Pixie Fordtears hails from Oakland CA. She is a touring dancer with Beats Antique and Zoe Jakes’ dance company, Coven! She also is the choreographer and director of Eclipse Dance Company. Pixie enjoys cross training when she can in Popping, Waving, Gliding, Hip Hop,, and Yoga. You can see this weave through her 13 years of bellydance training when she performs! She loves to Share the knowledge she has learned through her life in an inclusive way – let’s play!

Michelle Sorensen is a professional fusion artist with over a decade of dedicated dance training. As a forever student, she has sought instruction from some of the most innovative dancers in and out of the fusion and MENATH scenes. Along with MENATH inspired dance styles, she has developed a love for Pole Dance, Waving, and various Floorwork oriented dance styles.

As a teacher, she has a passion for creating containers and spaces where others can grow emotionally and artistically. She hopes to touch the hearts of those she teaches through vulnerability, honesty, and unwavering love for movement in all it’s beautiful forms. 

Her life is also filled with being a full-time mother, fitness enthusiast, a collector of interesting psychology reads, and a plant hoarder.

She is available for instruction, private lessons, and workshops both locally and internationally

Deb Rubin, MA, CMT, RYT is an internationally-acclaimed dancer/performer, workshop facilitator, yogi, and transformational health coach. Founder of SattyaBody Women’s Health, and SF Mecca Immersion, Deb currently teaches workshops, trainings, & retreats around the globe, fusing the art and practice of yoga, tribal fusion belly dance, performance artistry, and therapeutics, to support holistic health and radiant living.
A yoga teacher, body worker, somatic specialist, and transformational coach for almost 20 years, she specializes in injury prevention & rehab, and therapeutics. She has co-taught and collaborated with Shiva Rea as part of Shiva’s Shakti Sadhana series, and is published in Yoga Journal & Fuse magazines. A leader in the global Tribal Fusion Belly Dance movement, Deb has performed on stages across the globe, as a soloist, with her dance company, Project Merkaba, and as a guest artist with many of her musical inspirations, i.e. Balkan Beat Box, David Starfire, EOTO, Desert Dwellers, Shpongle, Karsh Kale, Eskmo, Emancipator.
Deb holds a B.A. in Psychology and Pre-Med from Princeton University, an MA in holistic health education from JFK University (including an emphasis on Somatics & Somatic Psychology); Massage and Bodywork training certifications from San Francisco School of Massage, and Sunshine Network in ChaingMai, Thailand, Yoga Teacher Training from Integrative Yoga Therapy, and is currently getting her eRYT-500 hours under the guidance of Shiva Rea and the Samudra Global School for Living Yoga. She founded the Traditional Thai-Yoga Massage program at McKinnon Massage School in the early 2000’s, and created the original curriculum. Her joy is to help people get out of pain and into easeful movement. Deb’s own teachings continue to be greatly influenced by her long term studies of yoga with Mark Whitwell, Gary Kraftsow, Shiva Rea, her past experience as a co-teacher of Acroyoga, and her anatomy studies with Tom Meyers’ KMI. Her classes are rooted in the ancient wisdom of Yoga, while continuing to push the edges of exploring human potential, flow states, and performance optimization through an integrated approach.
With 20 yrs experience working in the field of mind/body medicine, and 30+yrs in dedicated study and performance of dance (many genres), Deb created Dance Therapeutics multi-leveled, accredited training program and apprenticeships as a path to support dancers and yogis in deepening self- knowledge, self-care, somatic intelligence, empowerment, offering healthy tools to refine and heal their artistic medium (the body), and a path to cultivate Embodied Artistry in the studio, on the stage, and in life. [Debrubindancetherapeutics.com] [debrubindance.com]

Devin Alfather is a multidisciplinary dancer currently specializing in Theatrical Fusion Bellydance (Raqs Sharqi-Inspired Fusion), original costuming and prop construction, Circus Arts, and other MENAHT and world Fusion dances.   When not tearing up the stages in Texas and beyond, she can be found rolling around any dance-floor that will have her, from Vegas to Portland.  She seeks to keep one foot in either world, and is a continuous student of source materials and dancers.

Christina King of Illinois began studying folkloric Arab dance in 1993, with Tahjah of Madison, Wisconsin and quickly became a regular performer and choreographer with Tahjah’s troupe. After moving to Chicago in 1996, Christina began studying Egyptian Oriental dance with Jasmin Jahal, later becoming an apprentice member of her dance company, Ward el Sahara. While still studying with Jasmin, Christina added group improvisation fusion belly dance to her repertoire in 1999 under the tutelage of Stephanie Barto and began performing in Barto’s student troupe, The Fringe Connection. 

In 2001 Christina became a founding member of the Blue Loti, a Chicago fusion belly dance troupe, and began performing  professionally with them  and as a solo artist around Chicagoland and across the Midwest.

Christina began teaching weekly belly dance classes in 2003 and by 2004 was invited to teach workshops with the members of the Blue Loti first in the Midwest and then all over the country. She currently teaches weekly classes in Elgin IL and online via zoom. Recently she has been cultivating and curating a library of on-demand courses for her students both local and around the globe. 

Christina has received a recognition certificate for Zoe Jakes’ DanceCraft: Key of Diamonds and Key of Spades as well as Rachel Brice’s 8 Elements Phase I: Initiation, Phase II: Cultivation, Phase III: Culmination, and Phase IV: Transmission. She is a Certified 8Elements Practitioner and Datura Style™ Teacher.

Melli Sarina invests continously in her dance education to improve her dance and teaching skills.

She successfully passed the Level 2 Dancecraft program by Zoe Jakes in San Francisco in 2017, joined  the Orchidaceae Dance Intensive to grow in her own style and attended The Tribal Massive Bellydance Academy professional track in Las Vegas already twice.

Waving is her current obsession as well as combining it to her significant liquid fusion bellydance style. In her classes she adds her therapeutical knowledge as a postpartum fitness instructor to work with her students on the most effective but healthy exercising methods to open their bodies to the wonderful dance world to come.

Drake von Trapp is a transnational fusion dancer based in the Denton area of North Texas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in dance, and is currently a dual master’s student at Texas Woman’s University for dance and gender studies. He is a 9-time award winning performer, holding titles such as The Belly Dance World Cup Overall Champion, Fusion Belly Dancer of The Year, and Fusion Solo Professional; and also holds several writing awards for his undergraduate thesis, ‘Masculinity in American Bellydance’. He is currently working on his next publication, ‘From Bal Anat to Hahbi ‘Ru: An Oral History of John Compton, American Male Belly Dancer’, while wiggling his way through graduate school.

Diana Soto is an up-and-coming Puerto Rican choreographer, performer and dance professor. She believes that the best innovation is rooted in tradition. Soto has presented her dance work and taught in Colombia, Brasil, Mexico, New York, Florida, Texas and all over Puerto Rico. With a research MA in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam, Soto taught in 2016 the first ever course on Middle Eastern Dance at the University of Puerto Rico, an interdisciplinary exploration of Arab dances, Orientalism and Eurocentrism. In 2018, she lived for a couple of months in Beirut, Lebanon to go even deeper into the culture and train with some of Lebanon’s biggest names.

She currently lives in Houston where she performs often with dance companies such as Shunyata Dance (fusion), BellaDonna (cabaret), and Folkoholic Dance Theater (dabke and zaffa). She teaches online via dianadancemagic.teachable.com 

Viral TikTok star, performer, and teacher, Kamrah is Chicago’s first trans masculine dancer. He has been dancing since 2001, and has traveled all over the US to teach and perform in multiple styles of dance. Kamrah is known for his killer isolations, creativity, and theatrical pieces, and for being a soloist in Chicago’s premiere geeky belly dance and fire troupe, Raks Geek.

Brittney Laleh Banaei is a dancer, scholar, bodyworker, and educator. Her integrative approach
to movement (and life) combines her passions of inclusivity, critical thought, empowerment,
decolonization, and wellness.
Brittney is a STOTT Pilates® trained instructor, certified Gyrotonic® apprentice, licensed
massage therapist, and an avid weightlifter. She uses those skills to help other humans find
growth,ease, and confidence in their chosen movement practice(s).
Currently, Brittney is a Master of Fine Arts in Dance candidate at the University of Colorado,
Boulder. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Missouri State University with a
minor in Middle Eastern Studies (history, comparative politics). She is investigating themes of
surveillance, erasure/invisibilization, and humor as they relate to the development, exploration,
and transmutation of identity. Additionally, Brittney interrogates the idea of Middle Eastern-ness
by finding performative satisfaction in both subverting and upholding deeply embedded
orientalist expectations of the performing Middle Eastern body. Brittney is interested in what it
means to be a “fusion human,” and the complexities of navigating a multiethnic experience.
She approaches her research from a Performance Studies lens, operating at the nexus of
movement, geopolitics, law, philosophy, and sociology. Her graduate research is centered on
the Iranian Diaspora created by Iran’s 1979 Revolution.
Artistically, Brittney identifies her ‘home base’ as MENAHT dance as well as
contemporary/fusion forms. Her most recent work includes Overworld produced in conjunction
with Constance Harris and Laura Conway, As if We Don’t Know in conjunction with Laura
Conway, and the collaborative work Hunak, an investigation of cultural and interpersonal
relationships within states of conflict featuring Palestinian musician Omar Zinaty. She is also an
instructor of Amy Sigil’s “Improv Team Sync (ITS)” format. Samples of her work can be found
at www.brittneybanaei.com
Outside of dance, Brittney’s loves include: fiancé David, family, dogs Mildred and Mortimer, cat
Monster Truck, unicorns, any movie that can be categorized as a “period drama, strong female
lead”, fantasy novels, and peanut butter.
Teaching Philosophy
I am a mover, thinker, bodyworker, activist, and educator with a sociopolitical focus. The core
of my pedagogical approach is to infuse the classroom with movement-based inquiry that
introduces students to the world outside of themselves, and prepares them to be conversant,
confident, and compassionate global citizens.
I am passionate about decentralizing the western canon as the benchmark for virtuosity, and I
do so by focusing on praxis derived from my study of dance forms of the Middle East and
North Africa. I believe that critical examination of people and places that the west commonly
views as “other” is crucial in righting the glaring gaps in education surrounding foreign policy
and international discourse, which contribute to conflict and misunderstanding on every
imaginable scale. In my experience, dance and movement are inroads to cultural knowledge,
which is a critical building block towards global understanding.
I believe that the body is a potent site for combatting erasure and inequity through
representation and presence. I integrate this activism into the classroom by prioritizing an
environment of belonging and trust which promotes confidence and self-efficacy in students. I
believe in compassion, dignity, and radical respect. I feel it is important that every student is
seen, heard, acknowledged, and supported for the human that they are and the experiences
that they carry with them. These beautiful differences require nuanced and customized
approaches to learning, which cannot be achieved through archaic and authoritarian teaching
methods. I use decolonial, trauma-informed, anti-racist pedagogical practices and curriculum
inspired by the work of Paulo Friere, Resma Menekem, Walter Mignolo, Edward Said, Homi
Bhabha, and José Esteban Muñoz, and many more. I use these theoretical frameworks as the
underpinnings of classroom design that works as a container for equity, safety, difference,
universal design, kindness, and inquiry.

Liz Azi is an award winning professional dancer based in Denver, Colorado. Her movement specialties include several styles of Raqs Sharqi, known in the United States as “bellydance”, theatrical and folk dances stemming from diasporas of the MENAHT region, and Transnational Fusion.  She takes an anthropological approach to dance, with a focus on history, culture, and contextualization to inform her movement while also exploring modern archetypes, evocative presentations, and the liminal spaces between historical and contemporary dance aesthetics.

Liz Azi has performed and taught at dance conventions and festivals all over the United States and abroad. She has toured both regionally and internationally with Blue Star Turkish Folk Dance Troupe performing a variety of traditional Turkish folk dances. She has also been a cast dancer in Zoe Jakes’ House of Tarot and a featured dancer in cabaret, vaudeville, and dance shows all over the country. Her continued education has brought her to study dance in several countries, including Turkey and Egypt. 

Sara Lyn was fortunate to find and fall in love with this art form at the age of 16 and the rest is history! With almost two decades of dedicated dance studies, performing, and nearly a decade of teaching, she is known for her slinky stylization, strong musicality, and high attention to detail. She hopes to help others find who they are as an artist & a deeper self love through the magic of dance. Being a new mother has given her a new perspective on how amazing the human body is, how precious time is, and how important creative movement is for overall well-being. You can find her in Las Vegas at her studio “Zen Den” or online at vimanafusion.com !

Pixie Fordtears hails from Oakland CA. She is a touring dancer with Beats Antique and Zoe Jakes’ dance company, Coven! She also is the choreographer and director of Eclipse Dance Company. Pixie enjoys cross training when she can in Popping, Waving, Gliding, Hip Hop,, and Yoga. You can see this weave through her 13 years of bellydance training when she performs! She loves to Share the knowledge she has learned through her life in an inclusive way – let’s play! 

Constance Harris is a dance fusion artist who specializes in teaching, performing, and choreographing. She specializes in styles grounded in Africanist aesthetics focusing on traditional and contemporary African dance, Hip-Hop and House. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Dickinson College and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is an accomplished nightlife performer who has appeared at some of the country’s liveliest nightclubs and festivals, including The Trestle Inn (Philadelphia), Premier Nightclub (Atlantic City), Mile High Soul Club (Denver), Tracks (Denver) and Global Dance Festival (Denver). She is currently a lecturer for the department of Theater and Dance at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Please see individual bio’s for each teacher. 

Aaliyah Jenny is best known for her moving and autobiographical fusion performances which tell universal stories.  They are inspired by her love of hip hop, contemporary and Arabic dance & music.

Born in Taiwan and grown in the U.S., Aaliyah Jenny aka Jenny C Cohen or Jenny C is an award winning performer, actress/ voiceover artist/comedian, Sharqui Master Instructor, Datura Style teacher, Yoga Instructor and creator of Dance to Heal Podcast and Wellness Program. She has a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy, is a mom who homeschooled her twins to college and coached a collegiate dance team. She is currently writing her first book and screenplay.

Aaliyah Jenny’s background of training includes ballet, modern, hip hop, Arabic Dance, tap, and Polynesian Dance.  Her favorite events have been Pulse on Tour featuring Mia Michaels, Gil Duldulao, Dave Scott, Brian Friedman, Ian Eastwood.    

She homeschooled her kids to college.  She is also happily married 29 years to her wonderful soul mate and alpha leader to her two dogs and twelve cats. 

Aaliyah Jenny is honored to count as her dance mentors Aziza, Aszmara, Amanda Rose, Rachel Brice, and Donna Mejia.  She has participated in Rachel Brice’s 8 Elements Training Program, Zoe Jake’s Dance Craft, Amy Sigil’s ITS and Improv Team Sync, April Rose’s Cohesion Collective and Kami Liddle’s Krysalis.  

In January 2014, Aaliyah Jenny won 1st place in the Pro Tribal Fusion category at The East Coast Classic and was invited to perform in the Gala show at the Hanover Tribal Festival in Germany June 2014 where she placed 2^nd runner up in the Tribal Star Competition.  She won Bellydance Masters 2015 Pro Fusion Category and is the Jewels of the Orient 2015 Grand Champion Pro Fusion Tribal winner.  In 2019, Aaliyah Jenny won Essence of Bellydance’s People Choice and Essence Soaring First Place.

Aaliyah Jenny is proud to have launched her non profit 501c event called Raw Epiphany July 7-9, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  It was born to provide an opportunity of growth afforded through the feedback process while awarding almost fifty scholarships to participants. Please check out RAW Epiphany on Facebook or www.TheRawEpiphany.com

In 2019, Aaliyah Jenny’s instructional DVD “Inside Out: Acting for Dancers” was produced and can be purchased from her personally at www.aaliyahjenny.com or through www.BellydanceNation.com.

Aaliyah Jenny was awarded the New York Theatrical Bellydance Conference Genevieve Memorial Award and the East Coast Classic Lighthouse Award for her leadership and tireless dedication to the dance community.

Please visit Jenny’s Transformation on FB for more details on her battle and victory over breast cancer.

Please visit www.jennyccohen.com  for more information on Aaliyah Jenny’s travels.

Whether she’s shimmying on land or transformed into an underwater mermaid entertainer,  this Siren showgirl mesmerizes her audiences with skillful grace and charisma. Hailing from the seaside city of Oxnard, California is where she developed a deep love for mythology, aquatic movement, music, dance and all things romantic. She relocated to Boston in 1998 where Farasha began studying bellydance with renowned instructors Michelle “Najmat” Pinage and Jehan Kamal. Farasha soon became a professional dancer at premier Middle Eastern supper clubs throughout New England. After achieving popularity in the thriving scene, she set her sights on becoming a full -time performer. Farasha sent a performance video to an agent in Las Vegas where she landed a contract with Aladdin Hotel Casino/Desert Dessert Passage troupe. She was also a contracted bellydance artist at Ceasars Palace and has bellydanced at Hip Hop sensation, Cardi B’s birthday party. Her career led her to perform in: NYC, USA and Tokyo,Japan. Farasha performs as a real-siliconed-tailed mermaid and is the founder of Mermaid School at the Westgate Hotel Casino. She makes mermaid appearances in a traveling aquarium tank for corporate events, most recently the MGM Grand Hotel and Downtown Las Vegas’ Arts district. Farasha also is the dancer for Three Lock Box, the Ultimate Sammy Hagar Tribute band.