Helene Eriksen
ANAR DANA Dance Theater
Helene is a teacher and choreographer of traditional dances of the Balkans and Islamic Orient. She lectures and publishes on dance ethnology and costume studies. In order to do this she has conducted many research projects in Bulgaria, ex-Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt, the ex-USSR, Tunisia and Morocco as well as with immigrants in Germany, Canada and the USA. 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 and now she is the director of her own travel agency Window on the World Voyages.
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 directed her own ensemble Raqs-e Hilal for several years in Germany and is currently directing her new project, Helene Eriksen’s Traditional Dance Theater, in Seattle.
Learn more about all of Helene’s adventures HERE.
Classes & Events with Helene
This is a sampling of the usual classes Helene holds at the studio. For a full schedule of classes and start dates for specific sessions, visit www.helene-eriksen.de
ANAR DANA Seattle Introductory Workshop
Traditional Dances of the Orient with Helene Eriksen
September 28-29, 2019
Saturday and Sunday 11am-2pm & 3-6pm
Studio Deep Roots
9728 Greenwood Ave N.
Seattle, WA
Learn Technique, Choreography, Dance Notation, Yoga, Music Analysis, Staging, Costuming, Stage Make-up, Historical and Cultural backgrounds for 7 different styles of women’s dance from the regions spanning North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran, Central Asia and Northern India. On this weekend we will pick our repertoire together and you can become acquainted with my work before deciding to take part in the whole 10-weekend project and show. The project will then start in October.
Cost: $195 per weekend with a minimum of 10 participants ($210 per weekend with less than 10 participants).
In addition to the weekend dates I will offer seven in-depth cultural evenings at Studio Deep Roots on the Friday evening before each project weekend starting in November. These evenings will be designed to explore the cultures of our project’s dances in more depth, including costumes, films, music and more. The cultural evenings are open to the public and cost $15 for general public and is included in the class fee for ANAR DANA members.
Current Classes
ANAR DANA Project
Training weekend dates:
1) 12-13 October, 2019
2) 9-10 November, 2019
3) 22-23 February, 2020
4) 7-8 March, 2020
5) 15-16 May, 2020
6) 6-7 June, 2020
7) 27-28 June, 2020
8) 3-4 October, 2020
9) 24-25 October, 2020
10) 14-15 November 2020
Dress rehearsal: Thursday, November 19, 2020 (6-10pm)
Recitals: 20 & 21, November 2020
and possibly performances as NW Folklife, the Seattle Iranian Festival, Arabfest, Turkfest and the Kent International Festival.
Come on Friday, September 27, 2019 to Casa Ravenna for the Chaikhana evening potluck kick-off to the new ANAR DANA season!
Please write mail@helene-eriksen.de for more details.
Upcoming Events
Chaikhana: an evening in an Oriental Coffee House
Potluck and Cultural Evening at Studio Deep Roots
RSVP: mail@helene-eriksen.de
Our 2019/2020 Cultural Evening schedule is coming soon:
(links to FB page for more details)
We're Here For You
Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have. We look forward to meeting you soon.
Studio Deep Roots
Gravel parking lot
Parking on street in front and in gravel lot off 100th behind apartment building.
9728 GREENWOOD AVE N
SEATTLE, WA 98103