Sarina is a fusion dancer known for her quirky musical choices and her vaudeville style infused in her costuming and dance. Whether she is dancing as an Orion slave dancer at Trek Theatre production, a steampunk performance at Victorian tea party, theatrically bringing comedy to a 1920’s jazz piece, or dancing to her newest favorite soundtrack at a No Shame Eugene, she has a lot of fun with the art form!
Sarina has been belly dancing for over 25 years, taking her first dance class with her mother in a little community center while she was a teenager. From that time, she moved on to study in Portland at Caravan Studios and Euphoria Studios. She primarily focused on ATS/tribal (which once stood for American Tribal Style and she would like to rename American Transcontinental Style since belly dancers are moving away from the term "tribal"). She studied fusion and "tribaret' with Severina and Znama Studio, as well as Romany, folk dance, and cabaret styles with private instructors. While living in Japan, Sarina studied Egyptian and Turkish style belly dance, break dance and salsa, and taught fusion belly dance. Because she has also studied flamenco, tango, swing, jazz, lindy hop, the Charleston, bhangra, vaudeville, Hawaian hula, various European folk dances, and other styles, these also are infused in her dance. Sarina often draws on moves from other dance styles to meld with belly dance, depending on what feels appropriate with the style of music. Her costuming is often inspired by a theme started by her musical choice. She makes and sells many of her costumes, hair fascinators, and hair extensions locally.
Currently Sarina teaches Beginning Fusion and Intermediate Fusion at Willamalane in Springfield and private classes in the Belly Dance Eugene and Springfield studio.
on Thu, 01 Jun, 2023
The best instruction is always in person so that a student can get the feedback they need from a teacher to know if they are doing moves correctly. When a student is in a class, they get reminders to stretch, to take water breaks, and there is human interaction between dancers. When we are in a class with others, we can transition into formations, practice following and leading, and benefit from positive social interactions with human beings.
That said, sometimes people want to take a class, but they are unable to travel to the class location, women have childcare issues that interfere with their desire to attend a class, or we get sick and need to quarantine ourselves. I sometimes have students who already take classes but have asked for videos to practice these moves at home. Videos are a tool that can enhance our learning.
Belly Dance Eugene has the following videos available for download for $15 per video. For those who want unlimited access to all videos I post, this will be a $60 yearly subscription. I will make the links available on YouTube and grant access to my Google Drive storage so that you can watch or download these videos. Be aware, some of these are giant files, so computers might not like to download them. That is why I am also going to grant access to the private links via YouTube.
on Tue, 30 May, 2023
I am listing some videos that are offered for free on YouTube of the same belly dance moves we do. Some are mine, but a lot of the moves I do have a cross over with Fat Chance Belly Dance because I studied at studios that taught American Tribal Style. I also studied Fusion, which stems from Rachel Brice, who now teaches Datura in Portland. I have included Rachel Brice’s free videos and mine. If I find a good maya and toxim video out there that is the same as our version, I will some day add it to the list.
on Tue, 23 May, 2023
Enjoy these fusion videos that really capture the essence of fusion belly dance.
Improve fitness and core strength while working out to great world music and learning the basics of belly dancing. Class emphasizes posture and stretching to avoid injury, muscle isolation for improving strength and repetition for a balanced workout. Sarina teaches classes at Willamalane in Springfield and the Reach Center in Eugene.
Sarina performs her alternative tribal fusion belly dance style at many venues in Eugene and sometimes Portland, Oregon. Whether she is steampunk belly dancing to neo-Victorian music, using her flamenco/burseque fusion fans with a 1920's flair, Andalusian skirt twirling, clowning it up at Cirque du Eugene, or fusing break dance and belly dance to a Star Trek remixed music, she brings creativity and fun to the dance.
When she performs with Fusion Fascination, it is a fusion style influenced by world music.