A bit of my Bellydance Backstory...
I came to Bellydance as a teenager. Not only was I drawn to the beauty, grace, and versatility of the style, but as a recently injured dancer coming from rigorous ballet, jazz, and tap training, the usually parallel, plie'd posture of Bellydance was a welcome change for my angry joints.
For several years I immitated bellydancers and practiced on my own. I had the benefit of the vital Bellydance mecca of the San Francisco Bay Area as my home, and had the early experiences of watching great local dancers, and then joining them on the open dance floors of Kan Zaman and the Amira. I also studied Aruna and Delilah on VHS.
My first in-class Bellydance teacher was the incredible Nanna Candelaria. I also took classes with Amy Luna Manderino (who is now Miss Cougar International!), a beginners cycle with Fat Chance Bellydance, and some workshops and classes with amazing teachers like Amy Sigil and Mira Betz.
I was very self-directed, and mistrustful after my previous injuries, so I would take a beginner series, a class or a workshop, and then spend several months practicing the material alone at home, video taping myself, critiquing myself, and trying to break down the science of the movement from a kinesthetic/theraputic perspective. This gave me my own approach to teaching and performing the movements of Bellydance.
I studied videos of many dancers, fusion, cabaret, folkloric, oriental, traditional, I loved it all, incorporating as much as I could into my personal style.
The next big step in my Bellydance journey came around 2005 when I saw (on Tribe.net) that Jill Parker was holding auditions for new dancers for Ultra Gypsy. I put together a fusion solo auditioned, expecting nothing. I was brought on as an apprentice, and then a company member, performing with them at Tribal Fest 2006. During this time I was also in a Persian Dance Company, studying Persian classical and contemporary dance with Shahrzad Khoursandi. I choreographed a Persian/Bellydance fusion duet that also performed that year at Tribal Fest.
Being in two companies at once, while also in College at SFSU for Dance Performance and Choreography, I came to realize that I had my own vision as a director and a choreographer that couldn't be satisfied as a dancer in someone elses project.
It was at this time that I founded Damage Control Dance Theater (2006-2011).
As the director and choreographer of DCDT I truly found my own voice as a fusion choreographer, my own style as a director and teacher.
DCDT debuted to the fusion bellydance community at the 2007 Tribal Throwdown, hosted by UNMATA & TabooMedia Productions. I told the girls to anticipate that we would win the throwdown battle, and the prize of opening the Nouveau Nights After Party show - and that's exactly what happened.
​ During my run as director of DCDT I opened Shoebox Studio SF, our own studio headquarters (2006-2011). I founded the Breakthrough Fusion Competition, the worlds first Fusion-Only Bellydance Competition. As a company we travelled to France to perform and teach at Bellyfusions Paris, and then to Barcelona.
DCDT ended with a bang, with an evening length show called Looking Glass at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco in 2010.
After Looking Glass there was a large turn over of company members.
I produced one more show, a completely Fusion show shared with one of my mentors, Paco Gomes, called 33 Thoughts on Falling, before disolving the company, closing Shoebox, and stepping into being a solo artist for the first time in my career in 2011.
Bellydance has been kind to me. Since 2006 I've had the opportunity to teach all over the world, and meet some of the most amazing people, some of whom have become my teachers, mentors, influences, and dear friends. I've had the opportunity to be reviewed by and write for bellydance magazines such as Guilded Serpent and Fuse. Bellydance continues to inspire and surprise me.
Teaching Bellydance and Fusion, and being involved in this community has been a true joy in my life.
Other big influences and teachers:
Aubre Hill
Amy Sigil
Rachel Brice
Mira Betz
Najla Turczyn
Donna Mejia
Brad Dosland (not a dancer, but, as many know, a tremendous mentor in the Bellydance world for those of us lucky enough to gain his guidance)
...I'm sure there are many more, and this list will continue to grow. Apologies if I've forgotten anyone.