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2012 Instructors
Restaurant and Hotel info on our Hotels/Activities page.
Portland, OR * Photo by Sol Crawford
& UNMATASacramento, CA * Photo by Taboo Media
Brought to you by 9 Ladies Dancing Theatre
of the Eastern Sun Dance Company
Andalee is an Award Winning Dancer with several titles under her belt including her 2011 titles “Ultimate Belly Dance Artist” from the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive and “Top Belly Dancer” after winning the first ever Belly Dance Reality Show Style Competition PROJECT BELLY DANCE.
Andalee began her Belly Dance Odyssey in year 2000 while attending Humboldt State University where she studied Biology, Percussion, and Dance. The Amazing Shoshanna taught the Middle Eastern Dance class at Humboldt State and mentored Andalee through her journey. Andalee became a principal dancer, soloist, and choreographer for Shoshanna’s Lailaa Chandani Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble (now called Ya Habibi!) where she danced until 2005.
Andalee has since studied with many other Masters of the Art both in the U.S. and abroad during her travels through the Middle East. She expertly performs a variety of different styles. Because of her extensive background in percussion and rhythm, Andalee has a strong connection to the rhythms of the Middle East and is highly skilled at playing Zills (finger cymbals) and other percussion instruments including the Doumbek (Arabic Tabla).
Andalee now resides in the Central Valley of California where she performs, teaches, and is the Artistic Director of the Eastern Sun Dance Company.
Portland, OR * Photo by Gene Newell
Grace Constantine is a guru of solo improvisational bellydance. She is the founder, director, and lead dancer of Deviant Dance Company, and maintains a thriving teaching practice at The Lair, her private studio in Portland, Oregon. She has taught improv bellydance workshops for ivy-league (Columbia University) and public schools (Portland Public School District), and has performed with countless wonderful musicians including Raquy & the Cavemen, Light Rain, Negara, & Reda Darwish. Grace won Zaghareet! Magazine's Golden Belly award for Best Kept Secret in 2008. She is a founding member of Dreams of Cleopatra, and a former member of Good Vibrations. She took her first bellydance lessons over twenty years ago, but found her first home in 1996 studying with Tatseena. Grace’s passion and stage presence have enthralled audiences across the country. Her fluid style is imbued with intricate, wild, and powerful storytelling. Her solo dances are always improvised.
As an instructor, Grace does not teach formal choreography. She draws out the very best in her students by helping them to explore the emotional range of music with both mind & body. Grace provides fun and accessible methods for dancing extemporaneously, and becoming comfortable with interpreting music in the moment. Encouraging a focus on form and musicality, she helps dancers to develop a dance vocabulary that is natural and distinctive. The name Deviant Dance comes from the notion that each dancer’s style must be different—deviating from everyone else’s—for each dancer’s experience is unique.
Grace lives in Portland with her adorable husband, a little black cat, and a lovely garden of strange plants.
Portland, OR * Photo by Light and Shade Imaging
Ashley Lopez first fell in love with belly dance while taking classes with Ishara Gamal at the University of Illinois. She immediately became obsessed with Tribal Style and proceeded to take classes and workshops as often as possible. She has studied with Carolina Nericcio, Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, Mardi Love, Sharon Kihara, Kami Liddle, Heather Stants, Mira Betz and Jill Parker. She was one of the first students to achieve certification in Rachel Brice's Phase Two: Cultivation, the second of four sessions in the brand new 8 Elements series. Her dance background includes training in various Latin dances, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Flamenco, Tahitian and Hula. Ashley is a certified group fitness instructor specializing in Yoga and Pilates with nearly 10 years teaching experience, and has been a professional bellydance instructor since 2005. She has formed and led two troupes-- Trikhala (Champaign IL) and Orchid Belly Dance (San Francisco CA,) sister troupe to SF Hula of which Ashley was a key member.
Currently, Ashley is the resident Fusion instructor at Datura Studios in Portland, and performs for festivals, nightclubs, restaurants, corporate events and private parties all over the country. She has appeared as a guest soloist and belly dance choreographer for Naach, has guest-starred performing with Beats Antique, and has been interviewed by Illinois TV news channels WCIA and WILL. Ashley holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance in Opera from the University of Illlinois School of Music and has performed with Opera San José and BASOTI in San Francisco.
She likes to collect sparklies…lots and lots of sparklies…and puts them on top of one another with glue and string.
Portland, OR * Photo by Michael Baxter
Jewels' passionate appreciation of this ancient, traditional art form will leave you spellbound and mesmerized. Her varied background in ballet, tribal-style bellydance, Egyptian Raks Sharqi, American Cabaret and traditional Middle Eastern folkloric dances combine to make her dancing style truly her own. Bellydance has become her obsession, her intention, her lifelong passion. Her dancing infuses the soul with energy, pure joy and light. She may or may not admit to owning seven pairs of zills-- a different sound for each day of the week!
Jewels is a multi-award-winning dancer, placing 1st in the Professional categories at the Jewel of the Sierra contest in 2010, the Emerald Rain contest in 2009, and the North Valley contest in 2007. She has been a featured dancer in many shows, dancing alongside Amy Sigil of Unmata, Sa'Diyya, Rachel George, Gina of Atlanta, Zaina Hart, Fat Chance Bellydance and Ruby, and has toured with the Brothers of the Baladi as a special guest performer. She was also recently chosen as the featured Raks Star in iShimmy.com's ezine. Raks Star Jewels
She has had the honor of studying with Aziza, Zaina Hart, Astryd Farah de Michele, Lilah Perry, Hadia, Rachel George and Jane Archer. She is inspired by her many bellydance friends and supporters, and continues to strive to become the best dancer that she can be.
of Petrichor Dance, co-founder of P.U.R.E
New York, NY * Photo by Pixie Visions Productions
(Website) (Videos)
Darshan has been teaching and performing bellydance and its cohorts for almost 20 years. She danced with Portland's Gypsy Caravan for 9 years alongside a solo cabaret career. In 2003 she moved to New York to perform off Broadway with the Dalia Carella Dance Company, and became ensconced in the energy of the city. In her time there she co-founded dance activism network PURE, began to travel internationally to teach and perform her distinctive theatrical style of dance, appeared in several DVDs, and earned her Bikram Yoga and ACE personal training certifications. Always a student, her studies continue to include dances, movement, and healing forms of the world, and she always learns a great deal from nature and from her own students. She believes in authentic movement as a conduit for energy, and challenging the body to find new modes of expression. Darshan loves Portland and the greater dance community and is always thrilled to be here with you.
of Scarlet Thistle Belly Dance
Hood River, OR *
(Website) (Video- Colette / Scarlet Thistle)
Colette Todorov has been belly dancing for over 14 years, starting with her first class with Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellyDance (FCBD®) in San Francisco in 1997. She was immediately intrigued by the group improvisational aspect of American Tribal Style (ATS®) and was invited to join the professional troupe at the start of 2001. During her tenure with FCBD®, Colette participated in numerous shows and videos and was trained by Carolena to teach at the FCBD® studio. In 2008, Colette established Scarlet Thistle Studio in Hood River, OR as her home base for teaching. The following year she founded Scarlet Thistle Belly Dance, performing at festivals and shows throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 2011, Colette became the resident ATS® instructor at Datura, Rachel Brice’s studio in Portland. She brings nearly a decade of belly dance teaching experience to both studios and to workshops throughout the area.
Colette continues to study and train with Carolena and other renowned dancers and musicians. In the spring of 2011 she was part of the first group to receive a “Certificate of Initiation” in Rachel Brice’s 8 Elements Format. Colette has studied at the Sulhaila Salimpour School of Belly Dance, completing Level 1 and Level 2 curriculum and trained with Mira Betz in Mira’s weekly classes. She has completed multiple Rhythm Diatribes with the group Helm and studied zils and rhythms with master musician Tobias Roberson.
Her goal is to continue to develop as a dancer and to inspire others to discover how dance and creativity can drastically improve their life.
of Portland, OR *
Paulette Rees-Denis has been an international cutting edge dance force since 1991, with her innovative and inspiring style of dance-Tribal Belly Dance. Her part memoir, part experiential book, Tribal Vision: A Celebration of Tribal Belly Dance (Cultivator Press, 2008), has received glowing praise, telling her stories and sharing other dancer's tales around this dance. Paulette, director of the renowned dance and music troupe, Gypsy Caravan Dance Company, takes her in-demand Tribal workshops, Collective Soul and Teacher Training intensive certification programs around the globe.
Her Tribal Styling is an eclectic, invigorating, and elegant fusion based on urban, folk, ritual, trance, bellydance, and modern dances. With a classical dance background, Paulette has created this rich blend of contemporary improvisational movement which is esthetically pleasing, spiritually grounding, and physically rewarding. This dance evokes a feeling of ancient times, of family, of personal freedom, of group spirit and camaraderie, bringing dancers together in total acceptance and support of each other.
aka Hybrid Bellydance
Portland, OR *
Growing up as a competitive gymnast turned competitive martial artist, Tribal Bellydance was nowhere to be found on the activities list for Bevin Victoria. What started as mandatory ballet practices turned into a curiosity that lead to the brief but focused explorations of West African dance, Brazilian Samba, Navajo, Flamenco, Hip Hop, Lyrical and Contemporary Ballet. One night in a fire circle at a historical reenactment event, during the height of her martial arts career, Tribal Bellydance finally found her.
It was love at first shimmy.
She began her studies at Gypsy Caravan Studio in 2007 and then went on to become a member of a Contemporary (Belly) Dance company, Gemini Project. In the following years she went on to explore this genre and its limits by infusing her athletic and varied background in any way possible, thus creating the hybrid that is Hybrid BellyDance. She currently tours occasionally with a Balkan/Gypsy Jazz band, The Underscore Orkestra, and dances with New England area bands, Sommerville Symphony Orkestar and Klezwoods. She is also a member of the LA-based Copacabana Samba Show.
She is a Certified Personal Trainer, Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, an SCA Heavy Fighter, and teaches workshops specializing in dance fitness and gymnastic-/martial-based conditioning.
Austen, TX *
(Website)
Michelle Manx has studied the art of bellydance since early 2002, including Suhaila Salimpour technique (currently working towards her Level 2 Certification), Jamila Salimpour Format (Level 2 certified), various forms of Tribal Bellydance, and Raqs Sharqi. She has also supplemented her knowledge of dance and movement by taking Bharata Natyam, classic burlesque, and yoga classes. She is also a student of Rachel Brice's in the "8 Elements" program.
Michelle greatly enjoys performing at tattoo conventions, where she developed her signature style of incorporating the sense of style, poses, and facial expressions of the pin-up girls of the 40’s and 50’s into her dancing. In 2008, Michelle's life was changed when had the honor of debuting her ’Pin-up Bellydance’ workshop at Tribal Fest 8. Since then, she has traveled to teach her unique stylization of bellydance at festivals and seminars associated with Tribal and alternative bellydance. In addition, she accepted the position of the producer of Tribal Dance Camp in Texas in association with Bahaia and HOT Seminars.
Whenever Michelle’s not bellydancing or producing bellydance events, she enjoys participating in pin-up photography photo shoots. She has modeled for some of her favorite designers, such as Poison Candy Fashion and Geisha Moth. In 2010, one of her photos was included in Gayla Partridge’s photography book: "666 Photography: Of Virgin Queens and High Camp Divas", as well as "The Modern Pin-up" in 2011. She can be contacted at info@pin-upbellydance.com.
Portland, OR * Photo by Christopher Perez
Karolina Lux is a professional belly dancer from the San Francisco Bay Area, currently residing in Portland, Oregon. She is a versatile artist, performing with a variety of traditional, theatrical, and fusion groups, such as Belly Dance Soul Fire, Sinn Savvy Burlesque, and representing belly dance in contexts as diverse as Moroccan restaurants, grand theaters, to vaudeville tours, and burlesque revues.
Karolina has over eight years of experience performing, choreographing, competing in, and teaching many styles of belly dance on DVDs and in festivals, tours, and schools across the country. She has studied with some of the greatest classic dancers, and also is excited to push belly dance to new experimental realms in her ongoing exploration of tribal belly dance and fusion performances. Karolina has danced (and sang and played along with her trumpet) to music ranging from traditional Middle Eastern music, Mediterranean groove, to hip-hop, jazz, and blues. She teaches classes and workshops in Portland, when she's not off touring and performing in other fabulous cities!
Eugene, OR * Photo by Lingo
(Website)
Elena Villa was introduced to belly dance as a young girl in the late 1970s. She performed her first public belly dance solo to live Middle Eastern music at age 10. After seeing flamenco performances in Spain and France, Elena began her flamenco training in 1991. She has studied in the U.S. and in Spain with some of the great international artists of today, including Jose Galván and La Tania, and considers herself an eternal student of this complex and beautiful art form. In 1995, Elena Villa began developing her own fusion style based on her dance foundations in Arabic and flamenco dance. She has taught numerous original choreographies in this fusion style. Known for her fiery elegance and musicality, Elena has shared the stage with many contemporary master musicians and dancers and continues to pursue artistic collaborations with fellow artists from around the world. In addition to being a performer and instructor of belly dance, Spanish Arabic fusion and flamenco, Elena holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature and teaches literary, cultural, and performance studies at the university level. She is also the Performance Coordinator and a principal dancer for the acclaimed Gypsy Caravan Stage at the Oregon Country Fair, one of the West Coast’s legendary belly dance venues.
of Troupe Hipnotica
Seattle, WA * photo by Jackie Baisa
Adriene Rice is the founder and director of Troupe Hipnotica. She has been studying American Tribal Belly Dance since 1994 when she first discovered Fat Chance Belly Dance®. As a member of the well known San Francisco troupe she had the opportunity to appear in instructional videos and perform in a variety of venues from international festivals to cafes and private parties.
For Adriene, Tribal Belly Dance allows her the opportunity to explore some of her favorite subjects: creativity, self-expression, and world cultures. She is forever fascinated by the "structured chaos" of improvisational choreography and she is continually inspired by the strength and creativity of the women in her troupe.
Julia Demarest's interest in tribal belly dance began in the mid 90's when she first saw performances by the mesmerizing Fat Chance Belly Dance®. Shortly after moving to the Seattle area in 1995 she began studying traditional oriental style belly dance. In 2002 she began study with Adriene Rice and proudly joined her newly forming troupe. Julia received her B.A. with an emphasis in Buddhist Studies and Psychology from Evergreen State College in 2004 and her Master of Social Work from the University of Washington in 2006. In the future she would like to find creative ways to join her interest in social change with belly dance.
Julia sees tribal belly dance as a reflection of the increasing interconnected global community and feels blessed to be sharing the experience with the members of Troupe Hipnotica and the belly dance community as a whole.
of the Bollywood Project,
(Also of Skin Deep Dance & ROMCORE!)
Seattle, WA * photo by Triskele Portrait Photography
Katrina McCoy formed The Bollywood Project in October 2010. Now, The Bollywood Project is currently the most sought after Bollywood Dance Company in Seattle and Portland for our sizzling HOT performances and BOLLYWOOD DRAG QUEENS! As choreographer, artistic director and instructor, she directs the the adult student troupe "Bollywood Bliss" and the children's student troupe "Bollywood Dolls".
Katrina McCoy is also the owner of Skin Deep Dance Studio, home of The Bollywood Project, a Licensed Massage Practitioner, Certified Ayurvedic Life Style Counselor, ATS® Belly Dance Instructor, Certified by Carolena Nericcio of FCBD®, Certified Zumba Instructor and Certified in Entry Level Flamenco by the Spanish Dance Society. She is also the Artistic Director of ROMCORE! and is currently working towards her S.E.E.D.S certification with Myra Krien. She also produces 2 monthly shows in Seattle ~ Djinn & Tonic at the Can Can (3rd Thursdays) and Spice Box at Razzi's Pizzeria (1st Sundays). She also hosts the ATSBellyDance.com directory with Online ATS® Belly Dance classes!
The Bollywood Project was Microsoft's Choice for their 2010 & 2011 Holiday Party's, WA Democrats 2011 Holiday Party and they were personally invited to audition for America's Got Talent. They also perform at NW Folklife Festival (Co-organizers for The Bollywood Showcase), BollyQ, DJ Anjali & The Incredible Kid, DJ Prashants "Jai Ho" in Seattle
Find Katrina on Facebook! The Bollywood Project, Skin Deep Dance Studio, ROMCORE!
Portland, OR *
Wendy Rover of Roving Horse Henna is Portland's premiere henna artist, and a practiced and skilled instructor.
of the New Lineage Dance Crew
Portland, OR *
Donna 'DonnaMation' Oefinger is the Director and choreographer of Axé Didé Music and Dance Co., core member of New Lineage dance crew, owner of Center Space Studio, and a professional dance instructor. She teaches many dances that fall under the categories of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian dance including sacred and social dances such as samba and rumba. She also incorporates her knowledge of these Latin and African Diaspora dances in classes with her dance partner BobNTod as well as a class she calls the roots of House.
As a teacher, Donna is known for her enthusiasm, passion, and the respect she has for the origin of these dances. Her classes are a work out and challenge people of all levels of experience. As an artist she inspires and supports her students to further embody movement, not just imitate form. Donna has also performed in a handful of other awesome groups as a dancer, director and percussionist for the past 12 years including Jujuba, The Lions of Batucada, New Lineage, and Black Angel. As the artistic director of Axé Didé, Donna masterfully combines rhythms and dances mainly from Cuba and Brazil but also from the diverse lineages of the African Diaspora.
FatChanceBellyDance®, FCBD®, ATS® and American Tribal Style®, are federally registered trademarks of FatChanceBellyDance, Inc. For more information, please visit www.fcbd.com/about/legal.shtml
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Suhaila Salimpour of the Suhaila Salimpour School of Belly Dance
(San Francisco CA) (DVDs) (Videos)
Photo by Devansh
Moria Chappell of the Bellydance Superstars
(CA/WA/Touring The Globe!) (DVDs) (Video)
Samantha Riggs of newly formed Portico Dance Company
(Bellingham WA)
(Algeria, Africa / Sutherlin OR) (DVD)
Sedona of Belly Dance SoulFire
Ashley López of Orchid Belly Dance
(San Francisco CA/Portland OR) (Videos)
(Portland OR) (Videos)
Emily Alrick of Circus Tribal
(Ashland OR) (Videos)
Donna Oefinger of Axé Didé
(Portland OR) (Videos)
(Eugene OR) (Video)
(Las Vegas NV) (DVDs) (Videos)
Holly Dai of the Rose City School of Burlesque
(Portland OR) (Videos)
(Portland OR) (Video)
(New York NY)
NagaSita of Apsara, Bogville, Salon L'Orient, and the Wanderlust Circus
(Portland OR) (Videos)
(Portland OR) (Videos)
David and Delpha Reihs of Ritim Exotik and Dhavir Productions
(Portland OR, formerly Istanbul Turkey) (Videos) (DVDs)
(Portland, OR)
(Battle Ground, WA)
Photo by Nat Stillmaker, photo by Kaizen NW
Endymienne and Jen Samson of Bellydance Uncorked and Narcissa Productions
(Portland, OR)
Wendy Rover of Roving Horse Henna
(Portland, OR)
Nagamani- Joanna Caselli, Lorraine Hanson, and Henna
(Portland OR) (Video)
Pedro Self-defense guru
(Portland OR)
Past Instructors-
2011
Photo by Scott Belding
Severina and Emilie Lauren of the Znama Dance Company.jpg)
Photo by Scott Belding
Sabine of Tribalation!
Shara of Belly Dance SoulFire, MoveR.A.W and the Sensual Revolution
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Bhrigha Gypsikelt of Bellates®, Bhrigha's Bellyworks LLC, & Immortalia
photo by Stage Right Photo
