About
Tribal Alchemie is four tribal fusion belly dancers who formed our union in August 2010 to explore dance in terms of cultural diversity, sacred elements, ritual magik, healing, bliss, and love. We aim for our dances to embody these elements, and to manifest goodness in our world.
Ziola started her love affair with dance at the age of 4 with training in tap and ballet. She continued to study and perform throughout grade-school. Although she never stopped dancing, her formal training stopped there until discovering belly dance in college. What started as a great way to relieve stress from her tedious studies turned into one of her greatest passions in life. While attending SCSU and getting a degree in meteorology, Ziola studied and performed Turkish, Egyptian and Classical Indian dance. She performed with the campus troupe SCSU Global Dancers.
In 2004 she moved from Minnesota to Eugene, Oregon with her husband. Soon after that she discovered American Tribal Style belly dance and fell in love all over again. She has since been studying and performing tribal fusion on a regular basis, as well as teaching intensive workshops.
In 2008, Ziola was fortunate enough to experience belly dance in it’s most-ancient form: a birthing dance. She danced through her pregnancy, performing with Luminessah at 5 days OVERdue! When the day of her daughter’s birth arrived, her dance sisters were there with her, swaying and undulating her through all 26 hours! She feels infinitely blessed to have entered motherhood in such a sacred way.
With baby on board, Ziola and her husband moved back to their homeland in Duluth, MN in 2009. She now teaches and performs tribal fusion belly dance at Over the Top studio, spreading the joy and ancient spirit of dance in the Northwoods. She is very grateful for all the beautiful souls she was able to shake her hips with in the Pacific North West, and equally grateful for all the new friends she has made in the warm dance community Duluth holds. Tribal Alchemie keeps her spirit for the dance very alive!
Necie came to dance much later in her life than the other ladies of Tribal Alchemie. Since taking her first class in modern dance as an adult, dance has been important on her path of healing. Her love of rhythm and movement and the grace of living fully in the moment while dancing have been her lifeline in the darkest of times. She feels blessed to be able to share her passion for dance with this diverse group of women and is excited about the creative possibilities that are being stirred up as a result of their coming together as a troupe. She is grateful that together they share a desire to honor the sacredness of dance through ritual form within the dance and she hopes that the energy they create will inspire their audience to dance as well.
Necie, as an artist and designer, is deeply satisfied with the challenges she is meeting with the costuming aspect of tribal fusion belly dance, and she loves the clothes and accessories she is creating to perform in. She continues to be delighted with this avenue of expression and feels inspired by the other ladies in Tribal Alchemie and by their creativity and individual viewpoints in costuming and adornment as well.
Necie, as a musician, loves that she can dance and play music at the same time with her zills and feels that “with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she will have music wherever she goes”.
Necie, as a dreamer and spiritual being, aspires to dance Harmony into form.
Necie is also passionate about the importance and value of women’s rites of passage and so she has created a beautiful, portable “Red Tent” ensemble that she travels with to help facilitate meaningful rituals for girls and women at transitional times in their lives. All of the ladies of Tribal Alchemie are excited to bring their dancing to these celebrations and feel honored to share their gifts at these special times in the lives of women.
Necie gives thanks to all of her teachers, who have always been what she needed at the time they came into her life.
Nyxa was born in the back of a brightly painted wagon headed west, or so it seems. She started singing and dancing at a tender age, for there was always music in the house. She moved frequently and traveled the country, absorbing our similarities and our differences. As an adult her travels took her beyond our country to distant shores. These travels, and her own introspection, lead her to explore myths, creation stories and great works of literature from other times and places.
Nyxa, in various guises, has been dancing on various stages for the last 20 years. She has been belly dancing for 7 years. She became interested in American Tribal Style because of its relation to her cultural studies. She loves it’s expressiveness and versatility, and the fact that it is an amalgam of a world of styles. It belongs to all of us, so each of us can own it.
Nyxa leapt at the chance to study with Ziola, and learn the vocabulary of ATS. She is thrilled and grateful to have had the opportunity to form Tribal Alchemie with Ziola, Taara, and Necie. Our shared experiences and goals and our diversity are the ingredients that make Tribal Alchemie so unique, and beautiful. It’s a joy to dance up magic with my sisters!
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