Are you ready to awaken the inner Goddess within you? Join us every Thursday at 11:30 am for Gentle Belly Dance with Jasmina Rae!

Benita, aka, Jasmina Rae, has been belly dancing for over 10 years. Retired from her day job, she devotes more time to her passion for this ancient, sacred art form. She believes that executing the powerful movements of belly dance improves the health and vitality of the aging body, enhances its beauty, and strengthens it from the inside out, thereby opening a portal for deeper self-discovery and expression.

Benita stumbled upon belly dance in 2007 when she entered a dance studio to take Samba classes before traveling to Bahia, Brazil. When she returned from Brazil, belly dance connected with her heart and she never looked back, particularly when she learned from her readings that this sacred dance was not performed simply for the titillation of men or performed by loose women. On the contrary, in times when women were repressed and segregated, they danced together to connect with their spirituality and for self-expression. This ritual continues today.

She attends workshops and classes in traditional, urban and fusion styles of belly dance conducted by such dance luminaries as Ebony Qualls, Zoe Jakes, Rachel Brice, Mardi Love, Naimah, Lotus, Rashid, and international instructors, Shahrzad and Mohamed Shahin from Egypt.

She teaches classes along with five other women under a belly dance group called Sacred Hips in Motion. She performs with Troupe Malkia, the performance group of Sacred Hips in Motion, at haflas, the Art of the Belly Festival in Ocean City, Maryland, and other venues. She also trains and performs three times a year with a troupe called ShimmyPop, a fusion of hip hop and traditional style belly dance under the direction of Ebony Qualls.

Her goals for teaching belly dance are to share the beauty and healing nature of this ancient, sacred dance.

Her other passions are jewelry designing, gardening, reading, yoga and attending West African aerobic classes.