Instructors

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:

• www.devimamak.com.au
• https://caravandancecompany.com.au/
• https://www.facebook.com/devi.mamak
• https://www.facebook.com/CaravanDanceCompany

Melody Bustillos is the founder of Salt City Dance. She is a collective member and Artistic Director of Sisterhood Al Sayf.  

With a strong background in modern dance, Melody's vast experience spans over 40 years with various styles of belly dance. Her focus to study sword dance began in 1986 with countless teachers, honing her style and ability as a sword handler and freestyle performer.  

 Melody is a certified Fat Chance Belly Dance® Partner Studio since 2007.

She has taken the foundations of classic sword dance technique to a new level, integrating moves that incorporate the elements of strength, power, and resilience with the Slow and Fast FCBD® vocabulary. She co-produced ATS with and edge and the Double DVD/Digital “Any Way You Slice It”.  Her current projects are teaching Slice and Dice Sword Extension vocabulary. She is a world class teacher, spreading the love of FCBD® Sword Dance. 

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.

Lisa Allred is an international instructor and performer from North Carolina, USA. Lisa teaches and performs group improvisation with her international troupe, Red Sage Collective. Lisa is best known for the FCBD® with Baskets dialect that she helped create with Dawn Ruckert and their former troupe, Dayanisma. Lisa also teaches FCBD® with Veil (a dialect created by her twin sister, Terri Allred), with LEDfans, and with fire. In addition to FCBD®style, Lisa teaches and performs two types of fusion group improvisation. She is a Metamorphosis certified teacher of Fly Fusion and she teaches Flourish, a new style of group improvisation being created by the Red Sage Collective that is intentionally inclusive & inherently fun! In addition to dance, Lisa offers a variety of workshops that combine psychology and dance on topics such as stage presence, motivation, creativity within structure, conflict management, managing troupes, and more! For more info on Lisa or Red Sage Collective, visit her website www.lisaallreddance.com.

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.

Bringing the doum to the room!

Casey Bond is a New York  based percussionist who really has fun with a drum....and she wants you to have fun too! As the lead drummer for the coolest NYC belly dance bands, including Carmine & Friends, Scott Wilson & Efendi and The Elias Ladino Ensemble, she brings "real world" experience to her drum workshops.  She's known for her fun, friendly workshops at sleep-away festivals, including NEATS (North East American Tribal Style) Camp, SuperFunDanceCamp, Art of the Belly, Rakkasah East, Spring Caravan, Festival of the East and more. Her international credits include a three-city concert tour at the 2023 Macedonian Folk Festival with the Elias Ladino Ensemble.  Casey taught weekly percussion classes on Long Island from 2008-2020 and was the founder/artistic director of the Raq Steady student ensemble. Her original percussion compositions are featured on “Raq Steady: Greatest Hits Volume One” which is available at Amazon Music. Contact her at caseybond-at-aol.com or visit her website at www.caseybond.org.