Our Resident performers are committed to the growth of their community and artform- we are extremely thankful for their hard work and talents!
TEAM SANTA CRUZ, CA
Surreyya Hada
Director of the acclaimed Dangerous Beauties dance troupe and Co-director of Troupe Scimitar – Surreyya is an award-winning, international performer and instructor. She sings in English and Turkish, and dances regularly solo as well as with several world fusion and rock bands. Surreyya’s performance is full of excitement, and is inspired by Egyptian, Turkish and American Tribal flavors of dance. She has performed for Cirque du Soleil and is an annual entertainer for Apple, Sandisk and Yahoo corporations. Surreyya is currently working toward her masters degree in dance performance/production via St. Mary’s College of Moraga where she has her BA as a LEAP program awardee. She is also a certified FCBD instructor, Pilates Master Trainer and board director of several international dance festivals.
Jill Quaglia
A Bay Area belly dancer who has been active in the community from San Francisco, CA to Madrid, Spain. Jill is a passionate dancer with a deep-rooted love for the art, embracing multiple forms of the dance from traditional Egyptian and Cabaret to Fusion. She took her first class nearly 20 years ago and has been promoting belly dance since. Jill holds a degree in Respiratory Care and is a Certified Bombay Jam®, Pilates, and suspension training Instructor.
Jill’s student troupe, The Academy, can be seen performing at events in the Santa Cruz and San Jose Bay areas.
Caliana
From a young age, Caliana had a deep love and passion for dance. Heidi‘s love for dance has led her to perform with several troupes, including BDB, Intisar, Tiyanna, Desert Jewels, and her latest venture for the last three years, the 5 Mile Minx. She has expanded her repertoire to include cabaret and jazz dancing, and is proud to be mentored by award-winning dancers Sese Geddes, Surreyya Hada and Charleigh France.
For more than 10 years Caliana has lead the Santa Cruz team for the global Shimmy Mob, spreading awareness, happiness, and encouragement through dance. Every Monday evening, Heidi invites individuals of all levels to her classes held at Desert Dream Dance Studio. She is committed to inclusivity and offers scholarships to those who may not have the financial means to participate. No one is turned away from the opportunity to dance.
Janelle Rodriguez
Janelle, is a musical, captivating belly dancer who easily moves between styles inspired by Golden Era to modern Egyptian as well as Turkish and North African dances, all grounded in a deep respect for Middle Eastern culture, music, and dance. As a professional instructor and performer based in Santa Cruz, California, where she founded the Desert Dream Dance Company studio, Janelle is also one of the few dancers in the world to earn the highest levels of Salimpour format certifications.
In addition to performing with Bal Anat and leading the Santa Cruz Salimpour Collective, Janelle serves as artistic director/choreographer of Desert Dream Dance Company and directs the Desert Dream Music Ensemble.
TEAM SAN FRANCISCO, CA
ShantiYou could say that Shanti is a bit of a bellydance nerd, or even a lot of a bellydance nerd! Big, brassy finger cymbals and ooey-gooey isolations are where it’s at for this girl! Shanti was first exposed to this crazy dance form in 2002 and has fallen very deeply in love over the years. Within that time she has explored many styles of bellydance (American Cabaret, ATS, Turkish Rom, Arabic Folkdance, etc.), most recently focusing on Tribal Fusion and dancing with those who inspire her.
Shanti is 8 Elements Phase II certified and enjoys collaborating in group projects as well as performing as a soloist in Los Angeles and throughout the West Coast. She is currently a member of Aubre Hill’s Qabila Folkdance Company and co-directs Mas’uuda with Scotie Clark.
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Shondell was born at a very early age. She grew up poor and wuzzled and didn’t discover dance until she was already an adult. Anyway … now she loves dance, bunnies, anddancing bunnies. HA. If you’re a fan of super weird music, Shondell just might dance to it. Check her out.
T. fell in love with dance “at gun point” at the age of 5 in the Soviet Union, where she was introduced to Ballet and Ballroom via the infamous Russian instruction methods. She has since found other forms of dance to love, including fusion belly dance. Her influences come from wonderful teachers and mentors, the poetry of genuine human experience, and the music itself.
She has had the pleasure of performing with The Lady Fred’s Black Heart Ballads, The Americano Social Club dancers, DJ Amar and Calamity Sam at Taverna Nights, Jill Parker’s Student Dancers, and Elizabeth Strong & Rose Harden’s Shtetl Shakers.
TEAM LOS ANGELES
Devilla of Los Angeles
DeVilla is a prolific and multi-award winning Middle Eastern dancer based in Los Angeles, known for her polished and dramatic stage presentations. She has studied dance extensively since childhood; including the Ahla Wa Sahlan Dance Festival in Cairo to learn from Egyptian greats such as Raqia Hassan, Dr. Mo Geddawi, Rhanda Kamel, Momo Kadous, and Diana. She has also trained with renowned dancers in America such as Zahra Zuhair, Helena Vlahos, Kamala Almanzar, Fahtiem, Jillina, Ansuya, and Sadie. What’s more, DeVilla works as an Emmy-nominated makeup artist working in the film and tv industry. A background in fine arts—including a painting degree and a minor in art history from one of the highest-ranking art schools in the nation—carved her pathway directly to Los Angeles where she paints the faces of Hollywood’s biggest stars on hits like American Horror Story: Apocalypse, Star Trek: Picard, Hollywood, The L Word, and Ratched. DeVilla regularly teaches theatrical makeup workshops, so you too can learn the tricks of the trade!
Princess Farhana
Internationally acclaimed dance star Princess Farhana (Pleasant Gehman) has performed, taught, researched and written about belly dance and burlesque since 1990. She has appeared in Egypt, Turkey, Hong Kong and Australia; toured several times across Europe and The United Kingdom, as well as throughout North America. An artistic chameleon and a boundary-pushing pioneer, she performs many styles of dance with ease, from ultra traditional to contemporary belly dance and burlesque. Her diverse talents encompass visual, literary, musical and dramatic arts as well as dance. She has fronted three bands, and is featured as an actor in several motion pictures and television shows, and has been interviewed for numerous feature-length documentaries, including director Steve Balderson’s “Underbelly: A Year In The Life Of Princess Farhana”.
Trained in Egyptian style belly dance by Zahra Zuhair in Los Angeles and Raqia Hassan in Cairo among many others, The Princess is well known as a theatrical belly dance fusion performer, conceiving and executing fantasy tableaux in minute detail, a dramatically recreating vintage styles of Oriental Dance from the Edwardian Era, the 1920’s, The Egyptian Golden Age, and the American Cabaret Style of the Sixties and Seventies
Kamala Almanzar
Kamala is a 3rd generation dancer, who transitioned from a ballet company (Pasadena Dance Theatre) in her teens to Middle Eastern Dance, which remains her passion some 45 years later. Her training extends from classical Jazz, to classical Ballet, to notable Egyptian & Lebanese teachers, but mostly on the job experience from the long hours spent performing in Arabic nightclubs. During her long solo performance career, Kamala performed in nightclubs, restaurants & hotels in many countries, most notably the large Arabic nightclubs in 1980’s Hollywood, London & Acapulco, where she performed nightly with Egyptian orchestras. Kamala was also a featured dancer in films and on TV shows in the 1970s and ‘80s. Her popular Youtube channel features over 40 years of video.
In the 1980s she took part in shows choreographed & directed by Egypt’s legendary Farida Fahmy. With Kamala’s love of American & Egyptian movie musicals, she was inspired & transformed by the experience. The 1990’s brought Kamala to a new group of professional dancers in LA, hired to perform at Al Andalus Egyptian nightclub. “The Flowers of the Desert” started as a traditional company, & later became the first Bellydance Fusion company on the west coast, which inspired subsequent dancers to create their own fusion genres. They produced theatre shows, tours & concert dates with everyone from Alabina, Hakim & Amr Diab to The Talking Heads & The Go Go’s, appealing to both Western & Arabic audiences.
Underground Nomads 