Thread: Spin off: Weirdest places for a BD class!

What/where is the weirdest place you've held, or attended, a Belly Dance class or workshop?

Mine was this last Saturday - our usual class venue was closed at the last minute due to circumstances beyond our control; so our teacher decided to hold class in the local city park, right next to the busiest street in town. We danced to the accompaniment of honking horns, yells & catcalls, and the occasional screeching tires/brakes! We were trying to practice a veil choreography whilst avoiding stepping in goose droppings!

It was hysterical! We decided that, if this situation ever happens again, we're coming in full costume - might as well be beautiful if everyone's gonna watch us practice! As it was, most of us were in something skimpy and sparkly.

The other odd one was years ago sneaking into a school auditorium for classes - the teacher had lost her space and hadn't found a new one yet. The school didn't find out what was going on for about 3 months - by then she'd found her new space.

my friend and i had to quickly rehearse a number that had long been forgotten 15 minutes before the show was supposed to start. the only free place, devoid of customers happened to be the meat refrigerator in the restaurant. so there we were, full bd regalia, big poofy circle skirts trying not to knock into the rack of lamb. they even had a whole pig hanging in the very back corner. needless to say, we sped through the rehearsal....cause that place smelled baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddd....

Two of my classes are held in the Department of Public Works building - you know, where they keep the snowplows and road equipment? New students are always getting lost the first night of a class session because it just does not look like the type of place you would take a Belly Dance class.

If there is any type of evening snow or road emergency (like a tree down), I can fully expect to have the occasional burly man in work boots and an orange vest walk right through the room in the middle of class. They usually seem more startled to see us than we are to see them!

Mine is pretty tame, but cool. I'm meeting with my troupe on the top floor of an ooooold church. It's kind of dusty and dirty and not very air conditioned, so we prop open the old windows and run fans. It's got an elevator none of us dare use and broken pews and strange noises, very creepy at night. Something about it inspires me though, and it's going to make for some amazing photos when we get our costumes together.

The first time I was getting ready to perform a dress rehearsal, me and another dancer had to change in a utility room of a building that had lost power. So there was some kind of bare naked lighting that helped us so we didn't trip on our own costumes. Then we came out to be "inspected" by my instructor who was checking us over with a lantern of some sort, along with the guy who was head of the place. My instructor was telling us that mishaps like this can happen and you just keep acting like business as usual, but the guy who ran the building was amazed that we could change into costumes when it was practically dark in that closet.

We used to practice at an Acupuncture office-she had a big room she wasn't using in the evenings. It was all good until she rented another of the rooms to a woman who did some kind of skin/facial therapy? who complained about our making too much noise, what with the stomping, zaghareeting and coins and all. Needless to say, we got kicked out because she paid more in rent than we did.

I taught a one time class to a women's roller derby team! (they wanted to learn how to free up their hips more to knock the other team out!..g.:). I taught it in the middle of the rink on a Sunday morning. I have to say they were a BLAST and I had a REALLY good time teaching it! (my mother who will be 85 on Wednesday said "Oh you watch out for those girls, they are really tough girls!" as if this is the 1940's,r:;).

Well when my teacher lost the studio key one time we ended up in a classmates basements. Dancing around the pool table was weird

Alrana

I've taken a class in a morrocan resturaunt. They just pushed the tables back and we danced. It was gross.
I've given a class in my dads giant foyer. It was weird.

There's this place in PA that my friend used to teach, where we shot a promo and a news segment for one the local TV stations. It was an *ahem* adult oriented "lingerie" store with an entire dance studio built underneath it.

The place was set up to attract women to browse their female friendly offerings as you were leaving class. I remember looking at a large rubber phalus and thinking it might be appropriate to balance on my head instead of a sword!!!..l;,..l;,

The owner of my local doggie day care lives in my neighborhood and always treats my corgi like her own when I drop him off for day care or boarding.

When she found out I was a belly dancer, she promptly offered the doggie day care space for classes if I wanted it! The day care is huge, in a large warehouse, but fur is everywhere and it smells like, well, dog. I haven't taken her up on it, but I get a kick out of imagining belly dance classes held at a doggie day care.

I used to teach private session's in my chiropractor's business office. It was where he would meet with clients. He allowed me to install mirrors on the wall beside his diplomas. We would do our lessons between the refrigerator and a big hanging spine!

Both of these were troupe rehearsals, not classes, but...

1. a back room in the kitchen of a Portuguese restaurant

2. A room with no right angles and very few parallel lines in it anywhere and very high twisted walls in a building designed by Frank Gehry. It made people (all people, not just the dancers) dizzy just to sit in that room, never mind try to dance in it.

in an empty mobile home at a weird artsy high school in the woods and most of my students were 16 year old boys and they wanted to do veil!

Originally Posted by eshtabellydance

in an empty mobile home at a weird artsy high school in the woods and most of my students were 16 year old boys and they wanted to do veil!

i think this one's the winner
..l;,

Originally Posted by eshtabellydance

in an empty mobile home at a weird artsy high school in the woods and most of my students were 16 year old boys and they wanted to do veil!

Guys *love* veil, if they will allow themselves to. I've heard a few stories from teachers.

Originally Posted by _Tanya_

The place was set up to attract women to browse their female friendly offerings as you were leaving class. I remember looking at a large rubber phalus and thinking it might be appropriate to balance on my head instead of a sword!!!..l;,..l;,

This one wins, hands down! ..l;,..l;,

I actually teach in a barn. The ceiling in the part where the studio is has very low ceilings and big rough hewn posts supporting the ceiling. It's quite cozy but not good for working with veils. It's a bit noisy too when there are tractors going past the window harvesting soybeans :)

Originally Posted by _Tanya_

There's this place in PA that my friend used to teach, where we shot a promo and a news segment for one the local TV stations. It was an *ahem* adult oriented "lingerie" store with an entire dance studio built underneath it.

The place was set up to attract women to browse their female friendly offerings as you were leaving class. I remember looking at a large rubber phalus and thinking it might be appropriate to balance on my head instead of a sword!!!..l;,..l;,

This is a winner!!!

Alrana