I attended Mayte’s belly dance class on October 14th in NYC. I am happy to report that this, my first experience with belly dancing, was a wonderful one.

After each of us had a picture taken with Mayte, the class began with a warm-up to “Mountains.” Mayte then taught us a number of belly dance and other movements which were put together for a short routine to an excerpt from “7". After that, we formed a circle and each person had a chance to go into the middle and dance individually with Mayte to middle-eastern sounding music, with the group warmly applauding at the end of each person’s turn. Mayte calibrated her own steps with great sensitivity to the skill level of each person when they were in the center dancing with her. At the end of the class, she led movements and stretches to Prince’s cover of “One of Us,” which I felt was a lovely and touching note to end the class on.

Mayte is a terrific teacher. The class was very diverse in terms of race, age, body-type and skill level. It was a substantial, but not physically overwhelming work-out. Some in the group were repeaters, some were taking the class for the first time. Those who were dancers did not seem to feel held back while we beginners did not feel out of place or embarrassed. And, I must say, it was fun wearing a hip scarf!

The Prince connection was acknowledged through some of the music used, but the success of the class was dependent on Mayte’s own accomplishments as a dancer and teacher.

I plan to take the class again when it is offered in NYC.

I took her class last January and had a similarly lovely experience! She is quite a good teacher. Hoping she comes back to my area this year!

does she have a website? how do you know when and where she is teaching?