How to Take Belly Dance Classes with Sadie Marquardt or Rachel Brice Online (Yes, Really)

Good news: you absolutely can. Both Sadie Marquardt and Rachel Brice teach online, and their platforms are beginner-friendly, affordable, and genuinely world-class. This post is going to break down who they are, what makes their styles totally different, and exactly how you can start taking classes with them from your living room tonight.

Let's go.

Who Is Sadie Marquardt? The World's Most-Watched Belly Dancer

If you've been anywhere near a belly dance YouTube rabbit hole, you've seen Sadie. She's known simply as Sadie Bellydancer to her fans, and the numbers back up that title: she has racked up over 30 million views on a single YouTube video, making her the most-watched belly dancer on the platform. That's not a typo. One video. 30 million.

But Sadie isn't just an internet phenomenon. She's a globally recognized Oriental dance artist who has spent years performing and teaching in over 40 countries. She's produced dozens of best-selling instructional videos, toured internationally as a professional performer, and — in perhaps her most mainstream moment — represented the art of Oriental dance in front of millions on America's Got Talent.

What makes Sadie's style so magnetic? It's the combination of technical precision and pure joy. Her belly dance pulls from the Egyptian Raqs Sharqi tradition — fluid, grounded, deeply musical — while feeling modern, approachable, and alive. She's not performing at you. She's inviting you in. That quality comes through in her teaching too. Students consistently describe her as warm, encouraging, and incredibly skilled at breaking down complex movements into steps any body can follow.

Sadie is based in Denver, Colorado, where she teaches classes and workshops when she's not traveling the globe. She's also deeply passionate about holistic living, and that energy infuses her entire approach to dance — for her, belly dance isn't just a skill to learn, it's a path to self-discovery and genuine embodiment.

Who Is Rachel Brice? The Architect of Tribal Fusion

While Sadie rules the world of Egyptian-inspired Raqs Sharqi, Rachel Brice belly dance lives in a completely different universe — darker, more serpentine, more architectural. Rachel is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the development of Tribal Fusion belly dance, a genre she helped create and define through her work with the legendary Bellydance Superstars touring company and her own ensemble, The Indigo.

Rachel's background is remarkable. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Ethnology from San Francisco State University, where she studied Kathak with Chitresh Das, Odissi with Vishnu Tattva Das, and Flamenco with Rosa Montoya. She trained in Viniyoga with Gary Kraftsow. She studied American Tribal Style® with Carolena Nericcio, the founder of FatChanceBellyDance. All of that cross-training poured into what eventually became Datura Style™ — her own unique movement vocabulary that is technically demanding, anatomically intelligent, and visually unlike anything else in the belly dance world.

If Sadie belly dance feels like sunlight and celebration, Rachel Brice belly dance feels like moonlight and mystery. Her isolations are slow, controlled, and almost impossibly precise. Her arms move like they're carving through thick air. Her training background in yoga and Pilates gives her work a quality of deep bodily intelligence that you can feel even through a screen.

Rachel teaches and performs out of Studio Datura, her studio in Portland, Oregon — a stunning 1907 building that was formerly a Masonic lodge. She also teaches workshops around the world and runs a professional training program called the 8 Elements Approach to Belly Dance.

Sadie vs. Rachel Brice: Which Style Is Right for You?

Before you click "subscribe" on anything, it helps to understand which style speaks to you. These two instructors are both brilliant, but they're teaching genuinely different things.

Sadie Belly Dance: Egyptian Roots, Modern Energy

Sadie's teaching is rooted in Raqs Sharqi — the classical Egyptian style of belly dance characterized by grounded hips, flowing arms, and deep musicality. Her movement vocabulary includes the foundational moves you'd expect from any solid belly dance education: hip drops, figure eights, shimmies, undulations, traveling steps. But she also incorporates elements of folkloric dance, yoga, and fitness.

This style is ideal for you if:

• You're a complete beginner who wants to learn beautiful, culturally rooted belly dance
• You're drawn to joyful, accessible, music-connected movement
• You want a structured curriculum with clear progression
• You love the aesthetic of flowing skirts, coin belts, and Egyptian Cabaret vibes
• You want a teacher who is also a warm, inspiring community builder

Rachel Brice Belly Dance: Datura Style and the Art of Isolation

Rachel's Datura Style™ is a fusion framework built on internalized muscle isolations, yoga conditioning, and an incredibly thoughtful approach to how the body moves. Her 8 Elements approach breaks dance down into its underlying structures — not just the moves, but the composition, musicality, and intent behind them.

This style is ideal for you if:

• You're drawn to dark, theatrical, serpentine aesthetics
• You want to understand the biomechanics of movement deeply
• You already have some belly dance background and want to go next level
• You love Tribal Fusion, gothic belly dance, or contemporary fusion aesthetics
• You want to think of yourself as an artist, not just a dancer

Not sure which style is yours? Our guide to belly dance styles from Raqs Sharqi to Tribal Fusion breaks down all the major genres with visuals and descriptions — a great starting point before you commit to a platform.

How to Take Online Classes with Sadie Marquardt: Raqs Online

Here's the big reveal that a lot of people don't know: Sadie runs an online dance platform called Raqs Online at raqsonline.com, and it is genuinely one of the best belly dance learning resources on the internet.

What Is Raqs Online?

Raqs Online is Sadie's streaming platform for belly dance and fitness education. It's not just a few YouTube videos slapped behind a paywall — it's a fully developed digital studio with an ever-growing library of classes at every level, from absolute beginner to advanced. The content includes:

• Step-by-step technique breakdowns
• Full choreographies
• Live classes (yes, actually live — you can dance with Sadie in real time)
• Music theory and dance history
• Yoga and fitness cross-training classes
• Content from other guest world-class instructors

The platform is available on virtually every device — desktop, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire. You can stream from the couch or set it up in your dance space and follow along on your TV.

What Does Raqs Online Cost?

Sadie's Raqs Online subscription costs less than a single drop-in class at most studios per month — and you get unlimited access to the entire library. You can cancel any time from your dashboard, so there's zero risk in trying it out.

Students rave about the community too. There's an active Facebook group where Sadie actually shows up to respond to questions and connect with students. For people who don't have access to local in-person belly dance classes, the reviews make clear this community has been genuinely life-changing.

Raqs Flow: Sadie's Certification Program

Beyond the streaming platform, Sadie also runs Raqs Flow — a four-level training and certification program that offers students a comprehensive curriculum covering belly dance from beginner to professional level. The program takes two to four years to complete and is designed for serious students who want real technical mastery and possibly even a path to teaching.

Raqs Flow Level 1 is now available online, which means you can begin this rigorous program from anywhere in the world. Levels 3 and 4 are closed to students who have completed Levels 1 and 2, keeping the advanced work appropriately structured and community-based.

If you're someone who gets bored with casual "fitness dance" classes and wants to actually know this art form at a deep level, Raqs Flow is the real deal.

How to Take Online Classes with Rachel Brice: Datura Online

Rachel launched Datura Online back in 2012, making it one of the oldest and most established belly dance streaming platforms in existence. You can find it at daturaonline.com.

What Is Datura Online?

Datura Online is Rachel's streaming studio offering belly dance, yoga, Pilates, and fitness classes. It's a dancer-owned, dancer-operated platform with no investors or advertisers — which means the content exists purely to serve the students, not to maximize ad revenue. That ethos shows in the quality and care of everything on the platform.

The content library is extensive and organized in a brilliant way:

• Classes — individual focused practices that build technique
• Series — multi-class progressions where each session builds on the last
• Programs — structured practices ranging from 7 days to a full year
• Workshops — deep dives into specific topics
• Spotlights — short, focused excerpts for when you only have 15 minutes

Rachel teaches her own Datura Style™ and fusion belly dance on the platform, and there are also guest teachers across multiple styles. The beginner entry point is a series called First Steps: Datura Style™ which breaks down the fundamental Datura Style vocabulary, including bumps, pivots, body waves, and turns.

If you want to go deeper, Rachel's Intro to Datura Style™ is a four-class beginner series that covers the core fundamentals in a clear, progressive format. From there, the library opens up into increasingly advanced territory.

What Does Datura Online Cost?

Datura Online offers both monthly and annual plans. The monthly plan breaks down to just $0.83 a day for unlimited access to the full content library. The annual plan is even more cost-effective at $0.71 a day. There's a free trial available so you can explore before committing.

You can also access Datura Online via a mobile app, making it easy to practice anywhere.

The 8 Elements Approach to Belly Dance

Rachel's most advanced teaching framework is the 8 Elements Approach to Belly Dance — her professional training program that runs out of Studio Datura in Portland, Oregon, but which informs everything she teaches online as well. The 8 Elements approach is built on the principle of empowering the individual dancer's voice rather than loyalty to any single style. It deconstructs belly dance technique at the structural level, examining composition, musicality, and movement-making as a holistic system.

This is the work that serious students obsess over. If you're ready to go from "learning combinations" to "understanding how dance actually works," Rachel's approach is genuinely transformative.

Can Total Beginners Take Classes with Sadie or Rachel?

Absolutely — with one small caveat.

Sadie's Raqs Online is explicitly beginner-friendly from the ground up. She loves new students and has built her platform to welcome people with zero dance experience. If you've never taken a belly dance class in your life, Sadie is your person.

Rachel's Datura Online also has beginner entry points, particularly the First Steps and Intro to Datura Style series mentioned above. That said, her style is technically demanding and anatomically specific. You won't be lost as a beginner, but you'll get the most out of it if you approach it with patience and don't rush the foundational work.

For both platforms, the answer to "do I need experience?" is no — but you do need to be willing to slow down and actually learn the fundamentals rather than skip ahead to the flashy stuff. That's true of any serious dance education.

If you're brand new to all of this and want a solid foundation before committing to either platform, our complete beginner's guide to belly dance covers everything you need to know: the history, the basic movements, what to wear, and how to set up your practice space.

What Equipment and Gear Do You Need?

One of the great things about starting belly dance online is that the startup costs are genuinely minimal. You don't need a studio, a costume, or any equipment to begin. Here's the practical breakdown:

For Your Practice Space

• A clear area of roughly 6 feet by 6 feet — enough to move without bumping furniture
• A mirror if you have one (helpful but not mandatory)
• A TV, tablet, laptop, or phone to stream your classes

What to Wear

• Comfortable leggings or yoga pants that let you see your hip movement
• A fitted top or sports bra
• Bare feet or soft-soled shoes
• A hip scarf or coin belt (optional but wildly helpful for beginners — the jingle gives you auditory feedback on your hip movements and honestly makes the whole thing more fun)

You do not need a full belly dance costume to start. Save that for when you've fallen completely in love with the art form — which, fair warning, will probably happen faster than you expect.

Props to Consider Later

Once you're comfortable with the basics, you might want to explore:

• Zills (finger cymbals) — used in both Egyptian and Turkish styles
• A veil — for beautiful flow work in Egyptian/Cabaret styles
• Sword — for advanced balance work (yes, really)

These are all "later" purchases. For now? Leggings and enthusiasm are enough.

Do You Need In-Person Classes Too?

This is a real question worth addressing honestly. Online classes are incredibly convenient and genuinely effective — both Sadie and Rachel have built world-class digital learning environments. But belly dance is fundamentally a movement art, and movement arts benefit enormously from live feedback.

The reason is isolation. Belly dance is built on teaching your muscles to move independently — your hips move while your upper body stays still, your chest moves while your hips stay quiet. These are skills that a camera can't easily see from one angle, and a screen can't correct in real time.

For complete beginners especially, we recommend combining online learning with at least a few in-person sessions with a local instructor. Online platforms like Raqs Online and Datura Online are phenomenal for:

• Practicing at your own pace
• Rewinding and repeating difficult sections
• Exploring content between in-person classes
• Building a consistent daily practice

But an in-person teacher can spot a postural issue in your first hip circle that might take months to self-diagnose from video. The best dancers use both.

Ready to find local classes to complement your online study? Use our belly dance class finder to search studios and instructors in your city. We've listed options across the US, from major cities to smaller communities, so you can find someone near you regardless of where you're based.

Why These Two? A Word on Why Sadie and Rachel Stand Above the Crowd

There are a lot of belly dance instructors online. So why are Sadie Marquardt and Rachel Brice consistently the names that float to the top when people search?

It comes down to genuine mastery + accessibility + community. Both of these women have spent decades developing deep technical expertise in their respective styles. They haven't just performed — they've thought seriously about how to teach, how to break down complex movement for real students at every level, and how to build learning environments that are warm, professional, and inspiring.

Sadie's Raqs Online community is famous for its positivity and engagement. Rachel's Datura Online is praised for its intellectual rigor and beautiful production quality. These aren't hobby projects — they're serious professional platforms built by serious artists who are genuinely invested in your growth.

And unlike a lot of big-name instructors who do one-off DVD releases and disappear, both Sadie and Rachel are actively producing new content, showing up live, and evolving their teaching. When you subscribe, you're joining something living.

Quick Comparison: Raqs Online vs. Datura Online

The Bottom Line: Start Dancing Today

You watched Sadie belly dance and something in you lit up. You discovered Rachel Brice belly dance and felt like you'd found an art form you didn't know existed. That feeling is real, and it's pointing at something worth following.

The beautiful thing about this moment in history is that world-class belly dance education is genuinely accessible to anyone, regardless of where you live, what your schedule looks like, or what your body type is. Belly dance has always been a dance for every body — it was never designed for a specific shape or size. It was designed for the human form, period.

Whether you're drawn to Sadie's radiant Egyptian style or Rachel Brice's hypnotic fusion artistry, the door is open. Both platforms offer subscription pricing that makes professional instruction more affordable than a single drop-in class at a local studio. Both are available on every device. Both have communities full of people who started exactly where you're starting right now.

If you want to explore more about what style might be right for you before diving in, check out our deep-dive resource on the different styles of belly dance — it covers everything from traditional Egyptian and Turkish styles to American Tribal Style and Tribal Fusion, with a breakdown of the aesthetics, movements, and cultural roots of each.

And if you're curious about in-person options to complement your online study, our class finder directory has local studio listings across the US. Use it to find a teacher near you who can give you that live feedback that accelerates everything you're building with Sadie or Rachel online.

The shimmy is waiting. Go get it.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you subscribe to Raqs Online or Datura Online through our links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. We only recommend platforms we genuinely believe in.