An Interview with Jose Traba

Peridance's, Jose Traba began teaching while his performing career was still in full force. For Jose, teaching has always been a natural extension of his dance career and is now his number one priority. I spoke to Jose to learn a little more about this dedicated ballet teacher. Here is what he had to say:

What is your background?

I was born in Havana, Cuba, but I grew up in New York City and I have lived here with the exception of about twenty years I spent touring various places. After touring, I returned to New York to take a position dancing with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, one of my most enjoyable jobs.

How did you transition to teaching?

I had already started teaching while I was still performing because I thought it was important to begin the transition early and it really was a natural extension of my career. After I had a huge injury I gradually began teaching more and more.

How is it teaching open classes?

It is important to realize as the teacher, 90 percent of the time your students expect you to bring the energy to the room. It is part of the job to posses this energy and share it with your dancers. Since I am not teaching in a conservator setting, most of my students are dancing recreationally. This means I have to make class fun and enjoyable for them and also I have to be more flexible in the class I am giving. Yet, I find that even more serious students would benefit from loosening up in class. Fear and tension are enemies to every dancer’s training, so letting go a little is the best way to let the information into your mind.

What do you do in addition to teaching at Peridance?

I guest teach, I have worked the convention circuit, I am a certified fitness instructor, and I teach at the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries. I have been both a teacher and a judge for Dance Educators of America. At these conventions you teach one-hour classes for five to six hours straight. It is quite a grueling day for the kids and the teachers. Teaching the conventions has been an education for me because kids come from all walks of life and dance backgrounds.

What is your class at the Harkness Center?

At Harkness, I teach a class for dancers that is half-and-half, fitness training and ballet. The class begins with the fitness portion focusing on core strength through exercises from Pilates and yoga. In the second half the students apply what they worked on to classical ballet. I think this is important because they can make a direct connection between the more targeted training of muscles and their ballet practice.

Are you working on any choreography right now?

I do choreograph, but my first focus is really teaching. I do choreography upon request for companies, schools, and individuals and have very much enjoyed the process and the end products I have created. Recently I have created pieces for students of mine who are going to competitions like Varna in Bulgaria. I also do one-on-one coaching for dancers who are about to go away as guest artists.

Jose teaches:

Advanced Beginner Tuesdays, Thursdays, & Fridays, 2:30pm-4:00pm

Beginner Saturdays, 6:30pm-8:00pm

For more information on Jose's classes or Peridance click here.

Please feel free to leave any comments or questions you might have.

Article about Peridance on Want to Dance!

Canadian blogger, Jackielou Perez paid a visit to Peridance while she was in New York, click here to see what she wrote.

One of the World’s Oldest Dance Styles

Peridance is excited to add Belly Dance with Andrea Beeman to the Fall Schedule!

Most people have heard of belly dance and even have a mental image of a girl scantily clad and enveloped in beads... but what really is belly dance?

The ancient art of belly dance can trace its roots to the dance & music arts which began to develop over 4,000 years ago in North Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Asia. These diverse areas share a rich tradition of music and dance which were performed to celebrate harvests, weddings, circumcisions and seasonal changes, and to honor special guests and to mark significant civic occasions. There are different theories about how the dance spread from region to region, but many now believe that when the Roma from India migrated west through Afghanistan and Persia, characteristics of their dance mingled with the traditions of the indigenous communities where they eventually settled. Another theory traces the dance's development to religious rituals, which were performed in ancient, matriarchal societies.

The movements of modern Belly Dance draw from North African, Arabic, Persian, Greek, Balkan,Turkish, Roma & Indian folkloric traditions. Some therapeutic and ritualistic qualities of the dance are still practiced today in Morocco, Egypt, Algeria & Tunisia. Belly Dance was first seen in America in 1876, but did not draw public attention until 1893 when it was presented at the Chicago World's Fair, where it caused quite a stir. Fully clothed dancers from Tunisia, Eqypt and Turkey scandalized the Victorian crowds with their exposed ankles, "convolutions" and "suggestive" movements, resulting in a stigma the dance has only now begun to shed.

In the 1920s, in Cairo, Algiers and Beirut, the Cabaret style of Belly Dance began to develop. The Egyptian film industry began to flourish at this time, featuring many dancers in its films. Hollywood exerted a strong influence on the costumes of this time and rhinestones, glass beads and sequins covered bras and hip belts, replacing the figure-hugging baladi dresses that previously covered dancers from head to foot. Thus, Hollywood's fantasy of the Orient played a large role in creating the current Western image of Belly Dance.

Baladi dress (left)

Hollywood inspired costume (right)

Belly Dance has crossed many borders and spawned many hybrid forms over the centuries. For instance, in U.S. Tribal Style, Belly Dance combines with North African Dance, Flamenco, and Classical Indian influences to create a unique style. In any form, Belly Dance remains a dance of self-expression, capable of conveying a range of emotions, and empowering dancers—women and men, young and old--as they experience the joyous exuberance inherent in one of the oldest dance forms in the world.

At Peridance…

Andrea Beeman's Belly Dance classes focus mainly on a classic Arabic technique, which in the last 40 years has been most influenced by the modern Egyptian style. To this strong foundation of Arabic isolations and body movements, Andrea adds Turkish, North African, Roma, Indian & Persian Gulf stylings, as well as some contemporary fusion combinations. Developing musicality & understanding the Middle Eastern rhythms which inspire the movements is an integral part of mastering this diverse and mesmerizing dance art form, so as dancers develop, Andrea also teaches the art of playing finger cymbals or zills.

Belly Dance comes from very old traditions of dance, do people need to wear anything in particular for class?

To better feel and see the movements of the hips, a hip scarf can be worn around the hips in class. A hip scarf can be a simple, triangular fringed shawl or a more elaborate fabric covered with coins, beads or sequins. Belly Dance is best done bare foot, so the dancer can feel the connection between the earth, feet and hips. Comfortable dance workout clothes complete the ensemble.

Why is it important to have a live drummer for class?

The unique rhythms played by the darbukah or dumbek--the goblet shaped drum heard in Middle Eastern music--are the heartbeat of the dance, directing the feeling & tempo of the movements. Having a live drummer in class helps students better understand the rhythms themselves as well as their intrinsic relationship to the movements. During live performances of Middle Eastern dance & music, the rapport between the drummer and dancer is very important; giving students the opportunity to experience this relationship in class helps prepare them for performances with live music. Every student may not aspire to perform, but a live drummer makes the class experience itself more exhilarating.

Andrea, why did you choose Belly Dance?

In 1988, I studied Japanese Butoh dance with Yokio Waguri of Nakajima. He compared my instinctual movement during improvisation to that of Salome, so I decided to try a Belly Dance class to see what he meant. I immediately became fascinated by Belly Dance: the sensuous serpentine movements & the incredible music inspired the self-expression I had been searching for in other dance art forms. Before I knew it, I was taking several Belly Dance classes each week, performing with different companies in New York, & eventually, teaching & sharing my passion for the dance with others. I don't think I chose Belly Dance, I think it chose me.

See Andrea in performance:

Andrea Beeman teaches at Peridance:

Thursday 8:30-9:45 and Sunday 5:30-6:45

For more information on her classes visit our website.