Phoenix of Denver is a native of Wilmington, North Carolina. Currently, she teaches and performs in the Denver area. Phoenix approaches belly dancing from a spiritual and artistic direction. Her fluid performance is a fusion of various styles including Egyptian Cabaret, Turkish, Classic Oriental, Tribal (specifically more fusion style), Folkloric, Rom, Khaliji, and Spiritual Dance. She has shared the stage with many well known dancers, live musicians and talented artists. Her performance is most often improvisational and is always from the heart.

Phoenix shares the beauty of bellydance with many through sponsoring events, performance and instruction. Phoenix performs regularly with the band Yallah! and is the director of the performance troupe - Sharaqa Shimmers. As Co-Sponsor for the fundraising events Shimmy 2B Free and a registered nurse, Phoenix has a passion to bring awareness to various areas of women's health, safety and confidence. Phoenix and Yallah! host haflas on a regular basis with the idea of creating a non-competitive and supportive environment for dancers and drummers. Along with local events, Phoenix travels to teach, provides coaching and private instruction to local and out-of-state students.

Phoenix has had a life long passion for dance. In 1997, she began studying with Joynan of Unicorn Bellydance and performed with the Navel Maneuvers troupe. In addition to 10 years with Joynan, Phoenix studied for over 4 years with Eva Cernik. Along with regular classes, Phoenix has enjoyed taking a variety of workshops and private lessons with other national and international instructors including Artemis Mourat, Dalia Carella, Fat Chance Belly Dance, Fahtiem, Rachel Brice, Karim Nagi, Momo Kadous, Suzanna Del Vecchio, Ultra Gypsy, Urban Tribal, Unmata and many more. From 2006-2010, Phoenix was a member of the professional troupe, the Sultry Emberz. Phoenix considers herself to be a lifelong student of dance. In 2008, Phoenix released the "Isis Wings with Phoenix" instructional DVD. See her Wings DVD page for more information. Along with the Isis Wings DVD, Phoenix offers a variety of choreographies for purchase.

While Phoenix loves traditional belly dance, she enjoys moving out of the traditional realm and taking the dance down a different track. Phoenix's style changes depending on the audience and venue. While Phoenix is a cabaret style dancer, she also brings a modern or fusion influence. Some of Phoenix's performances include theatrical experiments, various styles of music (including rock, Goth, electronica and more), and light hearted fun comedy dances. Phoenix's past performances include many types of events (belly dance shows, festivals, clubs, Vampire's Ball, Erotik'a, belly grams, & restaurants) and dancing with live bands (Yallah!, Sherefe, Kara Nomadica, Siren Project, & Peace, Love, and Destruction). Phoenix enjoys varying her performance using single and double veil, wings, feather fans (larger and smaller versions), Thai fingers, sword and double sword, cane, veil poi (voi), and fire. In 2002, Phoenix began teaching bellydancing. As a teacher, Phoenix works with each student to develop strength in their moves, technique, and create their own style. She teaches self-expression and creativity. Also, she teaches zill techniques from the drummer and dancer perspective. Phoenix provides performance opportunities for her students to grow. Phoenix continues to share this beautiful form of self-expression and art by teaching, sponsoring events, and performance. She hopes to awaken the goddess within us all. Phoenix is available for workshops in your area - contact her at: phoenix_dancing@hotmail.com

~~~Quotes from students about Phoenix:~~~

"You are the best instructor I have had for teaching the zills. What I love is the variety and creativity in your style."
~Jan

"You have helped me by having a heart of compassion, demonstrating kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and most of all fun! You are beautiful inside and out and you show us all we do not have to be perfect. Because of this teaching style, I feel we all have grown and have our individual blessings that shine as we dance.
It has helped me heal and grow. It gives you confidence and we all work very hard for you. We all have great pride and hope to make you proud without taken it to serious."
~Katina

"I love Phoenix's' teaching style! She is very good at explaining, takes time to let us work through it and explains in several different ways. The zills have been hard for me, but to my amazement, I have done better than I thought I could! Phoenix goes over and over each rhythm so we can catch on.
I keep coming back because she gives us opportunities to perform and is so encouraging while we are learning. I would highly recommend her if you want to learn and have fun. If you are very serious about performing at restaurants and more, she offers private lessons to get you out there on the scene. Privates offer you the chance to start from your level and work on what you want to work on."
~Debbie

Interview with Phoenix of Denver:

Under the Sun Bellydance - featured dancer for May 2009