Moon Belly Dance Studio

MOON is a contemporary belly dance company based in Columbia, MO. It is the formal joining of Moon Belly Dance Studio's previous two dance collectives: The DragonFlies Dance Company and Moon Belly Ensemble. Rooted in belly dance technique, artistic director, Kandice Grossman, explores the fusion of contemporary movement, emotional expression, theat... er, yoga, gesture and the senses. Performances are a unique, sensorial experience that feature original choreography, music and costumes. Recurring themes are the meeting point between earthly experiences and mystical phenomena, the cyclical female experience of maiden, mother and crone, dream messages and signs, and love of self and others. All work has a feminist consciousness underpinning. MOON is a community based company. Members are selected by artistic director Kandice Grossman and include a wide range of dancers in experience level. Principle dancers, aka The DragonFlies, are the most advanced students at Moon Belly Dance Studio and serve as leaders in the company. Building upon a foundation of strong technique, members develop as a group and as individual artists within the company. Kandice Grossman began studying belly dance in 1996 and has studied with some of the nations most renowned teachers. She is Level 3 certified in the Jamila Salimpour technique and is currently working toward her level 4 certification in the Suhaila Salimpour technique, with the renowned Suhaila Salimpour School of Dance in Berkeley, CA. In 2001, she completed a Masters degree in Womens Studies with a dissertation on the relationship between feminism and belly dance at the University of Manchester, UK. Her study of feminist theory and womens empowerment is continuously weaved into her love of teaching dance. Kandice founded Moon Belly Dance Studio in 2002. In 2003, Kandice founded The DragonFlies Dance Company and, in 2005, Moon Belly Dance Ensemble. In 2015 she joined both company's into what is now MOON dance company and is the artistic director and head choreographer. Kandices ...Read More