by Nadine Olszowka Helene Eriksen spreads her knowledge about all MENATH cultures all over the world and teaches with her passion historical and social facts and cultural appreciation to everyone. You don’t have to be a dancer to join her! Anar Dana is about sisterhood and growing crying loving laughing and of course dancing together - social dancing in all its facets. A safe space for every woman. <3
Helene is a dance ethnologist, teacher, performer and choreographer of traditional dances of the Balkans and Islamic Orient as well as Argentine Tango and folk dances. She lectures and publishes on dance ethnology and costume studies. She has conducted many research projects in Bulgaria, ex-Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Argentina as well as with immigrant communities in Europe and the Americas. She speaks several languages. She is an active member of the Study Group on Ethnochoreology (ICTM/UNESCO). For many years she has been leading dance and culture study tours to Morocco, Turkey, Armenia and Uzbekistan (Coming up: Dance retreat in Germany!).
Helene studied Dance Ethnology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and was later a doctoral candidate in Folklore, Slavistics and Turcology at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany. In Los Angeles she performed with AVAZ International Dance Theater, Gypsy Dance Company and Jasna Planina Ensemble. After a year at the Folkdance Academy in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, she was a guest of the Turkish State Folkdance Ensemble in Ankara. She completed her Second Year Kathak Accreditation with honours with the Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad, India. She directed her ensemble Raqs-e Hilal for several years in Germany. Since 1994 she has been teaching intensive ANAR DANA training programs internationally. Currently the projects start in the US and Germany.
We will warmly welcome you if you are interested to join us for the next season of ANAR DANA Germany, Seattle or San Fransisco (USA).
Instruction in real life, moving together, feeling that great bump of learning and joy!
Come - you will have a wonderful time - weather you choose to join for the season or just for the intro weekend. One great thing about the intro weekends is that we will choose our repertoire together. We always choose seven dances, one each from the following regions: North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran and Central Asia. The project is a series of 9 intensive weekends of 12 hours each. We learn techniques of each of the dance styles decided upon, do dance technique training and yoga, learn about the cultural and historical backgrounds for the different dance styles l, learn music analysis, dance notation, choreography, staging, stage Make-up and wearing original costumes for the final extraordinary show. There is a certificate of participation for all who complete the whole program.
We are looking forward preserving culture with you and growing our blooming community with you. Get in touch!
For more information and contact visit www.helene-eriksen.com or become a member of our Patreon page and get exclusive access to videos, articles and lectures www.patreon.com/ANARDANA .