ABOUT DEANNA

DeAnna has studied and taught FatChanceBellyDance® Style, or FCBD® Style (formerly known as American Tribal Style or ATS®) belly dance and yoga for over 18 years.

She has a passion for the artistic qualities as well as the scientific and structural elements of movement and believes in the power of these practices to align the mind and the body. She has spent years exploring how these relate to holistic and artist components of dance and yoga.

Her dance journey began when she met Megha, Director of Devyani Dance Company in 2004 and fell in love with FCBD®Style.

Since then, DeAnna has dedicated her dance career to receiving the highest level of training and establishing herself as a leading professional in the FCBD®Style community.

She was in the very first to receive Sister Studio and Teacher Certification outside of FatChance BellyDance®, is one of the few FatChance Continuing Education instructors in the world, was part of the inaugural FCBD®Style Advanced Teaching Training group, and had the pleasure of teaching and performing throughout the United States as well as in India.

Her love of dance, movement and anatomy also led her to immerse herself in yoga study, becoming a registered Yoga Alliance Teacher (200hr and then 500hr RYT) and gaining a number of specialty certifications. She is a YACEP (Yoga Alliance Certified Education Provider) and is currently taking her second 500hr training to become a Yoga Therapeutic Specialist through Yoga Medicine.

DeAnna’s classes empower her students to align their mind and body through dance and yoga.

Through gaining an awareness of the scientific and structural elements of movement, together with an appreciation for the holistic and artist components, students unlock the hidden potential that is already within themselves. She prides herself on a relaxed and professional teaching style that allows students to elevate their skills in a safe, positive and fun learning environment.

DeAnna strongly believes in continuing education and currently holds the following certifications:

• ATS® General Skills 

• ATS® Teacher Certification (Inaugural Class)

• ATS® Advanced Teacher Certification (Inaugural Class)

• FCBD®Style (formerly ATS®) Continuing Education Instructor

• Certified Integrated Dance Instructor (Inaugural Class)

• 500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher

• Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider

• Restorative Yoga Teacher Training

• Anatomy and Physiology

• Core Strength Vinyasa and Anatomy

• Chakras with Rolf Gates 

• Yin Yoga with Life Power Yoga

• 8 Elements™ Phase I: Initiate 

• Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Core Power Yoga

What you can expect from DeAnna’s workshops

• A relaxed and professional teaching style allows students to elevate their skills in a safe and positive learning environment

• Students will gain an awareness of the structural, holistic and artistic elements of movement and how to use the breath and subtle body energy

• Classes that empower students to realize their potential by aligning the mind and body

Current Workshop Offerings

Below are brief descriptions of DeAnna’s most popular workshops, including some that have been FCCE (FatChance Continuing Education) approved. DeAnna also loves creating custom workshops based on your needs or theme, and this is something that can be developed together with you – get in touch to share your ideas and discuss further!

Devyani’s Creative Steps and Combinations
Megha and Devyani Dance Company have been inspired over the years to create new moves that have been added to the FCBD®Style vocabulary. Learn these movements and combinations including technique, concepts and a further understanding of the stylization that makes these movements so distinctive, yet still blend nicely with classic FCBD®Style.
For this workshop, we will focus on Devyani steps featured on FCBD Volumes 7 and 9. This workshop is suitable for dancers that are familiar with classic FCBD®Style and moves through FCBD Volume 4. FCCE eligible

Extended Puja - Religion, Symbology and Sacred Choreography

The Extended Puja is a deeply symbolic and spiritual choreography created by Megha Gavin based on her Hindu religion, specific deities, symbology, and her love of FatChanceBellyDance®Style.

In this workshop we’ll look at each of the deities, religious symbolism and spiritual meanings behind the movements and cultivate a deep understanding of the choreography. We’ll incorporate spiritual practices including pujas, mudras, mantras, journaling, and meditations specific to each deity to find a deeper connection to ourselves and something much greater that ultimately connects us all.

This is not a typical dance workshop. While we will learn the Extended Puja choreography, our movements will first come from a place of reverence for their meaning and respect for the culture and religion from which they come.
 
Dynamic Entrance to Thunderous Applause - Essentials of Performance
Learning the vocabulary and proper technique for FCBD®Style are just the first steps to creating a solid, energetic and dramatic performance. In this workshop, you will learn essential elements that make FCBD®Style performance vibrant and sensational for both the dancers and the audience, from entrance to thunderous applause!  This workshop is designed for all level FCBD®Style dancers. FCCE eligible
 
Spins and Turns!
Are you ready to feel stronger, more graceful and have better balance during spins and turns? Want to learn how to create clear and dramatic transitions from spins without losing your balance? Get ready to feel the exhilaration or spins and turns in a new way!

This workshop is more than just detailed technique! With additional focus on timing, musicality and fancy footwork transitions, you’ll learn how to use spins and turns to create a more powerful and dynamic performance, provide clear cues to your fellow dancers and break out of habits that are holding you back from experiencing all the beauty and magic the movements are capable of adding to your dance experience! This workshop is suitable for dancers that are familiar with classic FCBD®Style and moves through FCBD Volume 4. A tissue, spinning or ten yard skirt is recommended. FCCE eligible
 
Discover YOUR Movements                                    
FCBD®Style technique is well defined due to the nature of our improvised dance form. But, every physical body is different. Discover how you can improve technique by having a better understanding of the anatomy within your own body and how the smallest adjustment can change the feel and aesthetic of your dance.  This workshop is a combination of drills and lecture. FCCE eligible

Challenge Your Foundations

Are you ready to test your FCBD® Style* fundamental technique? Ready to dive deeper into why the details of a Taxeem, Bodywave, Arabic and Shimmy are essential to more advanced movements? While we always want to continue to refine the basic movements of FCBD® Style, in thisworkshop we will challenge that technique and push your edge by working on more advanced concepts. You will learn why the specific muscle groups and detailed technique associated with the basic steps are so important and often under-utilized making more advanced steps a lot harder than they need to be. Designed to showcase why the picky technique of fundamentals is so important to your growth as a FCBD® Style dancer and how working on the fine points of the movements allows the more advanced steps to more easily.

Fluid and Free

Feel amazing in your Rhythmic Undulation Shimmy. This movement can be one of the most challenging variations for Undulations AND shimmies. In this workshop we’ll disect this challenging step to learn how we can improve our entire Undulation and Shimmy family of movements through better body-awareness, strength, relaxation and coordination techniques. We’ll cover some foundational anatomy, spinal articulation and fluidity, hip release and Hip health, timing, coordination and variations that this workshop will also be applicable for like the ASWAAT and 1-2-3. This workshop will leave you feeling amazing!

Is This Step At Dance Angle?

We’re going to look at our entire classic and modern vocabulary along with some popular dialect steps and put our angles into practice with drills, transitions and challenges to get you thinking outside your dance box! Understand the concepts of dance angle so you never second guess yourself again, learn the four categories of dance angle and which steps fit into the categories, common misconceptions and why we get confused with angles, functional aspects, artistic benefits, anatomical reasoning, potential limitations and why certain angles may be a little different on each body.

You will never again have to ask, "Is this step at dance angle?"

Flip It and Reverse It

Want to understand just exactly how different the reverse taxeem and reverse shimmy are? Ready to feel more fluid in your reverse floreos and flip that Wrap Around turn in a beautiful, picturesque way once and for all? We'll look at all the steps in our vocabulary that are opposite of our normal movement direction and understand the anatomy that makes them FEEL and look so different! Plus our warm up includes flipped and reversed yoga transitions to prepare both body and mind for our practice!

Floorwork and Levels
Take your practice and performance to another level!  In this workshop you will learn how to properly execute floorwork and levels, the FCBD®Style movements suited for each and how to build the strength and flexibility needed safely practice and perform these movements. This workshop also includes an anatomy lecture and yoga sequence designed specifically for FCBD®Style floorwork. FCCE eligible

The Ultimate Forward and Back (Turkish) Shimmy Course

The Forward and Back (Turkish Shimmy) is a beautiful, diverse step that was adapted and incorporated into the FCBD® Style vocabulary after Carolena learned it in a workshop with Aisha Ali. With so many variations, dancers often find themselves questioning not only the fundamental technique but also the angles, half turns, fades, and circling.

This workshop is here to clear up all the questions and help you step into your full shimmy potential!

Learn how to feel stronger, balanced, and more confident! Refine your technique, dance through drills, and learn exercises that will push you to push past plateaus and level up your Turkish Shimmy technique!
 
From the Heart
So much of what makes FCBD®Style stunning is the isolation and uplifted ribcage in our dance. In this workshop you will gain a deeper understanding behind the body mechanics and technique in our torso movements. Learn how to safely and effectively increase your range of motion and control for deeper torso movements including slow turns, rotations, undulations, laybacks and more.  We’ll also discuss the emotional aspects behind many of these movements and why they conjure certain feelings and passion in our dance. This workshop is suitable for all level FCBD®Style dancers. FCCE eligible
 
Breathing Life into Your Dance
The smallest things can change your dance in big ways!  We do not often think about our breathing patterns as we dance. Our prana, or life force energy, can be controlled to create a more powerful, energetic performance while also keeping us calm and increasing our stamina. We’ll learn the physical and mental aspects of prana and most importantly, the positive impact it can have on our FCBD®Style practice and performance. 

Flow Like Water
Often in dance classes, we focus on the exciting high energy of the movements, the shimmies, spins, fast transitions, exciting combinations and filling every beat with the excitement of another step. This is obviously a wonderful, exciting aspect to dance! This is the “yang” aspect of dance. The effort, the fire element!
This workshop will challenge you in a different way.

Something that tends to be missing in a lot of training is the ease. The breath, the flow, the effortless movements and transitions that become meditative and almost trance-like. This is the “yin” aspect. The water element.

Tapping into this more flowing energy is where you begin to find seamless transitions, calming sense of confidence, stress relief, healing and tapping into the creative energies that this kind of practice creates space for. Amazingly, it’s also where you find more range of motion, longer taxeems, more undulation in your bodywaves, bigger, softer hip movements and graceful, more balanced turns.

Learn to dance with more ease, grace and fall into flow with this mindful, challenging and feel-good workshop.

Dynamic Duets
Duet formations have a unique dynamic energy that is exciting to both performer and audience member. We will explore what slow and fast FCBD®Style moves and transitions create more energy and drill some of DeAnna’s favorites. You will walk away from this workshop with the tools to master the “power duet”. Concepts covered may include: moving around each other. Changing the lead, facing different directions. Orbit technique, facing in towards each other, facial expressions, filling the stage, dueling duets, energy & speed. FCCE eligible

Dramatic Elements
Take your group improvisation to an exciting and dramatic new level by learning how timing, transitions, intention and phrasing can completely change the look and feel of the same moves you’ve been doing for years. In this workshop, we’ll play with some of our favorite FCBD®Style steps, new and old, and learn several ways to create more excitement and drama in your sets while still maintaining the proper cues for a solid group improv performance. 

​Shape Up Your Shimmies
A beautiful shimmy relies on contrasting elements throughout the body. Knowing which muscles to control and release throughout the lower body and how to make the move look big and bouncy, but remain isolated from the torso is key to a fabulous shimmy. We’ll review the anatomy behind what drives the shimmy and how to get the most out of your movement while maintaining the isolation for layering that makes this move so magical. Class will begin with a short anatomy lecture followed by a hip healthy warmup that prepares us for a variety of exciting and challenging shimmy drills using our favorite classic and modern FCBD®Style movements. 

​Not so "Basic" Egyptian
The ultimate Basic Egyptian experience! There is something about this move that makes you feel oh so good! This workshop begins with a warm up and exercises to help you tap into your biggest and bounciest movement. Then we’ll break down the picky details of the Basic Egyptian and ALL the variations. Finally, we’ll add two more brand new variations on Triple Egyptian. An entire workshop on your all-time favorite move! All things Basic Egyptian.

Dancing In The Flow™
Flow is dancing in the divine subconscious. All dance and no talk. No verbal instruction, no partners or formations. Just follow along and bliss out. The perfect ending to a workshop weekend. Suitable for all levels. 

Up In Arms
Exquisite. Strong. Graceful. Arm movements in FCBD®Style are a thing of beauty and wonder! From the powerful, yet fluid transitions between movements to the distinct way arm placement compliments each move, proper FCBD®Style arm technique can take your dance from mediocre to magical! In this workshop, DeAnna will teach you the science (anatomy and kinesiology) and art to maintaining those perfectly lifted elbows and provide picky technique for the major arm positions, movements and transitions in both slow and fast FCBD®Style vocabulary. Lastly, the ultimate drill session is designed to quickly change muscle memory and provide you with the tools you need to arm yourself with your best technique! (Class includes Classic and Modern movements from volumes 1-7 and is suitable for dancers from level one to seasoned instructor.)

If you have any further questions or to discuss your needs, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can also learn more about DeAnna, her classes, and her philosophy on the Prana Bellydance & Yoga website.