My passion for belly dance began in ****. While watching Berrin, a Turkish dancer, perform to a drum solo, I had a clear knowing that I wanted to learn how to move my body with such emotion, precision, strength, and grace. In September ****, I started lessons with the belly dance group at my community college and fell in love with the art form. I performed with my first group, the Rakisat Dance Company, under the direction of Jan Straka and Berrin Tuttle. Belly dance uplifted me; it continues to challenge and inspire me today.

While attending UC Berkeley, I studied belly dance with Nanna Candelaria and FatChanceBellyDance. In Southern California, I took lessons from Jorjana, Jillina, and Fahtiem. I grew as a dancer when I started to listen to and feel music and allowed the music to move me. Great bellydancing is both fluid and precise: passion tempered by control and technique. It's like chocolate and almond butter. You can appreciate each on its own. But together? Watch out. It's love, it's magic. It is positively brilliant and gorgeous.

My experience includes live solo performances at The Greek at the Harbor, Great India Café, Dar Maghreb, Tangier, Conejo Valley Days, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, the Ford Amphitheatre, El Portal Theatre, and The Knitting Factory. I also appeared as a bellydancer on the Disney Channel's "That's So Raven" and Univision's "Primera Edicion." In ****, I completed Dolphina's Goddess Workout Teacher Training Intensive. I continue to study bellydance with master teachers and to develop my rhythm sensibilities in my favorite "classroom," the inspirational discotheque. My major influences include lyrical, disco, ballroom, and hip-hop.

In the last several years, I've had the pleasure of performing as a member of the Rakisat Dance Company, Dance Mosaic, the Dangerous Curves Dance Company of the International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance, and Troupe Bahiya. As a soloist, I have been developing my technique, style, spirit, and heart – always evolving and learning. Feeling music with the body; translating feeling into movement that comes from the heart; being inspired; allowing the self to relax, express, and enjoy – it's love, it's magic. It brings me great joy to dance and I would be honored and delighted to perform for you at your next event.