Monthly classes - in person
Mediterranean Movement
2026 dates:
July 11 | August 8 | September 12 | October 10 | November 14 | December 12
Monthlies with Monica – Second Saturdays of each month
10:15am – 11:30pm
Danzhaus, 1275 Connecticut Street, San Francisco
Plentiful street parking
Close to the 19 and 48 MUNI lines
Studio opens at 10 – please arrive early to get settled, meet classmates, and sign in.
Please note the studio is up one flight of stairs and there is no elevator.
What to expect
Join me the second Saturday of each month for Mediterranean Movement, a 75-minute, culturally-based dance and rhythm class open to all that will deepen your folk, artistic, and cultural dance practice. My work is rooted in vernacular dances of the people, and we will explore what that means, looks like, and feels like as geographically-far-away practitioners while also working right where we we are, and with exactly what we have.
My 30+ year dance background is in Egyptian, Arab, and southern Italian movement and musical arts, so be prepared for lots of (bias alert: amazing!) music and dance from those areas. We will also make music, rhythms, or songs for one another, and occasionally we'll bring musicians in to work with us. No class will be exactly the same, and you may start at any time, but there will be threads that link each class and allow us to build on something together each month.
My dance classes are musically driven, and I have a large collection of wonderful music for us to dance to. During class we will warm up, move through the body with guided exercises, improvisations, combinations, and contextual explorations, dance in a circle, and then cool down. There won't be a ton of choreography. There will be space for you to get in touch with your style, instinct, and maybe even your own movement muse. Dancers will find a lot to add to their personal and professional practices, and all of us will leave feeling more connected to our bodies.
We'll also have a good time.
These classes are live and in person. All are welcome. It won't be the same without you, and I hope you can make it.
Who this class is for:
- People who want to dance with intention, thought, and cultural context
- People who love dance and music from Egypt
- People who love dance and music from southern Italy
- People who want a structured way to work on their own dance technique
- People who want to get comfortable improvising to music
- People who want to clap or drum rhythms for and with others
- People who want to sing along as others dance
- People who want to connect songs with movements, people, and places
- People who have some dance or movement experience
I am not interested in conflating similar practices with one another – I have learned that defining and knowing even nuanced differences between dance forms deepens relationship with tradition and allows for it to stay alive and meaningful. We will honor the migration and movement that allows us to explore diverse dances and music through our own lives without diluting them or demanding they become one thing or that we are even at the center of it. We aren't fusing, and we aren't pretending to be anything we are not.
Who this class is not for:
- Someone who wants a straight up belly dance class
- Someone who wants a straight up tarantella class
You will get both of the above if you come, but you will also get more.
I have a small dream of developing a performance group out of the classes – certainly not required, but if that is of interest, know it is a possibility.
How to register
You can sign up for all 6 classes in 2026 for $125 (register by July 11). You can also apply your drop in to the full series after the July 11 class if you'd like to try it out first.
2026 dates:
July 11
August 8
September 12
October 10
November 14
December 12
10:15 - 11:30am
Sliding scale: $15, $20, or $25 per class.
Please pay what you can comfortably afford. Note the highest tier is the true cost of the class, and what everyone would pay if there was no sliding scale. If you aren't sure where you fall, there is a handy guide below. It is an honor system and no 'proof' or justification is required. No one will know what you paid but me.
You can sign up for all 6 classes in 2026 for $125 (register by July 11).
You can also apply your drop in to the full series after the July 11 class if you'd like to try it out first.
While it is greatly appreciated if you pay ahead of time, you can also arrive early to pay at the door using cash - exact change please - or venmo. But again, if you know you are coming, please pay ahead of time.
Please note there are no refunds or make-up classes offered.
Reach out with any questions, and I cannot wait to dance with you!
Sliding Scale
How do I decide what to pay?
Each bottle above contains sentences that describe a person's current financial experience and class. The bottle on the far left represents the upper end of the sliding scale spectrum. Folks who identify most with the statements in the far left bottle qualify to pay for class tickets at the upper end of our sliding scale. The middle bottle represents folks who sometimes can pay for the upper end of the sliding scale, sometimes the middle, and sometimes the bottom half. The bottle on the far right represents the lowest end of the scale and folks who qualify to purchase class tickets from the bottom of our price spectrum.
For ease of reading, here is the text from each of the bottles in the above graphic:
Top of the Scale (or the left bottle):
- I am comfortably able to meet all of my basic* needs
- I may have some debt but it does not prohibit attainment of basic needs
- I own my home or property OR I rent a higher-end property
- I own or lease a car
- I am employed or do not need to work to meet my needs
- I have regular access to health care
- I have access to financial savings
- I have an expendable** income
- I can always buy new items
- I can afford an annual vacation or take time off
Middle of the Scale (or the middle bottle):
- I may stress about meeting my basic needs but still regularly achieve them
- I may have some debt but it does not prohibit attainment of basic needs
- I own or lease a car
- I am employed
- I have access to health care
- I might have access to financial savings
- I have some expendable income
- I am able to buy some new items & I thrift others
- I can take a vacation annually or every few years without financial burden
Bottom of the Scale (or the right bottle):
- I frequently stress about meeting basic needs & don’t always achieve them
- I have debt and it sometimes prohibits me from meeting my basic needs
- I rent lower-end properties or have unstable housing
- I do not have a car and/or have limited access to a car but I am not always able to afford gas
- I am unemployed or underemployed
- I qualify for government assistance including food stamps & health care
- I have no access to savings
- I have no or very limited expendable income
- I rarely buy new items because I am unable to afford them
- I cannot afford a vacation or have the ability to take time off without financial burden
* Basic Needs include food, housing, health care, and transportation.
** Expendable Income might mean you are able to buy coffee or tea at a shop, go to the movies or a concert, buy new clothes, books, and similar items each month, etc.
This graphic is from Alexis Cunningfolk. I have been using it for almost a decade with permission. Thank you Alexis!