Ready to Relax? Ready to Strengthen, Tone, and Feel Great? Ready to Celebrate?
Moon Haven offers classes, workshops, & more:
• Yoga
• Beginner to Advanced Belly Dance
• Children's Belly Dance
• Belly Dance Workout: Belly Dance Boot Camp
• Fusion Dance
• Burlesque Technique & Choreography
• Prenatal Belly Dance
• Choreography Commissions/Private Lessons
Moon Haven also offers:
• Henna Body Art (Mehndi): Parties, Private Appointments, Henna Bellies for Pregnancy, Wedding Henna
• Private Belly Dance Lessons: Individuals & Groups, at the Studio or Your Location
• Belly Grams to Celebrate Birthdays, Retirements, and Bachelor Parties
• Belly Dance Troupe Performances for Public or Private Events
• Belly Dance for Special Occasions such as Weddings, Bachelorette Parties, and Girls Nights Out
• Off Site Belly Dance and Burlesque Classes (see schedule)
Announcements and Upcoming Events
PRENATAL BELLY DANCE
While studying midwifery at WomanCraft in Amherst, MA, Jillanna was inspired to develop a belly dance class format focused on helping women to enjoy a healthy pregnancy, birth and postpartum. She intuited that belly dance movements could help especially during labor, and began to combine her study of midwifery with her passion for belly dancing to create Merrybellies Belly Arts, with her first classes focused on prenatal and postpartum belly dance. Some movements of belly dancing just "happen" during natural labor when the mother is not confined to the bed. Other movements are less known, but can be helpful in the relief of discomfort, the achievement of optimal fetal positioning, and also in the provision of the basic healthy benefits of exercise. Postpartum belly dance aids in recovery and return of muscle tone, and also can be soothing to babies held in arms or sling while mother dances.
Jillanna teaches prenatal belly dance classes, workshops, and private lessons. She also loves to demonstrate helpful movements at baby showers! Another option for pregnant and postpartum mothers is to join a beginner belly dance class; Jillanna's classes are small and personalized, and she will make sure you learn the right moves and avoid those that are unsafe for pregnancy and postpartum. Jillanna has twelve years experience in the development of her format, movement vocabulary and teaching experience, plus an advanced degree in midwifery; doula training through WomanCraft Midwifery and ALACE; advanced doula training in Optimal Fetal Positioning through DONA; and more than seven years doula and midwifery apprenticeship experience.
For more information or to inquire about the next round of prenatal belly dance classes, please call, text or email.
TESTIMONIALS
Additions to the web site include testimonials from Merrybellies and Moon Haven students. As we enter our second year of new ownership, we continue to grow and change. Check again soon for more updates!
April Allen:
I decided to join a belly dance class because I had recently lost a lot of weight and wanted to try and build some self confidence and tone up. I had no real intention of sticking with it. That was a year ago and I still can't get enough! Not only have I learned to belly dance, but I have also learned some burlesque and have joined the Pixie Dust Troupe! Though I have only scratched the surface, I have learned so much! Jillanna is a wonderful teacher and a genuine friend. She teaches with all of her heart. No matter how your day has been, you just can't help but to smile while you are there. Jillanna's smile is contagious. When I leave class I feel beautiful. I just can't imagine my life without belly dance or the friends that I have made!!
GREEK NIGHT AT PORTOFINOS
Jillanna performs to live music by Grecian Echoes at monthly special Greek Nights at Portofino's in East Ridge. Reservations recommended. (423) 499-9696
HENNA BODY ART
Jillanna offers private henna appointments for individuals and groups, as well as parties, at Moon Haven Studio or at your location! Henna is an all-natural, plant-based paste that stains the skin for one to two weeks. The color is in the red/brown/orange range. Jillanna has more than a decade of experience as a henna artist, plus a fine arts degree (summa cum laude; Amherst College) and art history masters degree (University of Massachusetts-Amherst).
GIFT CERTIFICATES
Know someone who would love a gift certificate for belly dance, yoga, and/or burlesque classes? These are good for one year and may be used for any class sessions at Moon Haven Studio.
Tip of the Month
"Learning to walk set you free. Learning to dance gives you the greatest freedom of all: to express with your whole self the person you are." ~ Melissa Hayden
Serving North Georgia and Chattanooga. From I-75 take the Ringgold/LaFayette Exit #348 and head North onto Highway 151 (turn right from I-75 north, left from I-75 south). Go 1 mile to highway 41 and turn right. Go through 3 more lights into downtown Ringgold. Turn right and park in the large Shop-Rite / Fred's parking lot near the road. Moon Haven Studio is on the second floor of the Cleburne building (front building, with tall arched windows). Enter the door next to the clothing store and go up the stairs to the first space.
Moon Haven Studio
9 Legion St.,
Ringgold, GA 30736
phone: 423-991-9555
website: www.moonhavenstudio.com
email: merrybellies@hotmail.com
Celebrating the Wisdom, Grace, and Empowerment of Women.
"Moon Haven Studio is a friendly, relaxing setting for the bellydance and yoga classes. It's very welcoming, whether you're a first-timer or a veteran!
Bellydancing has helped me realize that I don't have to have a certain "look" to be beautiful; it's much more about how I present myself. I stand up straighter than I used to. I feel more confident. I've become more comfortable and content with myself. And I think a lot of that is because of the way Jillanna interacts with her students. We first arrive and we're kind of shy or nervous, because most of us aren't five-ten and size zero with a DD cup. But as we dance, our nerves give way to joking and sharing stories, and we pull our shoulders back, and we hold our heads up. And we smile." —Dana Cole
