Leyla Jouvana & Roland 2007
Photos of the show may be viewed at Bob Edens' web site!
Merrybellies Summer Oasis
July 6, 7 & 8, 2007
Friday Hafla at Old Green Eyes, Ringgold: 7 to 11 pm: FREE; please bring food/drink to share. Activities for children (including free face painting & body art); henna & indigo by Courtney; dancing & drumming; meet-n-greet with Leyla Jouvana & Roland; Shopping with our Vendors.
Saturday & Sunday Workshops with Leyla Jouvana & Roland
Saturday Evening Show at the Colonnade Theater, Ringgold, GA.
ABOUT THE SHOW & DANCERS:
07/07/07 at 7:00 pm
An International Oriental Belly Dance show
Colonnade Performing Arts Theater (Ringgold, GA)
Starring Leyla Jouvana & Roland, from Germany,
plus
dancers from around the Southeast and beyond!
About
Leyla Jouvana & Roland
Guest Performers include...
Gina www.ginaraks.com
Originally
from North Carolina, Gina received her B.F.A. in Dance & Theatre Arts from
East Carolina University.
A
former dancer in the Siegfried & Roy Show, Gina retired from Las Vegas
production shows and began her love affair with Oriental dance.
Gina
has since studied with notable American, Arabic, and European Oriental dancers.
She is inspired by these artists as well as by her own ballet and jazz
dance background.
Gina
can be seen in the IAMED “Belly Dance O Rama” dvds #1 and #2 and is
currently teaching and performing in Atlanta and the Southeast.
Debbie
Ashton (“Debka”)
hails from Knoxville, TN. She will perform solo and with her troupes, Desert
Dancers and Oasis Dancers.
Debbie Ashton has her B.S. degree in physical education and an M.S. in dance from the University of Tennessee. For 30 years, she has taught both movement education and dance.
She is a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, a Pilates Instructor, a nationally-rated Level 2 Ski Instructor who teaches in Vail, CO, at the biggest ski school in the world, an Aquatic Therapist, a Watsu Specialist and, for over 15 years, she owned Dance-A-Gram and gave over 3,000 performances. Forms of dance she has taught are ballet, jazz, tap, modern, ethnic, folk, flamenco, aerobic, ballroom, and disco.
Debbie has studied belly dance with top instructors throughout the world, including Dahlena, Ibrahim Farrar, Jillina, Aziza, Zahra Zuhair, Rachel Brice, and Amir Thelib. The first belly dance teacher in Knoxville, Debbie began teaching at the University of Tennessee in 1975.
Liora
co-founder of Southern Fusion Productions (with Fatina) and a tribal fusion
performer, instructor, writer, and costume designer, comes to us from Atlanta,
GA.
Liora's dance background includes ballet and modern jazz. She graduated from Emory University with a BA in Classics, and discovered belly dance through the Evening at Emory program with Isabel Crunk. She then studied classical and modern Egyptian and Turkish belly dance with Diane Adams of Company Mezza, and ATS and tribal fusion with Zi'ah Ali of Awalim. Liora now focuses her studies on tribal fusion, taking classes as often as possible with the ladies of The Indigo and the Bellydance Superstars Tribal Contingent, Suhaila Salimpour, and the many beautiful tribal fusion dancers here in the USA.
Liora shares her passion for belly dance through writing, teaching, and sewing. While pursuing a MA degree in Creative Writing, Liora has had articles published in Zaghareet and Jareeda. She currently teaches classes in the metro Atlanta area and recently launched Liora Designs, her own line of tribal belly dance costuming.
Arabella, a cabaret performer and instructor from Montevallo, AL, is a student of Petite Jamilla and a member of Sirqus of Jreams. Along with Oriental dance, her dance backgrounds include ballet, jazz, and tap. She is currently working towards a B.M.E. in voice and piano at the University of Southern Mississippi. While in Hattiesburg, she has been singing and dancing in local and professional productions, including West Side Story, La Traviata, and Carmen. Presently she dances at restaurants as well academic, business, and private functions around Hattiesburg.
There came a fair pharmacist from Tennessee
Who longed for a passion of creativity
She did compound and devour
Scarab and Lotus flower
Now she dances Raks Sharki incessantly
Zivah Saphirah, a troupe featuring students and their two instructors, will travel from Birmingham to perform in the show. Zivah Saphirah has been performing in Alabama dance and cultural events since 1997.
Samra
is from Brazil but lives in Fancy
Gap, Virginia. She has dedicated many years to study dances from various
cultures. She teaches regularly in Southwest Virginia and Northwest North
Carolina, and workshops across the USA and abroad. She teaches and performs
frequently in Asia and Brazil and leads the annual Spring LOTUS DANCE RETREAT in
Bali, Indonesia. She authored 101 Shimmies DVD Volume 1 and 2, and
co-authored the Klutz 2 Diva DVD. Besides her deep love of Classical
Oriental dance, she also loves fusion and interpretive dances. She will perform
a Turkish Pop/Bhangra/Bollywood style to Tarkan's "Bounce" and also a
Brazilian-Arab fusion choreography.
One
of our guest performers, the auburn-haired Scottish Shelly
Skipper, lives in Edinburgh,
UK, and will be performing during her visit with in-laws in Chattanooga. She
works as a Physics teacher and is a student of Hilary
Thacker.
Catahna & Kaliahna live in Warner Robins, GA. There they teach mother/daughter classes at International Gypsy Bellydance. When they are not teaching or dancing at a local restaurant, they continue dancing in other ways. Catahna is a member of the Firefly Gypsies dance troupe. Kaliahna is studying ballet and jazz to be a well-rounded dancer.
The line-up also included the following excellent dancers and troupes:
Amira (Atlanta), and local dancers M'Alin, Hellcat, Ballista Bellies, Graveyard Dollies, Gems of the Oasis (Jillanna’s students), and Mermaids (Jillanna’s youngest students, ages 3 to 9).
hattanooga Belly Dance Workshops
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