Instructor & Bio
Sabrina Fox www.atashmaya.com I have a background of 25 years in music and various dance forms that include African dance, yoga, jazz, lyrical, ballet, modern, tap, hip hop, theater, along with Middle Eastern and African percussion. I have been studying American Tribal Style dance for 7 years where my group Atash Maya’s unique style of Tribal Fusion belly dance branches from now. With those influences and inspiration from friends and group members I have created a Tribal Fusion style of dance unlike any other. I am also deeply involved in positive social change, organizing fundraisers, and giving to the community through dance every way I can.
Kirti Srivastava www.myspace.com/dilsedance Kirti Srivastava has been studying dance for 20 years. Her dance history is rooted in classical Indian Dance and has expanded into African, Latin and Hip Hop dance styles within the past 10 years. She began studying Kathak at the age of eight and fell in love with Odissi when she was 13. In 2002, she moved to New York to receive her Masters Degree in Education and become a member of New York’s first Odissi Classical Indian Dance Theater Company, Nayikas. This past year she furthered her studies in Orissa, India, with her teacher, Manoranjan Pradhan. Her love for world music is an obvious reflection of her being a first generation American growing up in an artistic and creative Indian home. Practicing an Indian lifestyle with family while simultaneously being exposed to Jazz, Hip-Hop, Latin and African music through friends, it is inevitable that Kirti has grown into a dancer with respect towards all types of music and dance, combining her Indian movements with African dance and rhythm. Her passion for this dance fusion has allowed her to open up for artists such as Akim Funk Buddha, KRS 1, Medusa, Culture, and Angelique Kidjoe. Currently, she mostly performs for Cheb i Sabbah in the Los Angeles area, teaches locally in San Diego and is receiving her Yoga certification to bring dance and yoga together in “Nrittya Yoga”.
Frank Lazzaro www.frankdrums.com Frank Lazzaro has been teaching and performing middle-eastern drumming for 15 years. He is currently on staff at World Beat Cultural Center, San Diego, and performs regularly for belly dancers with the Golden Belly Award winning group Middle-Earth Ensemble.
Heather Stants www.urbantribaldance.com urbantribaldance.tribe.net Heather Stants is a lifelong artist and dancer with a degree in photography and fine arts. Her explorations in tribal bellydance began over twelve years ago when she became the assistant director of Read My Hips (www.readmyhips.com) in Chicago, Illinois. In 1999 Heather moved to San Diego, California and launched the southern California tribal movement through her classes and the formation of Urban Tribal Dance Company. Heather's diverse movement and arts background feeds her creativity and her groundbreaking approach to choreography. Urban Tribal Dance Company is known for its contemporary approach to belly dance, a pared down costume emphasizing body movements over ornamentation, athleticism and the use of the dance form as a means of personal expression and interpretation. Their creativity has twice earned them the title of "Troupe of the Year" in Zaghareet! Magazine's Golden Belly Awards. In addition to teaching several weekly classes in San Diego since 1999, Heather Stants and Urban Tribal Dance Company have been touring extensively for the last five years sharing their love of modern tribal bellydance with dancers in the U.S. and abroad. Read more about Heather and Urban Tribal on above sites.