TRIBAL FEST™12: “The Year of the Unicorn” CLASS SCHEDULE for SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2012

* YOUTH ANNEX, LARGE CLASSROOM – next to the Main Hall - maximum capacity 36 dancers. Mirrors, sprung bamboo dance floor. Bare feet or non-marking dance shoes only, please!

10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Teacher: Kathy Stahlman


Class Title: Cue It Up! Creative Cues for Dynamic Performances

Description: Practicing in duet and group formations we will use classic ATS moves and cues to create dynamic new steps. With an emphasis on communication between dancers this workshop will help you improve your ability to create clear cues for flawless transitions, including fast spins, dramatic slow turns, and dynamic fades and passes - all while staying true to the magic of ATS.  

Instructor Bio: Kathy Stahlman is a former member of FatChance BellyDance and is the director of Tribal Moon Belly Dance. She has been teaching American Tribal Style (ATS) belly dance since 2002 and teaches workshops worldwide. If you’ve attended her classes or workshops, you know first-hand that Kathy has built a reputation as a compassionate and skilled teacher, dedicated to infusing the world with her love of ATS.

          She is in three FatChanceBellyDance DVDs: 'Cues & Transitions', the performance video of FatChance, 'The Gypsy Trail', and in ‘The 20 Year Retrospective, Director’s Cut’. 

For more information on Tribal Moon ATS classes in Oregon visit www.tribalmoonbellydance.com

Skill Level: Workshop participants must be familiar with the FatChance basic ATS steps.

What to Bring: Zills

What to Wear: ATS wear or comfy dance clothes

12:15-2:15 p.m.

Teacher: Caro Dumanni of Costa Rica

Class Title: Latin Tribal Fusion

Description: Cumbia, Tango, Vallenato, Ska, Salsa!! Are any of these words familiar to you??? YES!! It's All about the Latin Flavor!! Take a journey through Latin American rhythms. Learn new steps and ways to put them together with the Tribal Fusion technique. Come and taste a bit of one of the newest types of fusion and let your inner "Latina" come out!!!

Instructor Bio: Caro is a mom and a dance addict from Costa Rica who got into dancing since she was 3 years old. As a Latina, she was first introduced to rhythms like salsa, merengue, cumbia and reggae. Also, Caro took gymnastics, yoga, ballet, modern dance, hip-hop and breakdance while growing up. And then, a little Turkishbelly dance which lead her into Tribal Fusion Belly Dance.

        Since then, she's been growing up as a fusion dancer, choreographer, teacher and performer. She feels truly inspired by her teachers: Rachel Brice, Mardi Love, Amy Sigil, Heather Stants, Anasma, Zoe Jakes and many more. It's always an honor to be in their class learning about dance and how to teach it. Her true passion is to teach dance and she's been doing it for the last 8 years. She feels the biggest reward is watching your students grow and enjoy dance in every level.

        Caro is director of Dumanni's Troupe and produces dance intensives in Costa Rica and Colombia. Also as a hobby, she works as a Creative Director & Make Up Artist on Jorge Dengo's Photo Shoots. Caro believes in living on the positive side of things and enjoying every moment as if it was the last.

Skill Level: This class is open to ALL levels

What to Bring: Water and LOTS of energy!!!

What to Wear: Comfy dance workout clothes

2:30-4:30 p.m.

Teacher: Devi Mamak of Australia

Class Title: New ATS Steps, Aussie Style! Workshop 2

Description: This workshop is exactly that! New and exciting ATS steps from down under, brought to you by Devi Mamak of Ghawazi Caravan. Come and be some of the first in the world to learn Devi's new ATS steps that have been accepted into the FCBD format. There will be plenty of time for drilling both fast and slow steps as well as question and answer time. Workshop 2 will incorporate Medusa Combos 1 & 2, Egyptian Sevillana, The Triangle Step & The Rainbow. (Workshop 1 is on Thursday.)

Instructor Bio: Devi Mamak, member and artistic director of Ghawazi Caravan, is based in The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney and is one of Australia’s premier ATS dancers, teachers and choreographers.

Devi has studied a variety of different dance styles including Classical & Folkloric Egyptian, Odissi, Flamenco and Ballet but has largely turned her focus to ATS since the late nineties. Devi began her training with Carolena Nericcio in 1999 and was the first in the southern hemisphere to become a sister studio.

        Devi has also been invited to be part of major government funded projects such as "The Firebird", "Unmasked" and produced Ghawazi Caravan's unique production, "Intertwine". These projects gave Devi the opportunity to work with many of Australia's top dancers and musicians who are skilled in a variety of different dance and musical styles. This has all helped to develop Devi's unique and diverse approach to dance, all of which she passes onto her students.

        Devi is renowned throughout Australia, NZ, Asia and Europe for her creative, thorough and approachable teaching style and her beautiful, commanding stage presence. Devi has co-taught Carolena's General Skills certificate on several occasions with several of her own steps being accepted into the ATS syllabus. Devi is also a classical pianist, teacher and composer and a mother of two.

Skill Level: Understanding of the basic FCBD steps

What to Bring: Finger cymbals, water

What to Wear: ATS attire or comfy dance wear

* YOUTH ANNEX, SMALL ROOM – next to the Main Hall - maximum capacity only 19 dancers. This is a very intimate dance space for one-on-one learning! Mirrors, plastic tile dance floor.

10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. – This is a 4-Hour Mini-Intensive!

Teacher: Zoe Jakes

Class Title: BELLYDANCE THEATER 101 with Zoe and Dena

Description: We will be using theater sports to deepen performance presence, work with emotions, and add character and depth to our bellydancing on stage. Tools for dancers ready to figure out how they want to perform and what they want to convey. We’ll work on focus, conveying emotion, and expression, all while actually dancing....and expect lots of theater sports tailor-made for dancers! I will be co-teaching this workshop with the superb Dena Martinez....we are very lucky to have her, a professional and successful internationally renowned theater performer who is also one heck of a teacher.

Instructor Bio: Zoe is a proud member of The Indigo, recently on the road touring their show Le Serpent Rouge. She had been touring with Bellydance Superstars since the fall of 2005 and can be seen performing on their new Tribal Fusions DVD. She recently finished filming her debut instructional DVD, to be released in the fall. Combining talents with David Satori and Tommy Cappel to form the band Beats Antique, which released the album Tribal Derivations last spring, Zoe is currently working on its sequel.
        When not with The Indigo, she tours with The Yard Dogs Road Show, a cartoon circus sideshow of wacky dimensions, and has been seen tearing it up with the Extra Action Marching Band.
        Recently nominated for Zaghareet’s "Best Interpretive Artist 2007", Zoe is an inarguably innovative dancer, whose unique take on Tribal bellydance takes influence from Art Nouveau, tango, Breakdance, and Indian classical dance.
        She loves unicorns and has never once doubted their existence.

        Her web site is www.zoebellydance.com

Skill Level: Open, though bellydance experience will be helpful

What to Bring: Water, small towel, notebook, small snack for break

What to Wear: Comfy dance workout wear

2:30-4:30 p.m.

Teacher: Sera Solstice

Class Title: Solar Flare

Description: Solar movement is expansive, fast, and draws upon deep bellydance movement, dance floor bass, and the innate warrior
archetype. Travel combinations develop strength, stamina, footwork, grace through quick weight-changes, and clarity of movement.  Dancers activate inner-force, balancing trust in the body, and trust in the self to move confidently in the world. (A complimentary workshop, “Lunar Flow”, is held on Saturday.)

Instructor Bio: Sera seeks to open the doorway between non-physical self, and the physical self via movement. She seeks to expand consciousness through movement, and to use dance as a method for inward journey, creating a marriage between the physical and non-physical. 

        Sera has chosen Bellydance as her primary medium for movement because it is the most inward dance she has discovered. Sera believes that some movements of Bellydance open a doorway to an ancient lineage of women and wisdom, whereby a dancer may connect if she is dancing in a trance-state.
        Sera has danced her way through two pregnancies (and other
life-changing circumstances) with support from this spiritual lineage,
and believes that her choreographies draw forth from this same source.
        Sera has participated in American Fire Circle culture for nearly 2
decades and has bellydanced her way through countless rituals and
all-night drum-circles, and therein has developed her dance as a
sacred movement form.
        Sera is most known for creating the East Coast Tribal style of
Bellydance, characterized by Lunar and Solar movement categories,
which use extensive full-body movement, intense multi-layer hipwork within pop'n lock elements, tied together by deep emotive power and story-telling flow.
        Sera is the founder and director of Solstice Studio: a Bellydance
Studio in New York City, with over 300 active participants using
Bellydance as a means for building self-empowerment, expression, and creativity. 

        Sera is director/choreographer of the dance troupe Solstice Ensemble, and has taught numerous workshops and performed throughout Europe, South America, and Asia. Sera's Choreography has been described as "complex, content-rich, sublime, haunting, psychedelic, technically superb, at the forefront of evolution of bellydance as an art form."
        Sera has created 5 full-length instructional DVDs on East Coast
Tribal Bellydance, (produced by World Dance New York) including 1) East Coast Tribal, 2) Foundations of Bellydance 3) Solar Bellydance 4)
Lunar Bellydance, 5) Goddess Dance: Prenatal Bellydance and
Meditation, and is featured in the DVD series: Gothic Bellydance:
Revelations and Fantasy Bellydance: Mystery.
        Sera was a full-time Sculptor upon discovery of
Bellydance, and has transferred from her medium of clay and metal into the body moving through space.  Although she challenges dancers to find deeper expression in their movements, Sera is known for her
hard-driving, highly technical classes. She believes one must first
master their tool-set before putting it to use. 

        Sera is a former core member of 3 acclaimed dance companies: Bellyqueen, The Silk Road Dance Company, and Raqs Sahara.  Sera has the blessing to be able to study with many excellent instructors of our time. She credits the foundation of her technique, form, and discipline was by means of her formal apprenticeship with Rachel Kay Brookmire (of DC's Sahara Dance). More about Sera's projects at: http://www.boldbellydance.com/

Skill Level: Open to All, though some bellydance experience is helpful

What to Bring: Water, small towel, notebook optional

What to Wear: Comfy dance workout wear