Tahja's belly dance classes are taught in a very supportive environment. Discover the extraordinary dancer in YOU!
Belly Dance is for Everyone!
“When we Dance we are Happy,
and when we are Happy, we Dance!”
Tahja offers these Options for Classes:
Indoors in a spacious studio in Sarasota Mondays 7-8pm
Private Lessons via Zoom
Professional Dance Coaching
Click here to sign up to receive updates on class schedules.
Please Call or Text (941) 284-6996 or email Tahja if you would like to attend.
Rates:
$30 per class DROP IN RATE. This can be applied to the monthly rate if you are just trying out one class and then decide you want to continue.
$25 per class MONTHLY RATE ( if paying for the whole month in advance). There is no refund for missed classes with the monthly rate.
SUPER SAVER: $20 per class if paying for 3 months in advance. Life happens! If you find you have to discontinue classes after paying the SUPER SAVER rate, don’t fret! You will be refunded less $30 per class for any classes attended during that 3 month period.
You can pay pay by CASH or CHECK the first class of the month.
Drop ins only allowed with advance notice. Please call to register: (941) 284-6996
PRIVATE LESSONS $80 per hour 1 person, or share the experience: $100 for 2 people.
Zoom: Dance with Tahja from anywhere in the world! No need to drive! Dance from your own home! Private Lessons.
Call to start your life as a Belly Dancer:
(941) 284-6996
PROFESSIONAL DANCE COACHING $50 Send a youtube video of yourself dancing to Tahja. You will receive a 1/2 hr phone consultation as well as a personalized written list of recommendations to make your dance performances even more spectacular! There is a wealth of helpful information that you can continue to refer back to.
For more info, please email Tahja
Feel Supported while you Learn
Click here to email us.
or Call or Text (941) 284-6996 to join the classes.
The Dance Studio is centrally located in Sarasota Florida. You must call and register for the studio location. Please, no “drop ins” without an advance reservation. Thank you.
Why belly dance?
The BEST reason to dance is not because it’s incredible for the body, creates grace, poise, flexibility among hundreds of other benefits, the BEST REASON TO DANCE is that it is SO FUN!!!
“Take a Chance and Belly Dance!”
Every one can Belly Dance!
All it takes is a decision!
Tahja is a master teacher with 40 years experience as a teacher and performer. She works with all levels. With Tahja’s expertise and unique teaching techniques, even the shyest beginners will evolve into beautiful expressive dancers, and professional dancers will become stronger performers with a deeper understanding of the culture and internalization of the art.
Click here for info on Belly Dance Certification Course
Belly Dance Changes Lives
Create your own group for belly dance classes, or take a Private Lesson at a time that works for you via Zoom!
To view our Belly Dance Shows page, click here
Belly Dance Gift Certificates, Coin Belts, and Costumes available for purchase.
Contact Tahja for details
Call or Text: (941) 284-6996
Learn the ancient magical art of Belly Dancing in Sarasota with Tahja!
What Tahja's students are saying:
Annie at Miss Chinese America contest in NY
"Hello Tahja! I just wanted to send you some good news. The talent show was last Friday night and I made top 5! Honesty, I didn't think I would even make top 8 because I'm competing against girls that've been dancing their whole entire life. One of the girls, her talent is even her career. I was so shocked that I made it. Well that just means they loved the dance you taught me! Thanks Tahja!!!!!" Annie
Zohar
“A good part of my success was due to participating in belly dance classes from Tahja of International Productions. I am grateful for Tahja's dance and teaching style which allows each student to progress at their own pace while having fun learning authentic dance moves. Each time I dance I learn a little more....dancing helped me to gain confidence that rippled out into my whole life. Dance like there's no tomorrow!"
Jeanne later became a Belly Dance instructor herself and influenced hundreds of women!
"If you have been thinking about it, you need to do it…..join Tahja’s Belly Dance Class! It’s fabulous & fun. I came to the class with a love for dance & wanted to do something enjoyable for myself, but had never Belly Danced before. I was in a middle age slump & my self confidence was low. Tahja turned me around, got me back into dancing shape & I feel great. I look forward to class each week, seeing my dance friends & performing at special events."
Zohar now performs regularly with International Productions for shows and events
Jeannie the Magic Jeannie
“The Tahja Technique of Middle Eastern Dance” is considered one of the most comprehensive curriculum available in the world today for the serious student of Middle Eastern dance arts.
The “Tahja Technique” is a source for the truly serious artist. It is movement, culture, and musical understanding, integrated with the spiritual essence of the dance. Unveil your authentic self through Middle Eastern dance.
Whether you want to learn basic Middle Eastern dance moves for fun & fitness, or you are a more serious and experienced dancer who wants to become more refined in your art, you will find it all taking classes with Tahja, a Master teacher with decades of experience!
Dedicated to bringing out more than you ever thought you would be! All levels are welcome!
Benefits of Belly Dance:
Get in shape while having fun and learning something new!
A wonderful way to meet new friends
A confidence booster. You can improve yourself no matter what your age or physical condition.
Unleash the feminine, become subtly sexy
You’ll become more graceful and coordinated
Concentration and balance is greatly improved
Good for the heart! Improves circulation.
Improves posture.
Helps with fitness: tones and firms muscles so your body looks and feels trimmer
Sculpts the body. These ancient moves are designed to create a shapely, strong, curvaceous and sensual body
Helps to achieve and maintain your ideal weight in a way that dieting alone can’t
A great complexion enhancer. Your overall appearance will improve as you radiate more energy
A good way to develop quicker reflexes
Decreases your appetite by secreting endorphins to the brain
Great for combating fatigue by increasing your energy
A super way to get rid of stress
A stimulator in the digestion system
Counters the feeling of being stiff or rigid, as this is a wonderful way to get into the “flow” and improve flexibility.
You learn to use your body in a natural fluid way as opposed to repetitive or jumping motions that are less natural and can be hard on the joints.
It’s loads of fun!
Renew your mid-section. Have a new relationship with your belly!
It’s a wonderful outlet for creativity and expression
A good way to unwind and relax
Excellent for self awareness (learn to move parts you never thought would even move!)
Feel more sensuous and alive
Learn about other cultures and better understand their music and traditions
You’ll meet many warm and friendly people
It’s good for the mind to learn something new! Challenge yourself!
It is endorsed by many doctors as a healing modality
You’ll learn to gain control and awareness of your body movement.
It is one of the healthiest forms of exercise for all ages (Tahja has had students with ages from 5 to 95 in her classes!)
Connect your mind/ body/ dancing spirit
Inspire your passionate self.
You might even want to perform!
There is no good reason not to dance!
This is why I dance:
The Gypsies by Tahja
Butterfly with wings of gold
Why don’t you do as you’ve been told
You flitter here, you flitter there,
My teacher said “you can’t go here”
You haven’t the body, arms nor legs
You’re way to fat to move with grace
Your hair is wrong, your skin too white
You don’t even know your left from right
Give up now without a fight
You’re enthusiasm is all wrong
We’re dancing to a classic song
There’s no shimmeys or drops allowed
You better behave and follow the crowd
Never a dancer you will be here
You better think of another career.
Tell your mother to save disgrace
And find her daughter another place
This dancing thing’s not meant to be
For one who is as “round” as thee
There are other things that you might do
Perhaps you might work at a zoo
You like animals after all, don’t you?
With your body shape all will agree
To become a chef must be your destiny
We know that you must love to eat
So why try to be what our approval does not meet
You’re an embarrassment to your family
The way you got up and danced at that formal tea
You might as well right now go home
Don’t flit around, don’t start to roam
Your wrestles spirit doesn’t fit the mold
You need to do as you’ve been told
For your dance lessons we’ll refund the fee
Just promise not to aspire to a dancer be
As my teacher sighed “oh woe is she”
And so they told me, it’s not for me
“You are young, full of life
You’ll grow up and be a wife
All this desire to flitter and float
And jump and dance will leave you in a moat”
But dance is born of desire deep
It transcends all laws and vows to keep
There are no rules in my head space
I am a dancer, just in the wrong place
A dancer is not who I “grow to be”
It is “who I am”, just like “a tree is a tree”
This started back before I was born
From a desire to move, to sing, to roam
My grandmother told me tales of old
When she was young, this is what she was told
Watch out for the gypsies, they’ll steal your horse
Hide everything, they have no remorse
When they’d come to town, she would hear
She hid herself, but tried to get near
She loved the colors, it created a trance
Of swirls of joy while they danced
The violins they played so pure
It put her heart all in a whirl
“It must be great to be so free
To dance so wild beside the trees”
And so she to her papa asked
To take dance lessons, of course he gasped
This was not something she could ever do
They had not the means, too many chores
Bringing up her siblings since her mother lived no more
Her papa said it was not the time nor place
To dance like a gypsy would be a disgrace
And so this desire slept inside her heart
Never to be of her life a part
But like all types of energy
It re-emerges is some fantasy
As a young child, she wove for me a blanket of stories
Of the dancing gypsies, and her desire to move with no worries
No matter the type of body, space, time, means, or place
The gypsies danced without this thought of “disgrace”
My grandmother, a dancer desired to be
And so in this dance she lives through me