2011 PERFORMERS
~ Rachel Brice ~
Rachel Brice fell in love with yoga in preschool, and belly dance in high school. Belly dance was the form that seemed to tug at her hem the most violently, so since 2000 she's dedicated her life to practicing, sewing, touring and collaborating.
She's been on tour so long she couldn't even tell you where she's been. First she toured internationally with Miles Copeland's illustrious Bellydance Superstars from 2003 to 2007, then drove coast to coast, crammed into a little black schoolbus with Mardi Love and Zoe Jakes while touring their full length show Le Serpent Rouge from 2007 to 2010. Now she's started Datura, a dance studio in Portland, Oregon and is beginning a new collaboration, Lasya, with the lovely Collena Shakti.
She is so grateful to share the stage once more with her good friend, and former company-collaborator, Ariellah.
For more information about Rachel please go here: Rachel Brice
~ The Lady Fred ~
Frederique: The Lady Fred is an international avant-garde belly dancer, artist, instructor, pioneer of the Tribal Fusion Style, and creator of Silent Sirens Theatre. She was born in Beirut, Lebanon, with her ethnicity rooted in Syrian, Armenian, French, and Italian. She began studying American Tribal Style Belly Dance (ATS) in February of 1997 with Amy 'Luna' then shortly after with director Jill Parker where she stayed until December of 1999 and left to delve into creating something new.
With nothing to lose, Frederique established herself through originality; branching out through the integration of urban underground lifestyle and tribal belly dance. After more than a decade long journey of experimentation and self-realization, she unexpectedly never trained with another belly dance instructor again; outside of the ATS training she had from Luna & Jill, her movement and dance style is self-developed and authentically her own. It is because of her foundation in ATS however that she owes her improvisational skills.
Frederique is known for her overall avant-garde style; she is responsible for introduced the use of new genres of music (dnb / dubstep / classical / scores) to belly dance and with the innovation and coalescence of sound editing and creating themed set mixes, she pushed the boundaries and raised the bar on stage presentation in the belly dance world. She also influenced the union of vintage stylization with the use of antiques for costuming embellishments used widely in tribal belly dance today as a staple to the Tribal Fusion genre. Frederique performances are based on vignetted theatre inspired narratives and have made an enticing impact on her audiences as well as motivating her peers. All of this innovation comes from Frederique impulsive artistic momentum which has enabled her to fully realize and accomplish her vision.
For more information about Frederique please go here: Frederique
~ Ariellah ~
Ariellah is a classically trained, international, modern, belly dance performer and instructor. She has an extensive dance background that includes strict classical ballet training for 12 years with the Royal Academy of Dance from London. She has studied and performed belly dance for the past ten years. She began her training with Janine Ryle of Danse Mahgreb and as a founding member of The Indigo with Rachel Brice. Most recently Ariellah began training in classical Indian Odissi dance, studying in India at the Shakti School of Dance with her guru, Collena Shakti. Her style infuses many genres of dance, all with a modern dark flavour that is uniquely her own. She is featured on the first of its kind "Gothic BellyDance" DVD, alongside a myriad of other belly dance performance DVDs. She also released her first instructional DVD in 2007, and is scheduled to release her second instructional DVD very soon...
~ Lestat ~
Cleveland based Goth/Industrial band Lestat has reformed after a nine and a half year hiatus, and will be releasing a CD entitled "Arisen", featuring all-new material. Original members Evan Nave (formerly Razz), Susan and Timothy return, along with the addition of War, recently a member of PKS and Scott, former drummer for Disown.
Last seen in early 2000, Lestat parted ways for a various number of personal reasons. Since then, Evan Nave has performed with local metal band PKS, while Timothy performed most notably with UV and the Mercury Project. Lestat has released three full length works, including Theatre of the Vampires (1990), Grave Desires (1991) and lastly Vision of Sorrows (1994), which was distributed through Metropolis Records. The song from that release was also featured on the Cleopatra Records Goth Box compilation.
Evan Nave continues as lead vocalist, with Susan returning on guitar. Timothy is switching to keyboards and electronic percussion, and War has become a new addition to the band as their first bass guitarist. Scott has taken over drumming duties, adding another new dimension to the bands overall sound. For more information, please visit www.lestatmusic.com or
www.facebook.com/thebandlestat.
~ Inman & Undercrypt ~
ENVY "She was a breath of fresh air, of course, but I found I could not breathe in her presence. In her light, my darkness grew. There was so much freedom about her, you see, that I - bound to every possible propriety - could only cringe away from what I wanted most. I had built an exemplary life of doing everything right ... and it was about to go very, very wrong."
Illustration by Tansy Undercrypt
Lesley Inman is a bellydance artist living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who has studied and performed internationally. In 2009, she formed the Bohemian Underground Workshop, a movement experience studio offering classes in everything from martial arts and yoga to tribal dance foundations and theatrical fusion. In 2011, she became the director of the Bourgeois Bohemians, a tribal bellydance performance troupe.
www.lesleybellydance.net
Tansy Undercrypt is a horror fiction writer who also calls the grim wilds of Minneapolis her home. In addition to her writing, she is an accomplished illustrator and stage performer. In 2009, she founded Precarious Audio Theater, streaming original dark tales online and via iTunes. A collection of her microfiction and illustrations, "The Disregarded Scruple", will be published this winter.
www.tansyundercrypt.com
~ Deshret Dance Company ~
From the darker, more theatrical side of Fusion Dance comes a collaboration of dancers with extensive belly dance backgrounds and a love for the dance. Deshret Dance Company (DDC) is a professional belly dance company based in Oakland, California.
DDC applies pressure to the boundaries of Middle Eastern dance and attempts to bring a more theatrical and artistic side to this ancient, highly skilled, art form. Deshret keeps its roots grounded in the traditional technique and movements of Middle Eastern dance and then morphs them into something new and different.
Deshret was founded in early 2007 by Ariellah, the company's artistic director. Deshret's current collaborative dancers include: Frederique, Tanja Odzak, Natalie Nayun, Miram Peretz, and Freyja. Each of the dancers contribute their individuality and strength to the dance company.
DDC wanders somewhere between the old and the new, infusing classical Middle Eastern dance with modern Fusion belly dance.
For booking or more info: www.deshretdance.com
~ DJ Melting Girl ~
DJ Melting Girl has been part of the San Francisco gothic/industrial scene for 20 years. Music is her ammo and her love of dancing infuses every song she plays. You can find her every Monday night at Death Guild and monthly at Dark Shadows, the newest goth/industrial club in SF. Dark Shadows brings San Francisco a dark place to gather and celebrate the gothic/industrial culture through music, dance, decor and aesthetic. "It has been 20 years in the making" says DJ Melting Girl about Dark Shadows. Your invited to visit it's parlor and crypt every 3rd Friday of the month.
~ Eerie De Scent ~
A strange gypsy who haunts the dark corners, dreamed recesses and imagined angles of Los Angeles and Black Rock City. Surly yet sultry, creepy yet sexy, she is the dancer on the fringe; an apocalyptic, burlesque punk who enjoys playing with shadows, flame and very sharp objects. Eerie is a featured performer of FreakShow Deluxe and the Wandering Marionettes; and creates mythopoetry with her partner in crime and paramour, Artimus Dark.
~ Sataray ~
Sataray is the musical project based out of Seattle WA, created & fronted by Katrina Ellison on vox & harmonium. It is a dark/ ambient/ industrial/ world fusion creation. Satarays primary collaborator is with electronic/ industrial musician celadon.
Katrina Ellison has studied Hindustani Indian classical singing for 5 + years, thus bringing this influence into the mix, along with Flamenco vocal studies, Western classical singing and strong vocal and compositional influences of the dark ritual arts.
~ Belladonna ~
Belladonna is an internationally recognized fusion belly dance performer and instructor. She is the co-producer of the monthly DCTribal cafe and the annual Belly Horror festival in Washington DC. Belladonna seeks inspiration around every corner and in every dark nook. With this she aspires to give herself fully to technique and dive and below the surface of the mundane to enter and entice you into the world of mystery and explore the other side of the mirror.
BelladonnaFusion.com
BellyHorror.com
~ Soriah ~
Soriah, which translates as Milky Way from Sufi, is the stage persona for the internationally recognized artist, Enrique Ugalde. Soriahs craft is a blending of traditional khoomei (Tuvan Throat Singing), tempered with Soriah own visceral force. Performances vary from being steeped in tradition and bound to its constructs to more experimental fascinations with electronic and acoustic accompaniments, and introducing Butoh and Ritual Performance Art. Soriahs use of khoomei as a transportive medium is an offering to nature in her own tongue, that of organic sound whether it be wind, water or the mimicry of animals.
Soriah has travelled and studied extensively in the Central Asian Republic of Tuva, where he placed 3rd overall in the 2008 International Throat Singing Symposium Competition in Kyzyl, the highest ranking of any foreigner in the competition's history. He expresses the stunning harmonics and overtones of this ancient Eastern form into his own unique path of music and magic.
A live Soriah performance is as much a paranormal experience as it is a concert. The atmosphere is sculpted by thick resin incense, and intoned with mystical Aztec evocations. Tribal drumming and otherworldly ambience transport the audience to a space between worlds where nature reveals herself lustrously. Spellbinding!
"Totally breathtaking. Soriah conjures up a haunting sonic otherworld, drifting, dreamy, menacing and malefic, a rumbling, whirring dark ambient dronescape, thick with natural timbre and dense with subtle overtones."
- Aquarius Records
Soriah
~ Callisto ~
Callisto is the Swedish pioneer of Dark and Gothic Fusion Bellydance, and was the first ATS and Tribal Fusion teacher on the Swedish West Coast. At the age of five she started dancing Finnish folklore, and has also danced jazz, ballet and ballroom dances, bofore falling in love with bellydance in 2000. She incorporates her background in martial arts in her dance. Once Swedish champion in taekwondo, with additional training in boxing, muay thai and iaido, she has firm knowledge of the beauty, style and attitude of martail arts.
She travels around the world to perform and teach, and has in a couple of years become one of the most hired European teachers of of Dark/Gothic Fusion and Tribal Styles Bellydance.
In fall 2010 Callisto and Martina von Schwerin opened a dancing school together, Arabesque Belly Dance Academy. This is the first dancing school in Gothenburg offering both classic and tribal bellydances in one place.
Beside being a dancer and teacher Callisto has a Master's Degree in physiotherapy and a Bachelor's Degree in Work ad Organizational Psychology. She works as inspirational lecturer and life coach, focusing on our own inner resources and finding the will and power within.
"You don't teach bodies, you teach minds." (Andrea, Germany)"
~ Celeste ~
Celeste is the director of the ITS troupe Black Rose Caravan in Indinapolis IN and has been teaching for over 5 years. Celeste explores dance using her foundation in oriental and in ITS and overlaying sinister and gloomy emotions, dark wanderings, to create a tableau of somber themes while keeping a sense of sassy whimsy.
~ Anaid ~
Deidre or Anaid, as she is also known, is a lurker whom bounces around from bellydance festivals and Gothic clubs around the U.S.A., always leaving those who cross her path asking, Who was that woman? She performs her own creative blend of fusion bellydance with dark elements and theatrics that stem from a multitude of various dance styles and being obsessed with horror movies at a young age. She is the producer of Oaklands own The Cell Dark Dance salon and the theatrical bellydance event Lumen Obscura in Santa Cruz.
~ Dark Star ~
Darkstar is one of the UK;s most celebrated performers of Tribal and Dark Fusion belly dance. She has developed her own unique style evolving elements of hip hop, ballet, oriental and ATS which she has encompassed within a darker aesthetic. She has trained intensively with some of the biggest names in tribal belly dance and loves to use robotic, tutting and fluid stylisation's to create dynamic engaging routines and is passionate about inspiring students in this intense and captivating dance style. Renowned for her creative choreography and musicality, Darkstar has taught and performed all over Europe, she is thrilled to make her US debut this year and is honored to be invited to Shadow Dance.
Visit her on the darkside of bellydance at www.darkstardance.co.uk
~ Suhaila Salimpour Dance Company ~
Suhaila Salimpour created the Repertoire Ensemble in 2008 to provide students the opportunity to explore and perform various styles of belly dance. Each season, the students are presented with choreographic work from Suhaila Salimpour and guest choreographers/directors. The Repertoire Ensemble performs at Rakkasah West and various venues in the Bay Area. All members are required to have current or pending Level 2 certification in the Suhaila Salimpour Format.
~ Mistress TARA ~
Mistress Tara has been dancing for over 37 years. And for most of that time the dark soul she always had, literally, hid in the shadows. It was not until she discovered Dark Fusion thru Ariellah that she found true artistic liberation and a home with kinder spirits. And it has been one roller coaster ride of dark, forbidden, socially unacceptable dark emotions and thoughts ever since. This island of darkness from the Midwest is ecstatic to be with fellow darkaphiles that will be gathering for Shadow Dance.
~ Dusty Paik ~
Dusty Paik is a costumier and lifelong dancer hailing from the wilds of East L.A. With Extensive training in Modern and Ballet, as well as her side forays into the worlds of pop-locking, sideshow entertainment, and folkloric dance and music, Dusty brings a highly unique voice to the fusion dance community. She has had the great fortune of having either costumed or performed alongside some of the most interesting and hard-working dancers around. Ariellah Aflalo, Cera Byer, Frederique, Jill Parker, Samantha Emanuel, Zoe Jakes and Beats Antique, as well as performing on the Belly Dance Superstars DVD, Tribal Fusions. Currently based in Oakland, CA, Dusty is available for custom costuming, performance, and private lessons.
Please see www.snakechurch.com for more information.
~ Edenia ~
Edenia has always been into dancing... In Junior High she learned the style of popping from hip hop dancing, and watching Pop Lockers. She had an interest in bellydance from a young age, but when she saw her first Rachel Brice video She was hooked! She began taking bellydance classes in August 2006 with Zahreen, to whom she will always be grateful to, for getting her out there to perform.
Edenia can be seen performing her unique bellydance style of Popping & Bellydance Fusion, almost weekly in and around the Inland Empire in So. Cal; and she has recently starred in her first music video by Stereognosis! Edenia has also just recently joined West Coast Pop Lockers "Hoodbotics Dance crew" and The Bellydance Superstars. Edenia loves all styles of dance and says that every dancer out there is an inspiration to her as she continues to grow with her passion in life.
~ Shadow Circus Creature Theatre ~
Combining folklore, mythology, Lovecraftian monsters and pop-culture parody, Shadow Circus Creature Theatre has been one of San Franciscos most popular and outrageous puppetry troupes since it's formation in 2000. Using life-sized latex and foam creatures Shadow Circus creates a world that is utterly fantastic, and yet hilariously similar to our own.
Shadow Circus also provide creature effects for various local events such as the Edwardian Ball along with performing adult-geared puppet shows around the Bay Area. The puppets of Shadow Circus are regular guests on KOFY TVs Creepy KOFY Movie Time and Shadow Circus productions have recently begun to branch out into short films and animation.
To learn more about Shadow Circus Creature Theatre, please visit www.shadowcircus.com
~ Paige Lawrence ~
Paige Lawrence first fell in love with Belly Dance watching John Compton and the Habhi Ru at the Northern California Renaissance Faire in the late-1980s and early 1990s. After 10 years as the singer for industrial-metal band Black Snake Moan he attended Tribal Fest in 2007 and started taking belly dance classes with every instructor he could including Ariellah, Keri Langwell, Rachel Brice, Cera Byer, Jill Parker and Jamila Salimpour. In 2011 Paige launched a new music, dance and dark art project entitled Her Undulating Scales. The project's first album of original music The Trail of Hearts is available now at: www.HerUndulatingScales.com .
Paige has been to the very edges of reality itself; indeed into the darkness. Paige has been to the underworld and back again. He melted down Orpheus' Lyre to make bullets and shoot at the Devil himself. He dances with death and in the midst of the darkness. Darkness is his agent of change; his muse ....... and his dark heart beats furiously to share the darkness with you.
Master of Ceremonies
~ Laura Sutherland ~
Laura Sutherland dazzles crowds as a professional MC at all the major Tribal bellydance festivals on the West Coast and beyond - as well as wicked burlesque spectaculars like Stiletto, with stars like Princess Farhana, Margaret Cho and Kelly of the hilarious Shoes. If you catch Laura's infamous Water-In-My-Ear dance tribute to bad cabaret on You Tube, you'll see why she is a favorite with every crowd. When she's off the mic, she is creating the change she wants to see in the world one delicious cup at a time with her small green independent business featuring organic, fair trade, and bird-friendly coffees and teas at www.goddesskaffeina.com
VENDORS
~ Black Lotus Clothing ~
The Black Lotus Clothing line is a collection of unique, hand-sewn pieces inspired by the SF Bay Area belly dance scene. What makes Black Lotus unique is the care that goes into making each piece. Each design is created one at a time, all details like beads and feathers are carefully placed, and every garment is an original creation. The end result is a costume that serves a purpose as well as tells a story.
This year at shadow dance Christina is proud to present her newest collection. A twist on horror, inspired by Rob Zombie films and iconic image.
~ Eyescream Jewelry ~
Artist Phyll Smith creates dark intricate totem adornments and unique art talismans. She crafts them under glowing moonlight as most of the world sleeps. Bone is etched with metal scribe, ancient techniques in modern alchemy are applied by antiquing and firing precious metals. Hand selected fossil fragments, stone, pearl, glass and vintage components are carefully encased in filigree & wire. Custom work upon request. You are Unique, Beautiful & Bold! Your adornments should reflect that as well.
Please see www.eyescreamjewelry.com for more information.
~ Snake Church ~
You have somehow found yourself in the Snake Church....To your right, an altar boy fumes incense. To your left, a tent show revival's congregation is wrestling sidewinders and drinkin' firewater. In the middle at a battered wooden table she sits...Toiling, oblivious, industrious. Her hands fly over her newest piece...Is it yours? Borne of a deep and abiding love for antique textiles, carnival culture, old creaky music and rusty things, Snake Church is the brainchild of one Dusty Paik, costumier and performing monkey. Her work clings gently to the bodies of some of the loveliest dancers in the world, and she is honored by an invitation to display her offerings at ShadowDance 2011.
Please see www.snakechurch.com for more information.
~ Opera Scura ~
"The Thorn on the Rose, the Sugar in the Absinthe. Some things are just not themselves without the proper Finishing Touch. Look here, Brave Souls, for those little necessities, those final ingredients that transform you into your True Selves. Collars, Cuffs, Capes and Crowns, all here to bring You renown -Sporrans and Spats, with Pretty Pins, and Bags of Holding to hold them in..."
I began with Needle and Thread as a Wee Little One, absorbing three generations of Sartorial Wizardry from the Seamwitches in my family. I devoured the images of every Culture and every Time I could find and made a friendly Truce with the Spookies under the bed, all the while certain I could grow up and be a Warrior Queen. I discovered the Sights and Sounds of Metal and Goth, and they made so much Sense... Then I came to the fold of Belly Dance and all the Roads converged. www.operascura.com
STAGE CREW
~ Little Boy Blue ~ Stage Manager
After almost a lifetime of working as a desposable cigarette lighter repairman in Europe, Bruce now lives as a hobo in the United States, traveling from state to state, juggling rats, birds and insects for food, and sometimes he can be seen doing cartwheels behind hot dog vendors.During his off season, he enjoys needlepoint work and stage managing.
~ Marci ~ Stage Crew
Put simply, Marci enjoys mischief. Being a part of, witnessing, or creating. Hailed "The Great Manipulator" she regularly convinces others to do her bidding while making them think the idea was theirs in the first place. Marci is looking forward to bringing her considerable talents in roguery and chinanery behind the scenes at Shadowdance. What better place to work darkly delightful tomfoolery then in the shadows behind the stage?