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Annya Ishtara, based in Taos, NM, is a belly dancer of earthy grace and strong technique. Her dance style is eclectic American Classic, ranging from lyrical veil work and sensuous taxims to upbeat Turkish 9/8 and dynamic drum solos. She is especially noted for her mastery of veil and double veil.
Get fit, have fun, and feel like a sensual goddess when you join Annya Ishtara’s belly dance classes! She teaches weekly Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced belly dance classes, plus workshops on a wide variety of belly dance topics and on Rajasthani Gypsy Dance/Kalbelia Dance. She is also available for private coaching for all levels in belly dance and Kalbelia dance. Please see the Classes page for descriptions of classes and schedule, and sign up today! You can commit to a month of classes at a time or drop in to suit your schedule.
If you are new to belly dance, or are wondering what the benefits of doing belly dance are, check out the Why Bellydance? page for information on why you’ll love belly dance! To learn more about Rajasthani Gypsy/Kalbelia Dance, please see “About Rajasthani Gpysy Dance/Kalbelia Dance” on the Classes page.
If you would like to be added to Annya Ishtara’s mailing list to receive updates on classes, workshops, and belly dance events in Northern New Mexico, please send an e-mail with your request to annyaish@Annya-Ishtara-dance.com.
About Belly Dance Classes with Annya Ishtara
Annya Ishtara teaches a blend of Turkish and American Classic style belly dance tempered with her own eclectic touch. She draws from her training and experience as a dancer in many genres and as a massage therapist to help dance students safely and effectively train their bodies to easily and gracefully perform belly dance moves. Students develop body awareness and learn to increase strength, flexibility, and range of motion. Classes focus on technique as well as expressive and energy aspects of dance.
Annya Ishtara covers stretching and strengthening specific to belly dance, proper body alignment and muscle usage, grounding, moving from the energetic center of the body, breath in conjunction with movement, conscious facial expression, understanding isolations, being connected to the music, elements of choreography, improvisation, and performance, use of props, and more.
Biography
Annya Ishtara began studying belly dance in 1991 in Eugene, Oregon with Inanna (Grace Llewellyn) and later with Samisha Shami. She was active in the then newly formed Middle Eastern Dance Guild of Eugene as a performer and in promoting events. She gained much experience performing to live music by dancing with Troupe Americanistan (under the dance name Zuhra) and at wide variety of venues throughout Oregon and Washington, including at the Oregon Country Fair.
Since moving to Taos, NM in 2000, Annya has performed with a number of local belly dance groups, including the Goddess Babes and the Taos Bellydance All Stars. She currently performs with HipGnosis, a diverse group of belly dance soloists. She has produced numerous shows in Taos, and she has been invited to teach and perform around the state of New Mexico and in Colorado. She has also performed throughout the Pacific Northwest, and in Hawaii and Mexico. Annya Ishtara has been teaching belly dance since the late 1990’s.
Annya’s dance studies began with Jazz and Ballet when she was a teenager and evolved to encompass West African and Cuban Orisha dances, Butoh, and Contact 
Improvisation among others. She also studied the Rajasthani Gypsy dance of the Kalbelia people and Ghoomar Ladies dance in Rajasthan, India. In addition to being a perpetual student of belly dance, Annya’s current dance studies include Haitian, Post-Modern dance, and Hula. She studies Tai Chi and Qi Gong with master instructor Richard Leirer.
Annya Ishtara has also studied Shivananda yoga in India, as well as Kripalu and other styles of yoga in the United States. She is a trained massage therapist and has published articles in the Belly Dance Chronicles magazine.