DANCE

a big connection between the people and the culture, which is something she wanted to bring back to her classes in the U.S.

Since spending time in Brazil earlier this year, Vecchiavelli has implemented a sense of community within her classes.

e class starts with a warm-up, which can di er each week, but tends to be drill focused. Students start to move their bodies by working on hip movements, endurance and strengthening the ankles.

After warming up, the class begins to stretch out every part of their body to help prevent injuries. e class then moves to work on technique, whether it is adding the ourishes of the arms during Samba no pé or gaining speed and endurance for the style.

In Brozna-Smith’s Samba class, her students warm up to the upbeat rhythm of the drums.

Just as Brozna-Smith has her students perform for one another during the class, Vecchiavelli has integrated improvisation at the end of her class. e students gather in a circle and with an energetic song playing, they dance with each other.

e end of class time is not about technique or who has the best footwork, it’s about connecting with one another as that is what the culture is about. Western dancers are often trained to perform, but this style of dance is about looking each other in the eyes, singing and embracing the joy that comes along with Samba.

“We need to recognize that we’re dancing it from a place of privilege,” said Vecchiavelli. “We’re not able to connect to it in the same way that people in Brazil can, and so I try to make sure that we at least know the context of it.”

Bella Bro World Dance

For an hour each week, men take part in a high-intensity, choreographybased workout. Led by Kyle Kastner, the group’s heart rate increases and sweat pours down as Kastner focuses on moving fast.

Having been the only consistent man who danced at Bella Diva for eight years, Kastner felt the need to bring more men into the fold, as male representation in dance in America is not as strong as in other cultures.

Kastner believes the American culture is dismissive and even undermining of male dancers.

“I actually think that it is incredibly masculine to dance, and when you look at other cultures around the world, dance is ingrained,” Kastner said. “It’s not gendered. ere may be gender norms within it, but gender is not important.”

With the goal of creating a space for men to feel free to use their bodies in a creative way, Kastner created Bella Bro World Dance. ere are about eight individuals who are regulars to the class. Kasnter gains inspiration for his class from Bollywood and Brazilian Samba no pé. It is not just the energy that those styles of dance bring but embracing the masculinity of the Indian culture and bridging the gap between di erent stylings that is being shown in Samba no pé.

Bella Bro World Dance recently worked on a piece inspired by a lm based on a true story. e character they are portraying was a great warrior and fought in battles. Although it appears that the dancers are not doing much, their moves are incredibly complex and take a lot of strength to complete. roughout the class, the students started to learn how to move their bodies in new and challenging ways and discover things about themselves, Kastner said. e class also helps rede ne what masculinity is and shift the focus from a toxic idea of masculinity to a much more embracing, accepting idea of what it could be.

In his class, he helps the students learn how to use their inherent male privilege as a superpower for good.

“ at’s something I’ve de nitely been working with the men on is understanding that just because we are men, we have privilege that others don’t,” said Kasnter. “And then especially if we are white men with privilege that others don’t (have), to use that in a bene cial positive way for society and community as a whole.” instructor of the Iranian Persian style of dance in Colorado, Delsie KhademGhaeini is honored to represent her community and to be a vessel for cultural outreach by sharing Iranian culture through dance.

In Iranian culture, there are a couple of di erent stylizations of dance as there are di erent minority groups and languages, all of the groups have their own folk dancing and style of dancing. e style Khadem-Ghaeini teaches is not a regional style of dance in Iran, it is shared across all of those cultures.

Iranian culture is deeply rooted in poetry, therefore, a lot of the music has poetry in it.

Khadem-Ghaeini said the style she teaches is more of a staged kind of style of dancing, a style that is closely related to what is seen in current pop styles of dance. She focuses on the quality of the movements. e movements are more structured and re ned compared to some of the more theatrical styles of dancing.

“Depending on what region they’re from, there might be dance movements that are associated to the kind of farming that they might have done or in the southern region, along the Persian Gulf, there may be dance movements that are related to shing,” Khadem-Ghaeini said.

Her classes focus on connecting with the music by using the uidity of the arms, hands and wrists, which can be very emotive. One form of movement that di erentiates the Iranian style of dance from other styles that also use arms and hands is the use and curving of the spine. e combination of the arm, hand and spinal curves is subtle to the eye.

According to Khadem-Ghaeini, the aesthetics of Iranian culture has a lot of curves and a lot of geometry. Many of the shapes in the body that dancers create are very curved, even mirroring the way Persian calligraphy curves and moves are showing up in dance.

Another important piece of Iranian Persian dancing is learning the history of Iranian culture and sending messages and making statements. With the current revolutions taking place in Iran, Khadem-Ghaeini and her students performed at the University of Denver, choosing songs that relate to the woman-led revolutions.

“When I’m dancing, it’s a much deeper connection to music,” said Khadem-Ghaeini. “It’s not just about trying to hit my body a certain way that that music hits… but the poetry and the music that has like thousands of years of history, that is part of Iranian culture, to me, every time I do a performance is deeply involved for me.”

Being a student at Bella Diva World Dance

Having studied dance since she was a little girl, Elizabeth Buckius has trained in di erent kinds of studios with strict teachers in traditional ballet. She said that Bella Diva is the most welcoming, supportive and caring studio.

Students at the Denver-based studio are of all ages, all orientations and all shapes and sizes. e people bring an electric energy into the studio and by embracing the cultural aspect of the di erent styles of dance, everyone — from sta to students to the costume designer — has created a strong community within the walls of the studio, according to Buckius and sta at the studio.

“What makes us unique is also what makes us stronger,” said Brozna-Smith. “We’re able to really learn empathy by putting ourselves in somebody else’s shoes or position and life.”

Along with the positive and supportive energy in each classroom, there is a lot of curiosity as well. e studio focuses on learning about different cultures and becoming a global citizen. Buckius said it’s a great way to learn about other parts of the world.

Bella Diva also focuses on being body positive and being a healthy place for dancers. And with such multicultural sta and students at the studio, the studio has become a strong and vibrant community in Denver and internationally.

“We really want to be rooted in the actual traditions that we’re studying,” said Buckius. “So even though we’re here in Colorado, we want to make sure we’re connecting with the actual traditions at the world dance studio.”

Learn More

Bella Diva World Dance Studio is located at 4309 E. Mississippi Ave. Glendale, CO 80246. For more information, visit belladivadance.com.