Performers
These wonderful dancers have donated their talent for the Belly Dancing for Bats Show:
Mirage ~
Indigo Rain ~
Karin ~
Beledi Caravan ~
Josie ~
Raks Benazir ~
Zaheerah ~
Souad ~
Julianna ~
Flor ~
Melissa & Leila ~
Roshanak ~
Pamela ~
Taletha ~
Mirage began belly dancing soon after starting college in Maine and developed a strong passion for it. Belly Dancing is great because it was how I was meant to move and it is a beautiful dance form that I can continue to do no matter what age or size I am.
Mirage teaches several belly dance classes and co-founded the dance troupe Indigo Rain. She is also a regular performer at the Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant in Lafayette. I wanted desperately to save bats and the best way I could do that was through my skills as a belly dancer.
Mirage has teamed up with the local belly dance community and Bat Conservation International to raise money for WNS research.
Indigo Rain was formed in the fall of 2008 in North Metro Denver. We have had the honor of performing at some fabulous venues and we've grown to include dancers from all over the Denver area. With strong foundations in Egyptian Cabaret, our style of Oriental Dance has evolved into an American Cabaret infused with a hint of other dance forms.
Karin Hein began studying classical ballet at the age of 4. She continued into her twenties performing professionally with Ballet Dallas, New Jersey Ballet and the MorganScott Ballet Companies. In 1998, Karin was first exposed to tribal bellydance at Pennsic. Inspired by the elaborate costuming and dramatic, earthy dance style, she began immersing herself in the world of tribal bellydance. Soon after Karin began collaborating with Melanie Wood on a tribal performance for the New Jersey Renaissance Kingdom and from there the duo, Kassar, was born. Throughout her dance career Karin continues to take numerous workshops and classes in various forms of all dances styles, seeking to incorporate various elements of dances of the world.
Beledi Dance Caravan is a non-profit dance cooperative who enjoy performing and sharing our joy of dance for local community senior residences as well as for fund-raising events. As a cooperate, we offer dancers who wish to gain experience with us at these events, the opportunity to display their exciting creative choreographies and costumes, both as a group or as solos. We also offer mini-workshops to allow local instructors to share their techniques in an effort for them to build their student clientele. Alternately, the group work on new choreographies at these organized mini-workshops.
Natanya is the founder and Director of the Beledi Dance Caravan which has been in operation for more than seven years out of Boulder, Colorado. She has studied with numerous professional oriental dance instructors in the Boulder/Denver area and has danced for most of her life, beginning with classical ballet. She creates and designs her own costumes and offers custom designs to others through her business, Fringe Benefits Costumes and Accessories.
Josie has been learning and performing the classic art of belly dance since 2003 and began teaching in 2007. She performs a dinner show at the Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant in Lafayette several nights per month and makes occasional appearances at Caspian Cafe in Colorado Springs. You can also see her performing with local bands such as Gora Gora Orkestar and Widow's Bane in the Denver/Boulder area. Interested in taking some classes or seeing an upcoming show? Email Josie at josiebellydance@gmail.com for info.
Raks Benazir is the coming together of four saucy dancers who have studied with various local and "famous" teachers. Each bringing their own style to the troupe. They incorporate this variety into routines guaranteed to please the audience.
Photo by Ric Urrutia @ behindthelens.net
Zaheerah has been belly dancing for over 12 years. She was introduced to this dance in Boulder under the instruction of Natasha. Zaheerah was immediately attracted to this ancient dance and it has helped her become a strong and confident woman. She continues to further her education by attending classes and workshops regularly. Zaheerah offers weekly beginning belly dance classes and is available for private lessons, performance and workshops. Please visit her website for detailed information.
Souad has been dancing for about five years. She has been studying under Eva Cernik and Rafiah in the Denver area. Souad's dance style is a mixture of Turkish and Egyptian Belly Dance. She has performed at many festivals in the Metro area.
Julianna of Denver, Colorado, has been studying Belly Dancing for more than 12 years. Julianna currently studies with Suzanna Del Vecchio and Suhaila Salimpour. She is currently level 1 certified in the Suhaila Salimpour school of Belly Dance, and is working hard toward the level 2 certification. Julianna is honoring all the dancers that come before her by studying the history of bellydance, and honing her technique.
Flor has studied Egyptian Cabaret and has been performing since 2005. Lately she has begun experimenting with Tribal Fusion Belly Dance. She has studied under Sadie & Kaya since 2002. In the spring of 2009, she joined Indigo Rain and has become one of their core dancers.
Melissa has 16 years of experience studying and performing belly dance in diverse settings such as restaurants, festivals, and parades. She also has numerous years experience in other dance/movement styles such as modern, salsa, contact improvisation, yoga, and Butoh. She facilitates dance movement as a healing art for women, teens, mothers and daughters, and in both individual and group settings. Melissa is currently in private practice in Westminster as a Body-Centered Psychotherapist.
Leila Abdallah has been dancing since kindergarten, participating in ballet, tap, and jazz. She has a passion for yoga and has been belly dancing with Melissa Walker for almost a year. She loves belly dancing because she enjoys learning all the moves and feels that it is relaxing and carefree. This is her first belly dancing stage performance - and will not be her last!
Roshanak
Roshanak is a trio of dancers who've been performing together in different contexts for the last two years. Individually they bring together a diverse background in music and dance, and they all continue their studies in dance with Suzanna del Vecchio and Eva Cernik. They can often be seen performing at the Mercury Cafe's monthly belly dance night.
Roshanak's dancers share a passion for classical and folkloric music and oriental dance, as well as an interest in experimenting with modern and personal interpretations of traditional and ancient forms. Their goal is to always be an embodiment of the music.
For the Belly Dancing for Bats fundraiser they will be presenting an interpretation of modern music combined with ancient Greek themes, centered on the idea of Artemis as the patron of the natural world.
Pamela has been studying belly dancing for almost 10 years and has performed professionally for the past 7 years. She has taken lessons with a variety of well known instructors in the Denver area as well as in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition to belly dancing Pamela has also studied Salsa, Merengue and Negroide and brings all of her dancing experience to provide dynamic performances. Pamela performs at Tangier Moroccan Restaurant in Boulder, Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant in Lafayette and Tangine Alami down in Colorado Springs.
A Denver native, Taletha began her professional dance career in 2004 in Louisville, KY. She quickly became one of the region's most sought after and acclaimed solo Belly Dance artists as well as an accomplished member of the Crescent Moon Dance Company (Jo Hadley, Director). With the Crescent Moon Dance Company, she had the rare opportunity to learn folk dances from the Middle East and over a dozen authentic dances from Central Asia and Turkey. Taletha’s abilities have earned her the opportunity to teach and perform not only in Louisville, but also in Lexington, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Dayton, OH, Columbus, OH, Denver, Reno, NV, Seattle, WA and West Virginia. This evening, Taletha only hopes to make you smile.
www.Taletha.com ~ Belly Dance for All Occasions ~ www.crescentmoondancers.com
Mirage began belly dancing soon after starting college in Maine and developed a strong passion for it. Belly Dancing is great because it was how I was meant to move and it is a beautiful dance form that I can continue to do no matter what age or size I am.
Mirage teaches several belly dance classes and co-founded the dance troupe Indigo Rain. She is also a regular performer at the Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant in Lafayette. I wanted desperately to save bats and the best way I could do that was through my skills as a belly dancer.
Mirage has teamed up with the local belly dance community and Bat Conservation International to raise money for WNS research.
Indigo Rain was formed in the fall of 2008 in North Metro Denver. We have had the honor of performing at some fabulous venues and we've grown to include dancers from all over the Denver area. With strong foundations in Egyptian Cabaret, our style of Oriental Dance has evolved into an American Cabaret infused with a hint of other dance forms.
Karin Hein began studying classical ballet at the age of 4. She continued into her twenties performing professionally with Ballet Dallas, New Jersey Ballet and the MorganScott Ballet Companies. In 1998, Karin was first exposed to tribal bellydance at Pennsic. Inspired by the elaborate costuming and dramatic, earthy dance style, she began immersing herself in the world of tribal bellydance. Soon after Karin began collaborating with Melanie Wood on a tribal performance for the New Jersey Renaissance Kingdom and from there the duo, Kassar, was born. Throughout her dance career Karin continues to take numerous workshops and classes in various forms of all dances styles, seeking to incorporate various elements of dances of the world.
Beledi Dance Caravan is a non-profit dance cooperative who enjoy performing and sharing our joy of dance for local community senior residences as well as for fund-raising events. As a cooperate, we offer dancers who wish to gain experience with us at these events, the opportunity to display their exciting creative choreographies and costumes, both as a group or as solos. We also offer mini-workshops to allow local instructors to share their techniques in an effort for them to build their student clientele. Alternately, the group work on new choreographies at these organized mini-workshops.
Natanya is the founder and Director of the Beledi Dance Caravan which has been in operation for more than seven years out of Boulder, Colorado. She has studied with numerous professional oriental dance instructors in the Boulder/Denver area and has danced for most of her life, beginning with classical ballet. She creates and designs her own costumes and offers custom designs to others through her business, Fringe Benefits Costumes and Accessories.
Josie has been learning and performing the classic art of belly dance since 2003 and began teaching in 2007. She performs a dinner show at the Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant in Lafayette several nights per month and makes occasional appearances at Caspian Cafe in Colorado Springs. You can also see her performing with local bands such as Gora Gora Orkestar and Widow's Bane in the Denver/Boulder area. Interested in taking some classes or seeing an upcoming show? Email Josie at josiebellydance@gmail.com for info.
Raks Benazir is the coming together of four saucy dancers who have studied with various local and "famous" teachers. Each bringing their own style to the troupe. They incorporate this variety into routines guaranteed to please the audience.
Photo by Ric Urrutia @ behindthelens.net
Zaheerah has been belly dancing for over 12 years. She was introduced to this dance in Boulder under the instruction of Natasha. Zaheerah was immediately attracted to this ancient dance and it has helped her become a strong and confident woman. She continues to further her education by attending classes and workshops regularly. Zaheerah offers weekly beginning belly dance classes and is available for private lessons, performance and workshops. Please visit her website for detailed information.
Souad has been dancing for about five years. She has been studying under Eva Cernik and Rafiah in the Denver area. Souad's dance style is a mixture of Turkish and Egyptian Belly Dance. She has performed at many festivals in the Metro area.
Julianna of Denver, Colorado, has been studying Belly Dancing for more than 12 years. Julianna currently studies with Suzanna Del Vecchio and Suhaila Salimpour. She is currently level 1 certified in the Suhaila Salimpour school of Belly Dance, and is working hard toward the level 2 certification. Julianna is honoring all the dancers that come before her by studying the history of bellydance, and honing her technique.
Flor has studied Egyptian Cabaret and has been performing since 2005. Lately she has begun experimenting with Tribal Fusion Belly Dance. She has studied under Sadie & Kaya since 2002. In the spring of 2009, she joined Indigo Rain and has become one of their core dancers.
Melissa has 16 years of experience studying and performing belly dance in diverse settings such as restaurants, festivals, and parades. She also has numerous years experience in other dance/movement styles such as modern, salsa, contact improvisation, yoga, and Butoh. She facilitates dance movement as a healing art for women, teens, mothers and daughters, and in both individual and group settings. Melissa is currently in private practice in Westminster as a Body-Centered Psychotherapist.
Leila Abdallah has been dancing since kindergarten, participating in ballet, tap, and jazz. She has a passion for yoga and has been belly dancing with Melissa Walker for almost a year. She loves belly dancing because she enjoys learning all the moves and feels that it is relaxing and carefree. This is her first belly dancing stage performance - and will not be her last!
Roshanak
Roshanak is a trio of dancers who've been performing together in different contexts for the last two years. Individually they bring together a diverse background in music and dance, and they all continue their studies in dance with Suzanna del Vecchio and Eva Cernik. They can often be seen performing at the Mercury Cafe's monthly belly dance night.
Roshanak's dancers share a passion for classical and folkloric music and oriental dance, as well as an interest in experimenting with modern and personal interpretations of traditional and ancient forms. Their goal is to always be an embodiment of the music.
For the Belly Dancing for Bats fundraiser they will be presenting an interpretation of modern music combined with ancient Greek themes, centered on the idea of Artemis as the patron of the natural world.
Pamela has been studying belly dancing for almost 10 years and has performed professionally for the past 7 years. She has taken lessons with a variety of well known instructors in the Denver area as well as in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition to belly dancing Pamela has also studied Salsa, Merengue and Negroide and brings all of her dancing experience to provide dynamic performances. Pamela performs at Tangier Moroccan Restaurant in Boulder, Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant in Lafayette and Tangine Alami down in Colorado Springs.
A Denver native, Taletha began her professional dance career in 2004 in Louisville, KY. She quickly became one of the region's most sought after and acclaimed solo Belly Dance artists as well as an accomplished member of the Crescent Moon Dance Company (Jo Hadley, Director). With the Crescent Moon Dance Company, she had the rare opportunity to learn folk dances from the Middle East and over a dozen authentic dances from Central Asia and Turkey. Taletha’s abilities have earned her the opportunity to teach and perform not only in Louisville, but also in Lexington, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Dayton, OH, Columbus, OH, Denver, Reno, NV, Seattle, WA and West Virginia. This evening, Taletha only hopes to make you smile.
www.Taletha.com ~ Belly Dance for All Occasions ~ www.crescentmoondancers.com