TribalCon VI - Official 2010 Announcement

[Laura Farinas]

TribalCon VI - 2010 Official Announcement We are pleased to annouce our fabulous instructors for TribalCon VI, Feb. 25-28 2010! Heather and Juli of Urban Tribal Donna Mejia Ariellah Asharah Megha of Devyani Jen Speiden August Hoer of the Mezmer Society Denys Proteau Kevin "Nevik" Hartnell Plus, a return of Donna Mejia's fantastic lecture For the Love of the Craft: A Thoughtful Approach to Our Dance Legacy on Thursday evening!!! Below you will find short bios of all the 2010 instructors. Stay tuned for workshop schedule! www.tribalcon.com Heather Stants (CA) Heather Stants is a lifelong artist and dancer with a degree in photography and fine arts. Her career in tribal fusion dance began over twelve years ago when she became the assistant director of Read My Hips (www.readmyhips.com) in Chicago, Illinois. In 1999 Heather moved to San Diego, California and launched the southern california tribal movement through her classes and the formation of Urban Tribal Dance Company. Heather's diverse movement and arts background feeds her creativity and her groundbreaking approach to choreography. Urban Tribal Dance Company is known for it's contemporary approach to belly dance, a pared down costume emphasizing body movements over ornamentation, athleticism and the use of the dance form as a means of personal expression and interpretation. Their creativity has twice earned them the title of "Troupe of the Year" in Zaghareet! Magazine's Golden Belly Awards. In addition to teaching several weekly classes in San Diego since 1999, Heather Stants and Urban Tribal Dance Company tour extensively sharing their love of modern tribal fusion dance with dancers in the U.S. and abroad. Urban Tribal Dance Company can be seen in dvd releases produced by The Bellydance Superstars and Hollywood Music. http://www.urbantribaldance.com Donna Mejia (CO) Donna Mejia is a choreographer, lecturer, teacher, administrator, and performer specializing in contemporary dance, traditions of the African Diaspora, and new fusion traditions in world electronica. She taught at Colorado College for 10 years and was Director of the Colorado College International Summer Dance Festival for the last half of her term.  For twelve years she served as managing director of the award-winning Harambee African Dance Ensemble of CU-Boulder. She continues to teach, choreograph and perform Modern dance, Improvisiation, Hip Hop, Jazz, Arabic Tribal Fusion and traditional dances of the African Diaspora for Colorado College as well as colleges and dance festivals internationally. Donna is an authorized instructor of Brazilian Silvestre Modern Dance Technique.  Donna is finishing up a two-year assignment as Guest Artist in Residence with the Smith College Dance Department and the Five College Dance Department in Massachusetts. Donna shares her life with husband, Shatta (educator and musician); and daughter, Ajah (born 2001). www.donnabodyvision.com Ariellah (CA) Ariellah studied classical ballet with the Royal Academy of Dance of London for twelve years, beginning at age three. After a four-year break from dance that included two years in the Peace Corps on Africa's Ivory Coast, she returned to the United States eager to learn the dance of her Moroccan ancestry.  Ariellah performs tribal and dark fusion belly dance worldwide. She has studied and performed belly dance for the past seven years, both with Janine Ryle of Danse Mahgreb and as a founding member of The Indigo with Rachel Brice. Her style infuses many genres of belly dance, all with a modern dark flavour that is uniquely her own. She is featured on many DVDs, including the first of its kind "Gothic BellyDance" DVD and her first instructional DVD, "Contemporary BellyDance and Yoga Conditioning" and she also won first place in Siren's Insanity belly dance competition in 2004. She is considered a leader in the innovative new genre of Gothic Belly Dance and is known for her strong technique and precision of movements. www.ariellah.com Asharah (DC) Asharah is renowned for her strong technique and dramatic fusion of tribal and cabaret bellydance, and she has extensive experience in Turkish, Egyptian, and American bellydance.  She has teaches and performs her unique tribal fusion style around the world, and she is currently a faculty member at two of the Washington DC area's finest dance schools: Saffron Dance in Arlington, Virginia, and Joy of Motion Dance Center in Washington, DC.  She released her first instructional DVD, Modern Tribal Bellydance, in early 2008, and she is featured on the groundbreaking DVD, Gothic Bellydance: The Darker Side of Fusion.  As a student of Middle Eastern history, she believes that every belly dancer must know the history and culture of this dance, whether she is performing it in its traditional forms or fusing it with others. www.asharah.com Megha (AL) Megha began performing very early in life. She took her first dance classes at about the age of 4 and has been creating and performing ever since. Theatre soon caught her attention and that was her passion throughout her schooling years. It was in 1996 that she discovered American Tribal Style Bellydance and immediately shifted her focus to this art form.  In San Francisco, Megha studied ATS with the originator of the style from 1996 - 1998. Upon returning to the Southeast, she began teaching ATS classes in order to create a community of people to dance with. She was the first to offer these classes in this region and has continued teaching pure ATS for the last 10 years. She continues to teach and perform at sold out workshops across the country and around the world both individually and on the Tribal Pura tour with her teacher/partner, Carolena Nericcio.  In 2003 Megha completed teacher certification with Carolena Nericcio (creator of ATS and founder of FatChance BellyDance) and entered into an exclusive partnership with her. They now take their love and appreciation of this elegant dance style in its original form on the road to co-teach the technique and artistic vision created by Carolena over the last 20 years.  Megha directs the Birmingham, AL based Devyani Dance Company and runs Devyani Dance Center, home of her dance company and a hub of international and ethnic dance styles in Birmingham. Under her direction, Devyani has performed at countless festivals, weddings, corporate events and private parties over the last 9 years and has been nominated for multiple cultural and artistic awards. www.devyani.net Jen Speiden (VA) Creative movement has always been an integral part of Jennifer's personal and professional life.  She enjoys integrating movement arts and healing arts into her work and play for overall health, well being, and enjoyment.  Jennifer enjoys incorporating principles from Eastern and Western medicine and movement approaches to encourage people of all ages and ability levels to become more aware of their bodies and how to heal themselves from within.  She also hopes to help individuals enjoy the beauty of movement regardless of physical limitations. www.mandaradance.com August (NC) August taught himself to play accordion as angsty teenager, and after discovering Middle Eastern music, began working with Tribal dancers in 1999. Discovering a mutual interest in Balkan music and quirky party songs, he formed The Mezmer Society with Onça (Baraka Mundi) in the Autumn of 2007. They have taught and performed at events including Tribal Fest, TribalCon, and Tribal Revolution, and they are scheduled to continue touring throughout the United States. The Mezmer Society is fully committed to spreading the aesthetic of hafla joy as quickly and loudly as possible.  In addition to to The Mezmer Society, August is a member of the quartet Ashes in Order, and maintains a career as an internationally represented figurative painter. He is the president of the Institute for the Advancement of Occultism and Aerophonics (previously Asheville Accordion Club), and he has released albums with the cinematic trio Soora Gameela, and Greek fusion band Makari. August lives in Asheville, North Carolina and is currently working on material for his first solo album. www.myspace.com/themezmersociety Denys (PA, SC)   Denys plays kaval (a Bulgarian flute), cumbus (a Turkish fretless banjo), various reed instruments, and spoons. He plays with the Pittsburgh Bulgarian Women's Ensemble, now called Zvesda, and with Turku, a Turkish and Eurasian music band.  Denys has also played Bulgarian and International music at various festivals and theatrical productions with the Bulgarian-Macedonian Educational and Cultural Center dancers and with the Pittsburgh International Folk Theatre. www.turkumusic.com Kevin "Nevik" Hartnell (OH) Kevin "Nevik" Hartnell comes from a family of percussionists. His good fortune has provided opportunities to study and perform with many great drummers and share that wealth of knowledge by teaching. With a lifetime of drumming experience that includes thousands of performances in the United States as well as various other countries, studio session work since the age of 15, contributions to music for films, commercials, and many recordings, he travels regularly, performing and teaching workshops from his darbuka handbook, the "Tekronomicon". Check the schedule to see when and where he'll be next.  When not teaching or performing, Kevin is usually involved in photography, travel, curry, learning, graphic design, and running. www.legionofdoumbek.com

Awalim Dance Co. • PO Box 831 • Pine Lake • GA • 30072

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