Sahara Dance

love it… ebony is the best!
they’re consistent and great studio

I would definitely come back here to take more classes! The instructors here are good, they know how to teach and make it fun. The staff here are all friendly and the environment feels very supportive for new dancers. I didn’t feel intimidated or un-​welcomed at all.

Super friendly, super welcoming atmosphere. Also, very convenient to the Metro but has ample parking… on the street… in DC.

Sahara Dance is an awesome dance studio. I’ve taken classes at a few other places and this is definitely the best. They have a very structured curriculum and they build a strong foundation starting from the beginner classes. Since there is a curriculum and schedule, you can do make up classes the same week to keep up with the class. Their make up policy overall is very flexible. Ebony is a great teacher. Overall, all the instructors are very encouraging and make you feel part of the community. Although their classes are a bit more expensive, the classes and skills you learn are worth it.

I’ve been a student with Sahara Dance now for over 10 years. I’ve watched the studio grow from it’s small boutique beginnings on 41^st. I’ve experienced many of the founding instructors as well as some of the newer instructors. I am continuously pleased with the level of instruction I recieve. Ever since they moved to the new studio in Tenlytown, I’ve been even more pleased. The large studio has plenty of room for larger classes about 18 people. The small studio is great for cozier classes of about 7 – 10. The look and feel of the studio environment is clean lines and appealing. Lastly, I’ve never experienced the level of community anywhere else. Instead of small pockets of teachers with their individual students, SD seems to pull everyone together and most people begin to know you by name and/​or by classes. Oh that’s Jen, one of Julie’s students or Oh that’s Denise one of Jennifer’s students, or Hey, there’s the Naima girls, etc… Because SD encourages you to get to know other students, teachers, etc… that sense of community develops!

I’ve been taking classes at Sahara for several years now, and I absolutely love this place. The Tenleytown studio is a lovely, welcoming space, and the studio assistants are always so friendly and helpful when I check in for class. Plus, they have tea and candy available which is a nice touch. The downtown studio location isn’t quite as pretty, but it’s very convenient to my office which I appreciate.
The teachers are all great, and I like that each one has her own style so you get the chance to try different things. There’s a standard curriculum for all the technique levels so even if you can’t make it to your regular class, you can do a makeup in any other class and they’ll cover the same material, which is nice. There are also a number of specialty classes if you want to study fusion styles like ATS, urban, latin, or tribal belly dance. The classes feel a little expensive because you pay for the whole semester at once, but the per-​class price works out to about average for dance or yoga classes in DC.
There are also lots of special events — workshops, master classes, performances, haflas, etc. — that you can attend or participate in if you want to enhance your experience. The best part about Sahara is probably the community of dancers that the studio brings together, everyone is just so nice and I’ve made so many friends over the years.

I love Belly Dancing for a fair amount of reasons and this school not only meets but exceeds my expectations! It is for a valid reason they were voted «Best of DC» for the past couple of years, because they really are! The staff is super engaging and their intent to make better dancers is genuine.
They offer a nice range of dancing styles, from classic egyptian to tribal to folklore and fusion with various other rhythms. Once you sign up for a term, they have a very flexible policy on making up classes, this way if you miss a class it is easy to catch up on another one at your convenience. They have recitals (Spring, Summer and Winter) and students are encouraged to participate in dance troops that are named after some of the most famous pioneers of Belly Dancing (Badia Masabni, Samia Gamal, Naima Akef). The staff is knowledgeable, passionate and always able to answer any questions.
They also have workshops and belly dancing retreats that can be anywhere from the mountains in Virginia all the way to exotic, tropical places like Costa Rica or Bali! I haven’t been on a retreat myself yet, but it is definitely in my plans for the following year. Give it a try, whether you’re looking for a hobby or if you already love belly dancing, you will not regret it!

I’ve been belly dancing for almost 10 years, having taken lessons with different instructors around the world and the East Coast. I started my belly dance journey in New York at Serena Studios with Serena Wilson and after she passed, I moved on to Jehan Kamal’s classes at MMAC (Jehan was one of Serena’s former students and she’s made quite a name for herself in the industry). Both studios used a drop-​in format so students and dancers never had to put down a chunk of money and commit to a block of time every season. That’s the biggest downside for me at Sahara – they use the semester format and I just don’t have the time to commit to a set schedule. They have a drop-​in policy for one class per semester, I believe (the policy is laid out on their website).
The first time I tried out Sahara, I dropped in for a veil class at their Chinatown location. The studio was VERY small, especially for the amount of students in the class; it was extremely uncomfortable. The instructor was very sweet, but I noticed the students lacked very basic techniques and elegance (like hand and foot placements).
Since I can’t commit to (or afford) a semester worth of classes, I’ve been attending workshops at Sahara. The workshops are normally around 2 hours long for $ 45 and they’re held at their main location in Tenlytown. The instructors are great, very helpful, and excellent dancers.
The Tenleytown location has two studios with fabulous facilities, clean and kept very well. They sell some dance clothes and accessories from Sharifwear which is a distributor with a store location in Queens, NY.
I highly recommend Sahara Dance if you’re serious about the art of belly dance (and not just to get a great workout). There are many instructors to choose from with many a large schedule of class orfferings across several locations (but I prefer the main studio). Make sure you try out as many different instructors as possible because they each have their own dance and teaching styles. Sahara teaches mainly Egyptian and Lebanese styles of belly dance and I’m trained in Turkish cabaret (shapes and moves are more rounded and big). I’ve made the best of it by adding new moves to my repertoire.

I’ve taken the two beginner classes and a couple of the workshops. I loved them all and plan on taking more. The instructors are really nice and very good at working with all levels of experience. The hafla was a ton of fun too. It’s basically a dance recital for all the classes and the instructors perform too. I had a blast. If you’re at all interested in belly dancing — and why wouldn’t you? — check this place out. They have studios all over DC, and are metro accessible.

Oh Sahara– How I love the, let me count the ways.
First off, the mission of Sahara Dance is to make every woman feel their best. Whether your a 20 year old or a woman in your mid 50s, Rachel Brookmire’s philosophy on dance is that we should all feel better when we leave the studio then when we come in. In these dance classes you’ll see women of all ages, ethnicity, size, and dance experience.
The Sahara classes are taught in a curriculum-​based format to try and keep things consistent across the teachers. That being said– each teacher brings her own personal style and background to the dance. Ebony enjoys hip-​hop fusion, Colleen comes from a jazz-​based background, Jen and Leila were trained ballerina’s. My first suggestion is to use each semester to try out a new teacher and each time you’ll find a different aspect of bellydance to add to your repertoire.
There are a handful of Sahara locations– but the best is what is called «Central» in tenley. Here you get the full Sahara experience from the warm tea on the front desk to the ample dressing room adorned with moroccan lanterns. Silver Spring is my second favorite and the Downtown location is nice also.
I’m moving to Chicago at the end of this month and the worst part about this move is leaving this studio that has become such a big part of my life. The friends i’ve made in my performance troup (go Samia!) will be missed, and I just can’t seem to find a studio in Chicago that compares. It’s the little details– from the ‘thank you’ gifts after each dance show you perform in, the amazing world-​class performers brought in monthly, or the carving of the feminine figure at the end of each class– that really make this studio stand out.

The new Tenleytown studio is now open and is HUGE! Vastly superior to the old one.

If you like arabic music, shaking your stuff, and the challenges of muscle isolation, try out Sahara. It’s fun stuff! I have taken 3 classes at Sahara, all at the downtown space that is within the Cultural Development Corp (Flashpoint art space). The space is nice, kind of small, but there are high exposed ceilings. I think the space is much nicer than the Tenleytown studio and the AC really works so its nice and cool when people start dropping by for missed classes. That’s the great thing about Sahara, you can make up same level classes at different studios.
I think the teachers really try hard to teach technique and skills, of course some are better at it than others. The price is definitely more costly than Joy of Motion, but its worth it for 14 weeks, and its a company that focuses only on belly dancing. They also teach tabla classes, would love to give that a try.

Currently enrolled in the introductory Belly Dance class (Beginner I) at Sahara Dance. Cost: about $ 225 for 14 classes; my class is held at the downtown studio.
I’m extremely satisfied with the instruction I’ve received. I’m pretty sure this has everything to do with my instructor, Ebony. She is a fantastic dancer and a pretty good teacher (I was advised by a prior student that she was the best). At times when Ebony has been unable to teach, other Sahara instructors have substituted, but none of them met the standard that Ebony has set. Once I finish the beginners course of instruction, I do plan to take the next class… but only if it is taught by Ebony.
More of my extra stuff…
I’ve been to the Tenleytown and Downtown studios. Both are VERY small. The first couple of classes will feel packed, but as the weeks pass they tend to thin out so there’s more room to breathe.

shimmy, shimmy…
*BIGGER*
shimmy, SHIMMY, SHIMMY…
**FASTER**
SHIMMYSHIMMYSHIMMYSHIMMY…
FASTER! BIGGER!!!
Get your mind out of the gutter — and into one of these belly dance classes. I joined a friend in a Beginner II class last «semester.» She had already taken Beginner I and assured me that my hips could do it.
Based on other reviews, it seems like the instructor makes a big difference in the experience. I would highly recommend trying to get Colleen. She’s a great teacher who’s obviously passionate about the figure 8, camel, hip drop and other moves I’m hoping I’ll be able to perfect one day. She also makes class really fun, which makes it easier to haul your hips out there after work.
And now, Shakira’s hips aren’t the only ones that don’t lie.

Sahara Dance offers a variety of belly dance classes geared for different levels. It is located only a couple of blocks of the Tenleytown metro.
The studio itself is lovely, but its narrow layout makes dancing a bit awkward. Classes are made up of 18 students, which is much too large of a group to make learning optimal in such a tiny space. Movement feels restricted as you do your best to avoid bumping into your fellow classmates.
The classes themselves are well-​organized, though, and follow an actual syllabus, which is perfect for the student accustomed to structure. Be prepared to spend more money here than you would at local clubs or dance centers, however.

Owned by Rachel Kay Brookmire, who seems nice, but my beginner-​level belly dancing class was taught by Yvette, who – horrors – chewed gum and answered her cell phone in class (although she seemed competent as a dancer). I stopped going halfway through, partly because I had trouble taking her seriously, and partly because I didn’t find the way the class was taught to be conducive to learning. There was a syllabus given out at the beginning of class, which I’ve never had in a dance class before, but we didn’t follow it very well.