Instructors

Devi

Devi Mamak is troupe member and artistic director of the award winning Caravan Dance company (formerly Ghawazi Caravan), based in the Blue Mountains, NSW, since 2000. She is considered one of Australia's premier ‘Tribal’ Bellydancers, teachers and choreographers, having trained many of the top dancers in the genre. Devi has earned a reputation as a patient and thorough teacher. As a performer she is renowned for her strong stage presence and innovative, colourful choreographies.Highly sought after as a teacher and performer, Devi regularly teaches around Australia and NZ, Asia, Europe and the U.S.A.

Devi has also studied a variety of Middle Eastern dance styles herself for well over a decade as well as Flamenco, Classical Indian and Ballet. Devi has travelled to San Francisco several times to study with the masters of ‘Tribal’ Bellydance and has dedicated herself to FCBD® since 1999.

Devi was the first person in Australia to be accepted into Carolena Nericcio's intensive Teacher Training Course. Devi has received her teaching accreditation in the highly regarded Fat Chance Belly Dance (FCBD)® format in 2005 with several of Caravan Dance Company's movements being accepted into the format, featured and featured in the FCBD® Volume 9: Anatomy of a Step. Devi has been invited to perform and co-teach the General Skills test with Carolena both in Australia and Taiwan.

Devi and the Caravan Dance Company have  released their first instructional DVD Devi's Inspired Combinations Vol 1 in 2012. In 2022 Vol 2 & 3 was released with a full full length music CD Ourboros by Devi Mamak and the Caravan Band. Devi is a classically trained musician and composer and this album contains all original compositions and arrangements by Devi and her 6 piece world fusion classical/jazz band.

Devi has also collaborated with well known dancers such as Deb Rubin and was invited to be part of Bellydance Evolution by Director Jillina Carlando where she got the opportunity to work alongside Jillina, Kaeshi Chai, Sharon Kihara and other great artists. Devi regularly performs at functions ranging from community events, festivals, as well as private and corporate functions. Devi has been invited to be a part of major funded productions such as Unmasked and The Firebird where she had the opportunity to work collaboratively with dancers and musicians of various styles

In 2009, Devi and Caravan Dance company, (then named Ghawazi Caravan) received funding from The Cultural Partnerships program to produce Intertwine. This was a uniquely diverse show that drew together dancers, musicians and artists of varied disciplines and styles, braiding their talents together into a compelling and cohesive whole, intertwining cultural traditions and an ebullient creative spirit, presenting the result in a theatre style environment. Intertwine was a huge success which included 3 sell out shows. The next installment of Intertwine was picked up by the Sydney Fringe Festival for September 2010.

After 20 years of weekly classes in the Blue Mountains, Devi has now retired from regular teaching but still holds regular workshops and intensives for all levels.

Devi is a classically trained, accredited piano teacher and composer who teaches weekly piano lessons. She is involved in several performance duos with various world musicians, her own world fusion jazz band, Devi Mamak and the Caravan Band, as well as performing with a local disco band, FREQ OUT!

She is the mother of two talented adult children and lives a peaceful life with them close by, her partner and her cat Koshka on the edge of the national park in the Blue Mountains.

To find out more about Devi's music/ dance career check out her website:


Kristine

Kristine Adams' lifelong love of dance led her to FatChanceBellyDance® in the early 2000s. She immediately felt at home in the South Van Ness studio and progressed quickly as a student. Her dedication paid off in 2005 when she was invited to join the professional FCBD® troupe. For over a decade, Kristine taught and performed as a principal dancer with the pioneering FatChanceBellyDance® company. She began teaching at the 670 studio in 2006, passing on the unique FCBD® style to eager students across the globe. Looking to connect with the global community, Kristine launched her acclaimed "From The Belly of a Traveler" world tour in 2012. The tour ran for four successful years until 2016. During this tour she visited 70 countries and danced with hundreds of dancers from around
the world. After retiring from the FCBD® troupe in 2018, Kristine continued teaching and performing full-time, bringing her special magic to audiences worldwide. The pandemic put her globetrotting career on hold in 2020. Now, after a hiatus, Kristine is thrilled to be reuniting with her beloved dance community. With decades of experience under her belt, she looks forward to many more years of performing, teaching, and sharing her lifelong passion for belly dance.

Krisztina

Krisztina is the founder and artistic director of Czigany World Fusion Dance. Her formal dance training began over 30 years ago with classical ballet and she has been building on that foundation ever since. She has studied many dance styles over the years and combined them all in the formation of Czigany World Fusion Dance.

As a teacher she strives to not only teach a series of steps, but to also show her students the magic that is dance and the freedom it gives them to feel and to express what lies deep within their soul. "Everyone has a beauty inside that is so indescribably brilliant; one that consists of all of their passions, their hopes, their fears, and their dreams. I help my students to get in touch with that part of themselves through dance."

As a performer, Krisztina not only shows you the dance visually, but you can actually feel her become one with the music. You will experience the combination of dance and music in waves of energy and emotion as she paints a picture and creates a breathtaking work of art before your eyes.

Krisztina is Michigan's first Sister Studio to FatChanceBellyDance®, is Advanced Teacher Training Certified, and is an ATS® Sister Studio Continuing Education Instructor. She is also certified in group fitness and holistic fitness, has been teaching since 2001, and is the creator of the ATS® Drill Companion DVD series and the Work that Skirt ATS® Style DVD.

Valizan

Valizan began his journey into Middle Eastern dance in 1995 when he joined The Society For Creative Anachronism, an educational group that learns about the Middle Ages by recreating it. Teachers Rayah Bint Youssef and Moria The Black instilled basic technique, while classes with the sublime Roula Said took him to a new plateau. Current influences include Yasmina Ramzy, FatChance Bellydance, Jillina, Rachel Brice and Francisco Carranza.

He has become a sought after solo performer and teacher for his powerful style and energy. For 14 years he was the artistic director of tribal troupe Shades Of Araby, who toured Canada, the USA and in Europe. Appearances include Arabesque Dance Company's productions Asala and Oum, Black Forest Tribal Fest in Offenburg, Germany, The International Bellydance Conference Of Canada, Tribalcon, Sacred Circles, Tribal Camp Oslo In Oslo, Norway, Tribal Revolution in Chicago and Face Zenna at the Royal Ontario Museum. He also headlined In The Heat Of The Hafla in Milwaukee, Belly Boo Bash in Dayton, Ohio and appeared at Cabin Fever and The Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, NY. 

He began teaching American Tribal Style bellydance at Arabesque Academy in 2004, and became an apprentice in the Arabesque Dance Company in November 2005 when he began training in Egyptian Folklore with master teacher Yasmina Ramzy. He was honoured to be a lead dancer in the Arabesque Dance Company, and in the all-male bellydance troupe, The Righteous Rogues Of Raks. 

Valizan holds a degree from The Ryerson School Of Journalism, took the Arabesque Academy Pro Course, is the first male to graduate from the FatChanceBellyDance Teacher Training program and is the first FatChance BellyDance Brother studio.

The learning continues...

Richard

Richard Harper has had a successful career as a hair and makeup artist working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tours and regional opera companies as well as print work, portrait work and industrial films. He has worked for the Broadway companies of Les Miserables, Grease, Blood Brothers, Kiss of the Spider Woman, My Fair Lady, Cabaret and Sugar Babies, among others, and has been lucky enough to work with great stars of the stage: Vanessa Williams, Carole King, Rosie O'Donnell, Joel Grey, Debbie Allen, Ann Miller, Kim Criswell, Maureen McGovern, Andrea McArdle, Werner Klemperer, Lea Salonga, Regina Resnik, Sharon Lawrence and Kay McClelland. He has received cosmetology licenses in several states, worked as a platform artist and colorist and specializes in wig construction, repair and design.