Photo credit Alisha Westerfeld
The Gilded Serpent presents...
Sara Shrapnell
California and England
Sara Shrapnell first appeared on stage as a bump during “Songs from the Shows” in Bridgwater, United Kingdom. She studied ballet from age three and spent her childhood weekends touring East Anglia as part of a disco dancing troupe. She attended here first belly dance class in 1992, training at first with Tina Hobin and then Afra Al Kahira. In 2000 she graduated from the Al Kahira school of Middle Eastern Dance which included a City and Guilds qualification in teaching adults. She then mentored others as they completed the course. Her classes are known for their humor, detailed breakdowns and cultural context. She adapts her lessons to suit the dancers, their needs and aims. Over the years she has taught more than four thousand lessons and performed as a soloist in a huge variety of settings. She has organized workshops, dance days and theater shows in addition to managing three troupes. Students who have studied with Sara have gone on to teach and perform in all styles of belly dance and many have made their living through performance or teaching. Currently teaching in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sara’s book “Teaching Belly Dance” is available on Amazon.
Articles on Gilded Serpent by or about Sara
- 11-25-14 I Believe in Gypsies!(But Not as a Style of Belly Dance)
I have read many times that “Gypsy” is a bad word because they prefer to be called “Rom.” Therefore, it is disrespectful to use the word in any form. I beg to differ. - 9-12-14 The Best of the British! The South of England Belly Dance Scene.
Like every area, the UK has seen an ebb and flow in the popularity of belly dance, the economic impact and the rise in popularity of fusions styles has changed the dance from when I first started twenty years ago. Yet I see a strong, healthy and supporting scene posed to expand when disposable income in the general population increases.
