Dear Dancers,
I have lots of news to share today.
Belly Dance Class Cancelations due to Covid-19
First of all, due to the extension of the shelter-in-place order to May 3rd, the City of South San Francisco has cancelled all Spring 2020 in-person classes. If you were registered for either of my belly dance classes through the SSF Parks and Rec you will be issued a credit or a refund directly from them.
Future In-Person Belly Dance Classes
I have information below about how we can keep dancing together while honoring the vital shelter-in-place rules. But first a look ahead: I’ve updated my Classes Page with info on the Summer 2020 sessions of Beginning Belly Dance and Intermediate Belly Dance. Our scheduled start date for the Summer Session is Wednesday June 24th. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!!
Registration for the Summer Session opens on Monday, May 3rd for South San Francisco residents and Monday, May 18th for non-residents. If you are on my mailing list, I will send out an email reminder on the 18th. Not on my list yet? Contact me and I will put you on!
Let’s Keep Belly Dancing in the Meantime…
We can still dance together while saying safe! I’ve had a lot of fun learning to teach on Zoom. I am currently offering mini online dance lessons for free so we can keep dancing. Please contact me if you would like an invitation to join us.
I am also working on recorded belly dance instruction for the South San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department website. It is my understanding that these videos will also be offered for free to the community, so please stay tuned for more information about that when I have it.
I’m working on a few other goodies to keep us inspired as well, so please check back back or sign up for notification of new blog posts. I have a great archive of belly dance clips here on my blog, many annotated with what I like about the clip and how it relates to the things I teach in class, and I will be updating and adding to this over the next weeks.
How Can I Help?
Of course, there are many ways to help, probably most essentially donating to food banks or other charities on the front lines, and making masks. However, if you are interested specifically in supporting the belly dance community at this time, a great way is to support the venues that host live music belly dance events. You can purchase a gift certificate or order takeout from your favorite Middle Eastern restaurant to help ensure that they are still there when this is behind us and we can all get together and dance again. Not sure where to help? Please consider purchasing a gift certificate to Al Masri Egyptian Restaurant in San Francisco. Al Masri is owned and operated by a belly dancer and provides a wonderful venue for live music, Student Nights and professional belly dance shows. It is an irreplaceable part of our community.
Thank you
I’d like to end by offering my thanks to all the essential workers in our community. Words are not enough to express out appreciation for your sacrifices, but they are all we have. So thank you for keeping our society going and keeping the rest of us safe.