• Spirit Horse Dance Company is a belly dance studio based in Chippewa Falls, WI. In 2016, she merged with Lasa Anahata Tribal in Eau Claire, WI to form a collaborative studio/troupe.

• Rita Simon, is a FatChanceBellyDance® Sister Studio® and a certified American Tribal Style®/ATS® instructor since 2010. 

• Rita is currently the most experienced ATS belly dance instructor teaching in the Chippewa Valley. She has taught beginning through advanced levels of ATS belly dance to women of all ages. 

• She also teaches ATS vocabulary workshops, ATS prop workshops in skirt , basket, and sword dancing. She specializes in teaching zils and in musicality for belly dancers.

• Rita was co-founder and member of the performance ATS troupe, Sofia Tribal, and co-director of the student troupe, Raksat Anuli, both of which have performed widely at events in the Chippewa Valley and in the Twin Cities metro area.  

JUST ME

Inside of me there has always been a dancer, but "life" kept this closely hidden away until I discovered ATS belly dance!  In the fall of 2007, I saw an ad for belly dance classes, and with trepidation, I decided to give it a try.  I arrived by myself to the first class feeling very uncomfortable.  I was sure all the women in the class would be much younger than me, and all with great bodies, not my "over 50, I've had 2 kids" version.  But as soon as I put on that jingly coin scarf and the music started, I was hooked!  I felt such a great joy, a joy that I had not experienced for a very long time!  I knew from that very first night that I wanted to continue to learn to dance this dance!

Since then I have been on a dance journey that has brought me much satisfaction and joy.  I decided that I wanted to pursue ATS Belly Dance exclusively, and embarked on the course of study required to earn my certification as a FatChanceBellyDance instructor and to become a FCBD Sister Studio. I love teaching women and girls this dance; I  love dancing and performing with them. It is so amazing for me to see women advance from the beginning to the advanced levels of classes and into performance and to see them really 'RAQ' their  dance!  I feel so proud and honored to have been a part of their dance journies! I love the creativity in the costuming and performance makeup, the jewelry, the music, the improvisation, especially when, "ZING!", it all comes together perfectly!

I look forward to continuing to dance this dance for as long as I can and  I look forward to passing this dance on to women of younger generations!