Ariellah
Ariellah performs tribal fusion and gothic belly dance all over the bay area and the United States. She has studied and performed belly dance for the past five years, both with Janine Ryle of Danse Mahgreb and as a founding member of The Indigo with Rachel Brice.
She also studied classical ballet with the Royal Academy of Dance from London for 12 years. Her style infuses Middle Eastern, American Tribal Style and cabaret belly dance with Indian and Flamenco overtones, all with a modern, very dark, unique flavour.
She was most recently featured on the first of its kind “Gothic Belly Dance” DVD.
SooozhyQ
Susanna Goldenstein, otherwise known as “SooozhyQ” started studying Middle Eastern percussion in 1994 and performing regularly in 1997. Based in SF, she has also performed in L.A, San Diego, Portland and Eugene OR, and New York City. She loves working with belly dancers, having played for 9 years at Amira Restaurant in San Francisco for amazing soloists Nanna Candelaria, Aliena, Jill Parker, Elizabeth Strong, Zoe Jakes, and Rachel Brice. At Amira she has accompanied many talented musicians such as Mary Ellen Donald (her first Middle Eastern percussion instructor), Mimi Spencer, Nazir Latouf, Susu Pampanin, Faisal Zedan, Reda Darwish and Vince Delgado.
She has a strong passion for blending traditional Middle Eastern rhythms with electronic dance music/culture. She collaborates regularly with Amar, a vibrant member of San Francisco’s world influenced DJ culture and co-founder of Electric Vardo, and is a resident of fantastically fun Triple Power monthly party with co-founders Giamma and Shanti.
SooozhyQ is also a former member of the Strong Current Dance Company, an all woman modern dance company performing works that comment on women’s roles through a feminist perspective, and has performed with Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers, also a modern dance company, committed to cross-cultural collaboration and to creating dance that is women identified, spiritual, passionate, and inclusive of all its member voices.
Tempest
Tempest is an artist, designer, dancer, and writer currently based in the Bay Area of California. Although she enjoys studying what tradition has to offer, Tempest loves exploring the dance through unusual music and creative costuming, pulling on her visual arts background to "paint a picture" with the dance; engaging the audience through dramatic embodied storytelling, passionate expression, and sensuous, mesmerizing movement.
She finds inspiration for her dances in many eras, places, and faces, from ancient cultures and spiritual myths worldwide, to the work of silent film star and original vamp Theda Bara, and turn-of-the-century dance goddess Ruth St. Denis.
She is most well-known for her Gothic Belly Dance performances and instruction, and is featured on the first ever GBD performance DVD produced by WorldDanceNewYork entitled “The Darker Side of Fusion” and her new instructional DVD “Bellydance for Beautiful Freaks”.
Websites:
-Med’Devi Ink (art, design, the original corset belt...) meddevi.com
-Tempest’s Nouveau Noir Dance: darklydramatic.com
-The Gothic Bellydance Resource: gothicbellydance.com
Amar
Amar is amongst a handful of local DJs whose taste
cuts a path through an abundance of musical selectionsand leads dancefloors
into a hypnotic sway like snakesbefore the charmer. In this instance the
muse is a masala that brews sounds from the Middle East and Balkans with
rhythms of the Asian underground and electric Brazilian vibes. Whether
its breaks, bhangra, house, drum & bass or downtempo the global nature
of Amar’s sets bridge a multi-culti span from the world to the Bay
Area.
As a DJ and promoter, he has collaborated and shared the bill with some of the Bay Area's & world's most innovative Musicians, DJs and dance troupes including DJ Dragonfly DJ Sep, Janaka Selekta and the Dhamaal Sound System Cheb i Sabbah, Soulsalaam, Ultra Gypsy, Urban Tribal, Dhol Rhythms, Nitin Sawhney, Lorin, Nader, Unmata, Midival Punditz, Shabaz, Sila and the Afrofunk Experience, SooozhyQ, Beats Without Borders, State of Bengal, Karsh Kale and others.
Producer and resident of the bay area's Global Gypsy night ELECTRIC VARDO, Amar regularly performs at SFs hottest venues including Club Six, DNA Lounge, Nickie's, 1015 Folsom, 111 Minna, Mighty, El Rio, Underground SF, Rickshaw Stop & Elbo Room with Dhamaal, Nonstop Bhangra, Triple Power, Worldly, & the Groove Garden, plus other ongoing and special events & festivals in CA, Oregon, Hawaii, Canada & beyond.
photo by SooozhyQ
