Name: Beginning Belly Dance in Broad Ripple!
Start: 2026-01-14T18:00:00-05:00
Location: Broad Ripple Park - Indy Parks and Recreation

Whether you’ve belly danced in any style or are completely new to dance, this class will teach you the basic dance vocabulary of FCBD Style/ATS, a style developed in the 1980s by the Bay Area troupe Fat Chance Belly Dance. Once you’ve learned the movement vocabulary, you can jam with any other Fat Chance style dancer out there! Gentle on the body, the moves are inspired by Middle Eastern dance, Indian dance, and flamenco.
Register here for $65 for the 6-week session:
https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/indyparks/activity/search/detail/32289?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true
This class will run for 6 consecutive Wednesdays in January and February, so the meetings are 1/14, 1/21, 1/28, 2/4, 2/11, and 2/18.
(yes, I'm aware that the dates in the linked event where you need to purchase your entry to the class are wrong...I've contacted the good folks at BR Park to ask them to fix it!)
This dance form is suitable for everyone, regardless of age, gender, size, and so on. Anyone interested in tribal fusion will get a lot out of this class, as FCBD was the original group improv style that started it all! The discipline and form required for this style will help infuse your style with new strength and grace. First-time dancers will learn about the joys of improvised dancing and community. Zils will be required starting the third week of Level 1 (if you don't have them, please contact Jeana to purchase or for ideas on where to get them).
What's the deal with the levels? Level 1 (from 6-7pm) is for anyone who's never done ATS® belly dance before or would like a refresher on the basic moves. I'm encouraging students who've done some FCBD style before and want to pick it up again to take the Level 1 class, or just take it to stay in touch with the basic concepts. In the following hour (7-8pm) we have a Level 1.5 class (in which we will use the Level 1 movement vocabulary to learn to cue and dance in formations, AND refine technique and build group cohesion; teacher permission is required to enroll in Level 1.5; if you fit this description, here is the link to register:
https://anc.apm.activecommunities.com/indyparks/activity/search/detail/32290?onlineSiteId=0&from_original_cui=true
Never been to a belly dance class before? No problem! Wear something comfortable that will let me get a look at your torso so that I can correct your posture. Some people are comfortable in a tight-fitting T-shirt or camisole, others will go with a sports-bra or choli that shows the belly (it’s not required – totally up to you!). On the bottom you can wear yoga pants or anything else you might exercise in. If you’ve got a jingly hip belt you’d like to wear, feel free! I’d advise wearing your hair up off your neck if it’s long enough to put up easily, since we’ll spend a lot of time looking at the neck and shoulders for our improvisational cues.
Jeana Jorgensen is a certified teacher of Fat Chance Belly Dance, meaning that she has completed the General Skills and Teacher Training workshops and is thus proficient in FCBD Style/ATS. Jeana has been belly dancing since 1998, and she has been practicing FCBD Style since 2002. She directs the troupe Indy Swords & Shimmies (formerly Indy Tribal), the premier ATS troupe in the Indianapolis area, as well as the student troupe Mandali.
Photo of the troupe dancing at GenCon, taken by Iris Alethea Photography.