Dance Bio
Whether I’m teaching, practicing, performing, or living my life, my passion is to be more in line with a divinely inspired creative flow. Dance is a beautiful way to express and share in a moment of elevated emotion and goodness.
My expertise is in American Tribal Style® bellydance. In ATS®, we have a shared vocabulary of movements, along with gestures that tell the other dancers what movement is coming next. This enables us to dance together in the moment, completely improvised, creating a new experience every time. It’s exciting to do and a joy to share with others.
In the midst of all that feel-good talk about collaboration and creativity, I am at heart, a total geek about technique. Working hard is fun for me, and in my opinion, it takes hard work and solid technique to create a beautiful performance that looks effortless.
I started studying tribal bellydance in 2006, and since then, I have earned my ATS® General Skills Certification with FatChanceBellyDance® founder, Carolena Nericcio in July 2009, and again in 2010. In November 2010, I completed ATS® Teacher Training Certification in both level 1 & 2, and I am an officially registered FCBD® Sister Studio. This means that by studying ATS® with me, you will get the quality of instruction consistent with what is presented by the "mothership" in San Fransisco.
I have studied with my local bellydance heros, Asharah and Belladonna, and I have supplemented my training with workshop hours from nationally recognized dancers such as Kajira of Black Sheep Bellydance, Maria and Olivia of Zafira, and Lisa Zahiya.
I’m very proud of my professional dance endeavors, which have provided me the opportunity to perform and teach ATS® as well as experiment with other traditions, styles and inspirations.
In 2007, Sihaya and I formed Verve Tribal, then in 2009, I was invited to join Kallisti Tribal. My latest collaboration is as a founding member of Transcendence Tribal, a collective created to allow several troupes and soloists to come together for the purpose of sharing in the joy of ATS®. If you’re interested in booking me or any of the troupes I’m involved with for a performance, please contact me.
Dance Resources
General Tribal Bellydance info
- FatChanceBellydance®
The original American Tribal Style® troupe, founded by my teacher, Carolena Nericcio. - What is American Tribal Style® Bellydance?
The word from Carolena, herself. - TribalBellydance.org
Informative articles about the origins of and movements in tribal bellydance. - Yip Podcast
Super fun bellydance podcast. - “From Many Tribes, the Origins of Bal-Anat,” an article about the roots of tribal by Jamila Salimpour.
- Raqs Baltimore
Yahoo Group for Baltimore bellydancers. - Baltimore/DC Bellydance Meetup
Very active calendar for Baltimore & DC area events. - It's Tribal, Hon!
Tribe.net group for Baltimore Tribal events - Charm City Tribal
Quarterly Tribal performance and open dancing in Baltimore. - FatChanceBellydance® at Tribal Fest 8
A clip of Fat Chance performing... this is all improv! - What Is Tribal Bellydance?
A short documentary film featuring many voices from the tribal bellydance community. - The OmChantress on YouTube
That's right, I've got a YouTube channel! See me dancing with Kallisti and Verve, as well as some of my favorite performances. - FatChanceBellydance®
The original American Tribal Style troupe, founded by Carolena Nericcio. - Black Sheep Bellydance
Founded by Kajira, a student of Carolena. They are also an improv based troupe that have developed their own moves, and also lead from both directions! Kajira is also the organizer of Tribal Fest. - n.o.madic tribal
One of my favorite tribal troupes! Check out their amazing posture! - Zafira
This amazing troupe shows tribal, cabaret, folkloric, and theatrical influences. They're truly amazing and I love to study with them whenever I have the opportunity! - Kallisti Tribal
I perform with this super sassy Baltimore based all-mprov troupe.
Local Resources
Videos
Tribal Bellydance Troupes
Music
Costuming
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| ATSstudentressources.pdf | 491.66 KB |
I'm an FCBD Sister Studio! ... and my ATS® Manifesto
Last November, I travelled to the Fat Chance Belly Dance® studio in San Fransisco to complete both levels of American Tribal Style® Teacher Training with FatChanceBellydance® founder and director, Carolena Nericcio.
At that time, I had the opportunity to apply for Sister Studio status, but I wanted to give myself some time to think about what I have learned, not just at teacher training, but across the five years that I have studied ATS®. Am I confident of my understanding of the format? Am I comfortable presenting the material and following the syllabus in the same way as the FCBD® studio? Am I 100% sure that I can present ATS® with integrity?
The answer to those questions is YES! I'm now an officially registered FCBD® Sister Studio. This means that by studying ATS® with me, you will get the quality of instruction consistent with what is presented by the "mothership" in San Fransisco.
I had the time to teach some classes and confirm to my satisfaction that FCBD's® format works, and it's a good fit for me. ATS® is all I want to teach. It's the type of dancing that I'm most passionate about, and it's my area of expertise. I don't feel the need to pull in other influences into my instruction. It's not that I never want to study or perform other styles of bellydance (and in fact, Verve has been doing a lot of experimentation lately), but I do want to be clear about when I'm doing ATS® and when I'm doing fusion. At a time when tribal fusion has gotten oh-so-fusiony, I think it's important to continue to stay grounded and continue to present the foundations, and for me, that is ATS®.
In addition, working with the newly-founded Transcendence Tribal Bellydance Collective has been a delightful experiment of ATS® in action. While we all have our own individual and separate troupe projects, we come together with the shared vocabulary of ATS®... and it totally works. Working with a large group means that we're able to put together longer and more spectacular sets that we'd never be able to do on our own. It's not just the number of bodies, it's the collective creative energy that magnifies the joy and power of the dance.
I feel like everyone, dancers and audience alike, should have the opportunity to experience that kind of magic through dance. I also believe that dedicated practice of a structured format is an excellent way to get that magic. With practice, all the vocabulary, the rules, and the philosophy become integrated into your body and mind. At that point, you will be able to be fully present in the moment with the music and your dance partners and the audience, and everyone will be elevated to a place of greater joy. Isn't that what dancing is all about?
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