This belly dancing class is unlike others you may have tried (and if you’ve never tried it, now’s the time!). Both a workout and instruction, we take time to review fundamental belly dance movements and foundations and use what we’ve learned in dance fitness routines that will leave you sweaty. We use an eclectic playlist including popular, world, electronic, and classical Egyptian music. Beginners and advanced dancers are welcome!

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Please call or text Kayla at 505-550-2635 with questions, or email kaylasnailit@gmail.com

$10

Kayla has been teaching dance for fun and fitness for the past two decades. She grew

up dancing and has studied jazz, modern, hip hop, belly dance, ballet, African dance,

and most partner dances (country, ballroom, Latin, and swing). She enjoys sharing her

favorite music, providing a safe space for expression, and helping students discover

they can move in ways they never thought possible! Her lighthearted and patient

approach to teaching focuses on having fun first, learning dance techniques along the

way, and helping each individual get what they need out of class, whether it be

cardiovascular endurance, building confidence and love for their bodies, or engaging

with the community in a meaningful way.

Ecstatic dance is a spontaneous, expressive, and meditative movement practice. It occurs in a safe and non-judgmental environment where creative possibilities are infinite, and freedom and joy preside. Dancers move barefooted and without verbal interaction. The facilitator holds sacred space by setting a focus, offering a poem, or other suggestions, and with sophisticated music sequences crafted to evoke spiritual connection in personal movement. No experience is needed—just a willingness to move and be moved. The eclectic music gradually builds to a high energy level then winds down to a meditative, relaxing finish. Be prepared to sweat. The ecstatic dance community is a tribe that enjoys dancing and growing together. Dance the way your body wants to—without choreography or judgement, and discover the innate body wisdom you possess. All are welcome. For more information, contact Elizabeth Cervantes, founder (2009) and facilitator of Ecstatic Dance Albuquerque at ecstaticdanceabq@gmail.com or visit the Ecstatic Dance ABQ Facebook page. 

**Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to attend this dance**

$15 - Paypal and Venmo accepted

Free flowing spontaneous heart centered movement is my sacred movement practice. I began teaching NIA in 2007. As my movement practice expanded, my heart was drawn to free-form movement expression, known as conscious dance. Both 5-Rhythms and Souldance served as inspiration for dance facilitation as it is expressed through me today. I began facilitating Souldance in April of 2009 and established Ecstatic Dance ABQ in 2010. If you want a safe place to move and be moved - join us. 

Every Friday evening at Studio Sway, freeform dance enthusiasts and music lovers Elyse and Carla take turns providing a wide variety of sounds designed to inspire and engage. Come and explore your own movement landscape through multiple music genres, moods, and themes. Unwind from your week, and let the music move you. 

Please email Elyse at studioswayabq@gmail.com to sign up for this dance

$7-$12 sliding scale, cash or Venmo @studiosway

Music and dancing have been vital parts of my life for the past 40 years. In the decade-plus since I have been dancing Nia religiously, they have also become actively therapeutic. Earning my White Belt in Nia in 2017 and, more recently, participating in Ecstatic Dance at Studio Sway have opened me up to the truly profound changes dance can inspire. Friday Night Freeform comes out of my desire to share more fun and moving dance experiences with others in this great community!

Elyse is a professional dancer and independent choreographer who took ownership of Studio Sway in 2018. She has trained extensively in multiple dance and movement disciplines for 33 years, and enjoys continued study through rigorous class-taking, teaching, and performing. Elyse is passionate about collaborating with other professional artists throughout Albuquerque to produce quality dance experiences for the community to enjoy. 

The Nia Technique™ draws inspiration from dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts for a workout that is challenging and stimulating, yet easy to follow. Nia students improve strength, balance, cardiovascular stamina, flexibility, and joint mobility. Students are encouraged to pay attention to their sensations; experience the joy of movement; and fall in love with being in their bodies. 

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A typical Nia class includes some elements of free dance in which students are encouraged to move however they please. Nia offers us the opportunity to explore, play, and get sweaty. The hour spent in class is our time to recharge, connect, let loose, and get fit.

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We dance in bare feet to build strength and awareness from the ground up.

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Each Nia teacher sets their own pricing for drop ins and class cards. 

Please contact teachers individually for their exact rates.

$8-$10

Anna began dancing ballet at age three and has been dancing ever since. She was thrilled to find Nia as a new way of moving. She earned her White Belt in 2011, her Blue Belt in 2013, and her Green Belt in 2015. For Anna, Nia brings back a childlike, joyful, and uninhibited love of movement, and she enjoys sharing the delight of Nia with students. Her classes are athletic, playful and fun. She believes that students of all abilities, ages, and stages of fitness can benefit from Nia, and explore their body's potential. Come share the Joy of Movement!

Kate has been dancing since childhood and has studied modern, jazz, tap, and aerobic dance. In her first Nia class in 2005, she was inexplicably brought to tears, and knew she had found a fitness practice that offered her much more than physical conditioning. She earned her White Belt in 2007 and has been teaching ever since, earning two more belts along the way. Kate is a playful and enthusiastic teacher committed to helping students move safely in their body's way. Her classes are appropriate for any fitness level. Kate is also certified in Nia FreeDance. 

Toni Black (M.Ed.) is a dancing machine who has been practicing Nia since she discovered it in 2010. Since that time, she has earned her Nia black belt certification and spent a few years teaching the practice in Germany. She has an insatiable love of learning (pretty much everything), yet has discovered that the greatest wisdom she has access to is the wisdom that is communicated through the movement of her body. As an educator, life coach, and counseling student, she has studied the ways in which physical movement is instrumental in helping us find meaning in the challenges we experience in life. For her, Nia is a playground where we get to really know the subtle messages our body is always communicating with us, and it is through playfulness and curiosity that she encourages her students to explore life’s meaning through movement.

Think of yourself as a beautiful and brightly lit room. You are naturally filled with Light and Love. Sometimes when we shut the curtains, consciously or unconsciously, we feel like we are full of darkness and heaviness.

Breathwork can help support you in opening those curtains to let the Light back in. The Light that is ALWAYS there. The Light that you ALWAYS ARE.

Breathwork is a conscious, circular, mouth to belly breathing technique that gently yet powerfully stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. In doing this, the breath can help you access and release repressed and suppressed feelings and emotions including powerlessness, unworthiness, fear, anger, grief, resentment, jealousy, self-loathing, insecurity, and even repressed joy, that are being held in the body. The dense feelings and emotions that cause you to feel like your curtains are tightly shut!

When you begin to feel and release heavy and stagnant energy, more flow naturally occurs:

More Flow of Self Love

More Flow of Abundance

More Flow of Inspiration

More Flow of Physical, Mental, and Emotional Health and Wellbeing

More Flow of Authenticity

More Flow of Awareness to your Never Ending Connection to Source

$15-$20 sliding scale, cash or Venmo

Hi! What to say about myself here? Well, when it comes down to the essential truth, I am LOVE.  And SO ARE YOU! We are here to experience that Love in a physical body. My favorite ways to do so are through travel, taking beautiful walks un nature, creativity (dance, painting, singing), and breathing. I found Breathwork (Breathwork found me!) several years ago, and I discovered it was a deeply powerful and very physical way to embody Love, Love for myself, Love for others, Love for this planet, and the Love that I AM (and you are too!)

Som∂lchemy is an inspiring, grounded, dance fitness practice that provides for safe and effective exercise fused with a hearty dose of play and a sacred deep connection to ourselves and our community.

Som∂lchemy is typically a barefoot movement program designed to increase our awareness of sensation, develop our knowledge base around “body literacy” and using that movement as a path to change and wholeness for ourselves. And we do it to great music!

The Nia Technique™, which I taught for over 17 years, is the primary group fitness format from which my work was born and from which I hold a Black Belt Certification. I also hold a certificate of “Movement for Trauma Level 1” from Jane Clapp’s Jungian Somatics program. I am also a licensed massage therapist. 

Facilitating these gatherings reinforces my belief that we can find wholeness, dynamic ease, relaxation, pleasure and a sense of appreciation for life when we move and dance together.

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I enjoy guiding people to find joy in living life in a body. For 11 years, I've shared Nia with hundreds of students, including eight years as adjunct faculty in UNM's Physical Education Program. Through my work as a movement facilitator and massage therapist, I encourage people to find dynamic ease, relaxation, and a captivated sense of gratitude for their body. I hope my education and experience can nurture others' sense of curiosity and how to heal with movement. Come enjoy great music, fun and movement exploration!

Whoohoo Dance Fitness is a cardio and strength class. It’s sweaty and fun with outrageously good music. We use movements from both dance and functional fitness to increase strength, stamina, and mobility. Most of the class is structured as follow-the-leader while some portions are freestyle and improvisational. Participants are invited to personalize the moves, play with the moves, and play around with each other. Everyone is encouraged to monitor themselves as they move so they can safely adjust their intensity up or down. $10 drop in.

Beth O'Neall, M.Ed., teaches a dynamic class that motivates others. She likes the name Bea (pronounced bee) better than her given name, but she’ll answer to almost anything. Bea believes our class should help us feel more resilient and able to do all the things we need in life. Classes are influenced by her need to connect with nature as well as to enhance community by providing opportunities for us to play and share together. Music in class may reflect issues of social justice and the values of inclusivity, celebrating diversity, respecting others, and working toward equity for all. Bea loves to dance, run, walk, bike, hike, snowshoe (but only a bit because it’s too cold), and really does not have the patience for Yoga. She has been teaching dance fitness since 2000 and invites you now to the class she hopes to be teaching 20 years from now.