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Performance Lab 2026 - Bellydance Live Music Series Atlanta,
Performance Lab 2026
A 6-month live-music performance program with Majda Anwar & Matías Hazrum — six Sunday workshops in Atlanta, GA with live music every session, and a final show at Red Light Café to display your artistry.
What is Performance Lab?
Performance Lab 2026 is a six-month, live-music training program designed to help dancers build confidence, musicality, and improvisational skill. Across six monthly workshops, you’ll train directly with live music provided by Matías on keyboard and tabla, learning how to interpret rhythms, follow phrasing, and dance comfortably in real-time collaboration with a musician.
Each session focuses on a different aspect of dancing to live music—musicality, rhythms, drum solos, taqsim, zills, and performance craft—all building toward a fully supported live-music show at Red Light Café on August 15Ω 2026.
The program is limited to only 8 dancers, allowing space for individualized attention, coaching, and hands-on guidance in a private, comfortable studio setting.
Curriculum: Inside the Lab
Session 1: Musicality
Learn how to hear phrase lines, accents, and emotional shape in Arabic and fusion music. You’ll train with live keyboard and tabla to understand how musicians build dynamics, transitions, and improvisational cues. This foundation helps you dance with the music, not just to it.
Session 2: Arabic Rhythms
Explore the core rhythms used in bellydance, different time signatures, and how to move confidently through common patterns like masmoudi, saidi, malfouf, chiftetelli, and more. With live tabla drills, you’ll build grounded timing and precision.
Session 3: Drum Solo Technique
Learn how to interpret the energy and structure of a drum solo. You’ll practice accents, layering, controlled power, and clean footwork while responding to live rhythmic patterns. Build confidence for both structured and improvised solos.
Session 4: Taqasim
Work with live keyboard improvisation to develop emotional expression and intuitive responsiveness. Learn how to follow melodic phrases, breathe with the music, and settle into slow, expressive movement without fear or hesitation
Session 5: Finger Cymbals
Strengthen your zill technique and learn when—and when not—to play. Practice layering finger cymbal patterns over movement combos while staying in sync with live percussion. Build confidence and taste as a musical partner on stage.
Session 6: Performance Craft
Develop your stage presence, musical expression, and artistic clarity. Explore entrances, exits, transitions, and emotional delivery while learning how to communicate with your band with confidence.
Performance Lab Schedule
All workshops are Sundays, 1–3 PM at Majda’s home studio.
- Workshop 1 – Feb 15: Musicality Foundations
- Workshop 2 – Mar 15: Rhythm & Tabla
- Workshop 3 – Apr 19: Drum Solo Technique
- Workshop 4 – May 17: Taqsim & Improv
- Workshop 5 – Jun 21: Finger Cymbals + Live Music
- Workshop 6 – Jul 19: Performance Craft
- Rehearsal – Aug 9 (Sun, 1–3 PM)
- Show – Aug 15 at Red Light Café
Your Instructors
Matias Hazrum
Matias Hazrum
Matias Hazrum
Matías Hazrum is an internationally respected Arabic percussionist, musician, and composer known for his powerful stage presence and innovative musical style. With decades of experience, he performs professionally on tabla, keyboard, and a wide range of Middle Eastern percussion instruments.
Matías has collaborated with many of the most recognized names in the bellydance world and spent years as the lead drummer for Mario Kirlis’ orchestra, composing drum solos and musical pieces featured on numerous recordings. He currently runs the Percussion Dance School and leads his touring ensemble, the Percussion Dance Group.
A sought-after educator, Matías is known for his dynamic teaching style, deep musical knowledge, and ability to help dancers understand rhythm, phrasing, and musical structure through hands-on live music. He has performed and taught across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, inspiring dancers and musicians around the globe.
Majda Anwar
Matias Hazrum
Matias Hazrum
Majda Anwar is a lifelong dancer and musician with nearly three decades of Middle Eastern dance experience and over twenty years of musical training. Beginning her dance journey at age five and her music journey at age ten, she has developed a uniquely integrated approach to movement that is deeply informed by rhythm, melody, and musical structure.
She has trained extensively in classical Egyptian, FatChanceBellydance Style®, and modern fusion styles, and holds Level 2 certifications in both the Suhaila and Jamila Salimpour Formats, along with her FCBD® General Skills Certification.
Majda’s musical background includes violin, vielle, daff, tabla, and sagat, with additional studies in Arabic violin and maqam theory. She has performed live music for belly dancers for more than a decade, founded the world-fusion band Alla-Yustur, and was been a core member of the TribalCon live band for seven years.
Known for her musicality, improvisation skills, and her ability to translate complex musical concepts into accessible guidance for dancers, Majda teaches with clarity, generosity, and deep respect for the art form. Her work centers on helping dancers build confidence, develop artistic nuance, and experience real connection with live music.