Cécile
Founder, Instructor, Dancer, FCBD^® Teacher certified

Cécile brings an international perspective and experience in a variety of global dance traditions together into beautiful and evocative performances.

A native of France, Cécile first studied ballet as a child, and then modern dance. But it was during a two-year sojourn in Indonesia that her love of dance was awakened; living in Yogyakarta, a small sultanate that forms the heart of Javanese culture, she had a rare opportunity to study traditional javanese dance with one of the masters of dance from the Sultan’s palace. During these lessons and her travels throughout the archipeligo, she also discovered the beautiful and intricate stories of the Ramayana, the differences between Balinese and Javanese dance styles, and witnessed Balinese trance dances.

It wasn’t until she moved to the US, however, that she stumbled on belly dance while looking for a yoga class. She fell in love at once! And so began her journey into la danse orientale. Since then, Cécile has studied with Lisa Tiemann and Lorainne Lafata, both members of the former Goddess Dancing troupe and both teaching at Brightstones Studio in Melrose, MA. She has also participated in workshops led by Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellyDance^® (TribalFest 2003 in CA) and another with Delilah (East Coast tour in 2003) among others.

She is certified in General Intensive Skills from FatChanceBellyDance. Cécile received her Teacher Training certification in ATS at Fat Chance studio in San Francisco in November 2010.

By day, Cécile is a full time mother of three adorable children, as well as a nationally certified massage therapist and Reiki practitioner. She holds a Maitrise (Masters) in teaching French from the University of Paris, Saint Denis, France.

The joy of women dancing together in sisterhood is a constant pleasure and inspiration to Cécile, and she is deeply grateful to all her sisters in dance for sharing her passion.

Contact Cécile at

Shirronda
Dancer, FCBD^® General Skills certified

Shirronda has studied dance on and off most of her life such as tap, jazz, and ballet as a child. Once out of college, she explored other dance forms for fun such as Salsa. In 1999 she was introduced to bellydance by a co-worker, Sara Jo Slate (Zweena bint Asya), at a youth retreat and fell in love with the dance! Shirronda has studied Middle Eastern dance locally with Amira Jamal, Lisa Tiemann, Lorraine “ La Reina”, Melina and Shadia Tohme. She has also attended special dance workshops hosted by Dunya, Delilah, Morocco, Dalia Carella and Fat Chance Belly Dance. In the fall of 2006 she began studying tribal with American Tribal Style (ATS) with Alyssum Pohl and joined OmBellyCo.

When Shirronda is not dancing, she works as the Director of Membership Initiatives for the Mass. Association of CDCs. She periodically works as a diversity consultant for Center Focus International. She holds a Masters degree in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Simmons College in International Relations and Spanish. Shirronda’s professional background includes training, facilitation, capacity building, youth development, and developing programs for helping collaborative community initiatives. Shirronda is also a certified yoga instructor.

In 2005 Shirronda traveled with her mother to her family’s homeland, Cape Verde, to find her relatives. The trip was the first her family made back to the islands since 1917 when her great grandmother left the small island of San Antão. She has also traveled extensively in France, Ireland, India and Spain. In her free time she enjoys reading and staying connected to local community and youth related efforts. Shirronda lives in Jamaica Plain, Boston.

Debra Lee
Dancer, FCBD^® General Skills certified

Debra Lee, or Debi, has been dancing as long as she can remember it. She grew up in a musical family and neighborhood where Greek and Portuguese dance festivals were part of life. Debi brings her artistic background to OmBellyCo as a cometologist and make-up artist. She provides workshops focused on Theatrical Make-up Application/Hair Styles/ Costuming for the tribal belly dancer.

She worked as the Director of Regulatory Compliance for a non-profit medical device research organization to support her ATS^® addiction! Currently Debra Lee is on an adventure of creating her own cosmetic line and accessories for the tribal belly dancer. Watch for DebraLeeDesigns.com coming soon.

In 2010, Debi started studying ATS intensively with Cecile Carr, at the OmBellyCo studio. While studying, she has taken workshops with Carolena Nerricio, Megha Gavin, Mimi Fontana, Ela Rogers, Colleena Shakti, and principal dancer of FCBD.

She received her ATS General Skill Certification in 2011 and will be attending ATS Teacher Training in June 2012.

She joined OmBellyCo a year later and is thrilled to share her love of ATS® with her dance sisters.

While Debi is not dancing, she loves to travel or play by working on costumes, accessories, hair designs, publishing, sewing…anything that will engage her creative mind. She put to good use her degree in Interior Design by restoring her Queen Ann Victorian house just off the beach north of Boston. She has been known to wear her tool belt around the house while dancing!

However, her proudest creations are her two fabulous daughters!

You reach reach Debi at

Eva
Dancer, FCBD^® General Skills certified

Eva was introduced to bellydance as a child through the church that her family attended. She and her mother took a few classes and were always in awe of the beauty and grace that this culture provided. It wasn’t until 2000 that Eva was reintroduced to the art through her mother and started to take American Cabaret classes with Maia of New Hampshire. After a few years, Eva moved to Salem, MA and began taking classes with Memie, Phoenix and Aepril Schaile and has also attended workshops hosted by Zoe Jakes, Alyssum Pohl, Sadiyya (from Fort Worth, Texas) and Donna Meija. In 2008, Eva started taking Tribal Fusion classes and in 2009 began studying American Tribal Style with Cecile Carr of OmBellyCo.

Eva is an Accountant in Boston, MA and received her MBA in 2004. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner and received a Graduate Certificate from Northeastern University in Forensic Accounting.

Currently, Eva lives in Salem, MA with her husband and 3 furry kids (their cats).

You can contact Eva at

Kristen
Dancer

Dancing has always been in Kristen's soul. In 2001, she discovered tribal style belly dance and knew she had found the style of dance that her soul was searching for. She loved all of it…the music, the movement and the connection with a community of women. She began taking classes with 3 different teachers from Maya Tribe Belly Dance Troupe in Syracuse, NY. Over the next few years she danced with Full Moon Tribal, Abracadabra of Shezam! Belly Dance and was a core member of Anon Underground Belly Dance. She took many workshops with amazing troupes and dancers along the way, such as Carolena Nereccio of Fat Chance Belly Dance, Jill Parker of Ultra Gypsy and Foxglove Sweethearts, Kassar, Unmata, Gypsy Caravan, Kami Liddle, John Compton, Urban Tribal, Domba among others. After moving to Massachusetts, she discovered the amazing dancers of OmBellyCo and knew she wanted to dance with these fabulous ladies. After much hard work, this dream became a reality when she was welcomed into the troupe.

When she isn't filling her soul with the love of belly dance, she is raising her 2 adorable little belly dancers, Emerson and Suriah . She is also a middle/high school art teacher and runs a non-profit foundation that lends cloth diapers to low income families across the country, called Giving Diapers, Giving Hope.

FatChanceBellyDance®, FCBD®, ATS® and American Tribal Style®, are federally registered trademarks of FatChanceBellyDance, Inc. For more information, please visit www.fcbd.com/about/legal.shtml.