Workshops:
Glide & Slide- Saturday 9:30-11:30 am: A workshop focused on flowing through transitions that involve turns, traveling and arms. Ever wonder what it is you need to seamlessly mend your dancing? Let Bozenka guide you through exercises designed to smooth out the bumps and sharp edges. Different methods and concepts will be explored to achieve a graceful level of dance combinations and movement.
Egyptian Combos & Hip Technique- Sunday 3:00-5:00pm: Take your dancing to the next level with intricate and challenging hip technique that will enhance your performance. Special attention to body language and facial expression will take place in this unique class with exercises to help dancers unleash new ways of interpreting the music.
The multi-faceted career of Mira Betz is a testament to her passionate artistry and desire for continual growth. Active in theater, dance and the performing arts for 20 years, Mira Betz has become a sought after dancer, choreographer, costumer, and teacher. Nominated "Instructor of the year" by Zaghareet Magazine, Mira is a valued instuctor at prestigeous festivals and camps across the nation, as well as at the Malonga Arts Collective in Oakland California.
Mira began her training in Middle Eastern dance as a young teen studying with some of the most respected and knowledgeable teachers of our time, such as Katarina Burda, Jamila Salimpour, and Suhaila Salimpour. As a founding member, choreographer, and solo performer of Aywah! Ethnic Dance Company for 10 years, she developed a solid foundation of contemporary, traditional, as well as ritualistic dance forms. Aywah!, under the direction of Katarina Burda, flourished to become one of the San Francisco Bay Area's most respected ethnic dance companies and significantly influenced today'sTribal Fusion scene. In 1998 Mira went abroad to live and study the native dances ofMorocco.
Tjarda is an accomplished dancer with a unique approach to bellydance. She has studied many genres of dance including Middle Eastern, modern, flamenco and mime as well as dance therapy and improvised movement. Fusing all of the above with her natural creativity, Tjarda delivers progressive choreography resonating within the world wide culture of movement. In March 2005 Tjarda became the founding member and choreographer of The Uzumé, presently the leading Tribal Fusion bellydance company in Europe. The innovative and charismatic Uzumé have won several awards, including one for Best Dance Company. In 2008 Tjarda was nominated by The National Institute for the Voluntary Arts in the Netherlands for Most Promising Upcoming Choreographer with Exquisite Skills. She performs solo or with The Uzumé nationally and internationally including the infamous Sziget, Tribalondon, Raqs Britannia, Unmata's Bloodmoon, Robodock (LHPO), Mysteryland, Sugar Factory, Supperclub, Paradiso, Melkweg, All is One, RASA and many more. Blurring lines and drawing inspiration from even the most unlikely sources, Tjarda is a choreographic force in today's Tribal Fusion Scene.
Workshop:
Tango Touch- Friday 9:30-11:30am: Tjarda will be incorporating a touch of her Tango and Contemporary dance background into a fun and dramatic Tribal Fusion combo in Uzumé-style. She will be teaching some Tango floor patterns, leg drags and kicks and will show you how to use contemporary dance elements and influences. Join Tjarda and get inspired!
Alicia is a second generation belly dancer who got her first taste of traditional Belly Dancing at age five through her mother who performed in South Florida as Aleta between the seventies and early eighties. An innovative and stylistically unique artist from the start, Alicia naturally went on to integrate this foundation with the eclectic, artistic and experimental expressions so common to the gothic, industrial and punk clubs she inhabited weekly as a young adult.
An avid student of her creative passions, Alicia has actively pursued her love for dance and studied with some of the top belly dance instructors and tribal fusion originators. She continues to travel and explore the experience of dance in between teaching and performing.
Alicia currently teaches her unique blend of Tribal Fusion Bellydance at Bozenka's Bellydance Academy (formerly the Mideastern Dance Exchange in Miami's south beach) in North Miami and at Lotus Dance Studio in Pembroke Pines. She is the founding member, director and main choregrapher of the very original and South Florida's very own, BellyCraft.
When not studying, teaching, or performing, Alicia is also a pro-active, positive, and consistent voice in South Florida's ever growing and developing belly dance community. She has experienced dance as an ever present, rewarding and nurturing thread in her life. Being able to give back to bellydance by sharing it has become central to her vision of a community united through the love of music, creativity and movement.
Workshop:
Defying Gravity- Sunday 10-12:00am: Alternative Belly Dance Floorwork & Level Changes! Gravity becomes your friend when you learn how to trust entering onto and arising from the ground using the most efficient and economical structures to provide both safety and grace of motion. Drawing from various theatrical and dynamic dance forms and even martial arts, Alicia details the techniques and transitional structures that take the participants through an incremental and progressive learning experience from top to bottom, vertical to horizontal, and always grounded in tribal bellydance's aesthetic of power and refinement. Knee pads are recommended.
Lacey began her journey into Tribal Belly dance at the early age of 15 in southern California with Patricia Johnson. Her love for this beautiful art form was immediate; she began performing at tribal events and around campfires at SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) events almost instantly. The thrill of live drums and dancing with her sisters was inspiring. She took this love for the dance all the way through high school and pursued a dance degree at Victor Valley Community College. She studied many forms of classical dance including Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Ballroom. However, as fate would have it Lacey sustained an injury that would prevent her from ever pursuing a career in classical dance. To her surprise though, because Belly Dance is best danced barefoot her doctor approved and encouraged her to continue Belly dancing.
Lacey then traveled cross country from California to Central Florida where she was exposed to the large community of Cabaret Belly dancers in Florida. Lacey then spent the next four years studying, teaching, and performing classical Cabaret Belly dance in Florida as well as in Southern California. It was in her last trip to California where her original love for Tribal Belly dance was re-ignited. Lacey then made the decision that she wanted to bring her experience and love of Tribal Belly dance to Florida. So she began Florida Tribal Dance in November of 2006 for just that reason.
Lacey is the Director of Florida Tribal Dance's Tribal Style Troupe, Blue Caravan as well as director and choreographer of Black V Tribal, a Tribal Fusion Troupe. You can see Lacey performing Friday evenings at Café Tu Tu Tango on International Drive in Orlando starting at 9:45pm. You can also see either of Florida Tribal Dance's troupes performing throughout the community every month. Lacey is also a Level 1 Certified instructor in the Yogafit method.
Workshop:
Tribal for Tribal Fusion Dancers- Saturday 2:30-4:30pm: Improvisational Tribal Style movements don't have to just be for improv dancers. In this workshop learn classic improvisation vocabulary with a fusion twist. See how these movements, when inserted into your fusion technique, can create an exciting and dynamic performance.
Daniela is an experimental Belly dance artist mixing delicate, feminine sensibilities with an impressive display of core strength and muscle isolation. Like many, she began her training in Traditional Egyptian and American Cabaret styles, traveling as far as Egypt to study and perform with some of the world's greatest dancers.
After seeing Rachel Brice perform in 2006 she was captured by the beauty of Tribal Fusion Belly dance. Then she immediately began expanding her practice to include Tribal, Flamenco, Tango, Modern and Hip Hop forms of dance. Maintaining the fluidity and grace of traditional belly dance while introducing an experimental fusion flair, her performance style is unique, imaginative, and thoroughly captivating.
When she's not wowing a crowd, Daniela is busy sharing her love of the dance with others. She teaches regular classes and workshops throughout the US. As the founder and director of Fleur De Lys Dance Company, Daniela enjoys choreographing and performing with her troupe. She also continues to study regularly with masters such as Rachel Brice, Bozenka, Mira Betz, Zoe Jakes, Suhaila Salimpour, and Jill Parker.
Workshop:
Flow vs. Locking- Friday 11:45-1:45pm: A bellydancer’s guide to soft versus hard muscle contractions with modern and hip hop dance influence! In this workshop students will be working on the intensity of slow movement versus extreme popping and locking techniques. With Daniela’s help learn to master super soft sultry movements, tight muscle control, waves, pops, locks and undulations.