions
then click on "Contact" for booking information.
- Dancing Inside the Music ~ How to Dance Like
an Egyptian or Any Other Arab ~ Series started
in early March. Session #3 has been
POSTPONED UNTIL late 2012 because of a hip
injury that needs more time to heal. - Habibi, You Are My WHAT?! Essential Arabic for
Dancers - Play Finger Cymbals Musically & with Confidence
- Egyptian Folk Style Cane Dance
