Posted May 11th, 2009:

The Summer Session of Dance Classes with Ashtar will begin on July 6th, 2009.

Three classes in Daughters of Sophia Tribal Technique will be offered, Monday 7:00pm, Wednesday 6:30pm and Thursday 8:00pm.  These classes are one hour in length and will run for twelve weeks (No class on Labor Day September 7th).

Each twelve-week session is $145, payable in advance.  Make your check or money order out to "Tribal Dance Arts, LLC" and mail it to Ashtar at 1581 Burrsville Rd., Brick, NJ 08724, no later than June 29th, 2009.  Sorry, no refunds after the first class.  If for any reason a session is cancelled by Tribal Dance Arts, your money will be cheerfully refunded.  Please register early, these classes fill up fast.

Posted December 11th, 2008:

On October 28, 2008, Ashtar, as ballet instructor Julie Gale, presented a workshop in Russian Imperial Style Classical Ballet to the cross-cultural student club at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, NJ.  The event was created by Dr. Cynthia Ninivaggi, an instructor in the Social Sciences Dept. of the University.  It was designed to give the participating students the opportunity to experience an advanced class in the Classical Ballet style of Pre-Revolutionary Russia, the Russia of the Tsars.  Ashtar's ballet training includes years of study with Natasa Boskovic, a former ballerina with the National Ballet of Yugoslavia, and a first soloist in the companies of Anna Pavlova, Olga Spessivtseva, and others.  Ashtar also studied extensively with Mavis Walters, an inheritor of the Cecchetti technique.  Both of these fine teachers imparted to her a priceless dance heritage which has informed Ashtar's teaching style in both ballet and bellydance.  She is delighted to have been able to share it with the eager and enthusiastic young people who attended the class.

Posted December 11th, 2008:

On November 4, Ashtar was back at Georgian Court U., this time to share a workshop in Tribal Style Bellydance.  Despite the fact that it was Election Day, the class was even better attended than the October 28 workshop.  Ashtar was able to share information about Bellydancing in general, Tribal Style in particular, and her heritage from the Ballet Russe, as well as the results of her own study of dancers such as Loie Fuller and Ruth St. Denis and the influence of all these staples of dance history on Tribal Style Bellydance.  The students enjoyed a full-length technique class, including stretches for toning and shaping the body, isolation combinations for teaching movement patterns, arm postions and movements, dance steps peculiar to Tribal Style, and footwork.  Ashtar looks forward to returning to the University next semester to repeat both workshops.

Posted November 8th, 2008:

The Daughters of Sophia participated in two more performances of "The Sephardic Connection" as Guest Artists with Alborada Spanish Dance Theater.  The first performance took place on October 16 at the beautiful 800 seat theater at the Princeton Regional Schools Performing Arts Center/Trego Biancosino Auditiorium in Princeton, NJ.  This is a state-of-the-art facility which includes fully modern dressing rooms and excellent lighting and sound equipment.  The performance included "The Water Jug Dance", "The Bracelet Dance" and "Gemini Arabica".  Ashtar also appeared as the featured performer in "The Miserlou".

Ashtar is particularly pleased to report an excellent performance by Ewahee, in her very first performances of "The Water Jug Dance" and "The Bracelet Dance", and her second performance, this time with Cascara, of "Gemini Arabica".  This show was particularly special since this was Ewahee's first performance ever on a proscenium stage, and only her second performance with DofS.  We're confident that this talented new apprentice will stay on to become a valuable member of the Troupe.

The second performance of "The Sephardic Connection" took place on November 1st at Dante Hall Theater of the Arts in Atlantic City,NJ.  This venue is a charmingly converted chapel space which includes eight beautiful stained glass windows, each of which was dedicated to one of the arts.  The tiny jewel of a stage was perfectly designed for small groups of performers, and added to the intimacy of numbers like "Gemini Arabica" and Alborada's "La Comida".  For this show, Ashtar and Cascara performed a version of "The Water Jug Dance" designed for two dancers, and "Gemini Arabica".  "The Miserlou" was repeated as well.  As at the Princeton performance the entire cast received a standing ovation.   As always, we are deeply grateful to Alborada for sharing their stage with us.

Posted October 6th, 2008:

September was, indeed, a busy month.  We're still processing photos from the Lakewood Renfaire, and there are decorative pieces that still need to be finished for the Caravan.  The Lakewood Renaissance Faire was simply awesome.  For the first time in two years, the troupe wore their official Daughters of Sophia costumes, and lots of footage was shot of what our fans insist was the best series of shows we've ever done.  As we're able to process it, we'll have a complete, professionally prepared video of our show, and footage to put up on YouTube.  Our thanks to Bill Reitemeyer, who took a two-minute video of part of Ashtar's new "Banjara Dance".

Held, as usual, on the third weekend of the month, this year the Faire was on September 20th and 21st.  We had great dancers on the stage with us, including Insinuous Tribal Dance Troupe, who drew a large audience of faithful fans, Yudita and her student Courtney, whose dancing improves every year, Sarahe, who returned for a guest performance (still on leave from the troupe, she has wisely decided to concentrate on her high school courses, but we hope she'll return at the earliest feasible opportunity), and of course, Eva Lucena from Alborada Spanish Dance Theater.  We deeply appreciate her contribution to the weekend.

The weather was fabulous, the crowds were huge, and each of the four performances DofS put on the stage was better than the last.

Note: The photos from this year's faire are now online.  Click here to see us at the Lakewood Renfaire, 2008.

October 6th, 2008:

Also in September, on the 26th, the feature film "Silent" premiered at the Williams Center for the Performing Arts, One Williams Plaza, Rutherford, NJ 07070, (201) 939-6969.  The premiere was sponsored by the Reel Jersey Film Festival, and featured a question-and-answer session with the director, Mike Plekaitis, and the cast of the film.  The silence has finally ended.

We were pleased and pleasantly surprised that a great deal of the footage that was shot in our backyard was used in the second scene of the film, and we were fascinated by the way Mike used close-up shots, camera angles and editing to disguise the fact that he was filming in an essentially urban area.

At the screening, we got to see and converse with the cast members whom we had never met before, and the folks we worked with that sunny day in September. Ashtar had a particularly memorable conversation with the villain of the piece, Sam Sebastian, in which they compared acting techniques for the dance stage, silent films, and modern-day "talkies".

P.S.  Giovanni's death scene was GREAT!

We took some of our own pictures during the filming.   To see the photos, go to the Silent Page at our sister website, DaughtersOfSophia.com.

Posted October 6th, 2008:

On September 28th, Ashtar attended the Slovak Festival at the PNC Bank PAC in Holmdell, where she displayed her kroj (Slovak folk dress) and embroidery collection.  The Festival was attended by over 5,000 visitors, and Ashtar (as Julie Nuzzo) had many stimulating conversations with interested members of the public.

Posted August 21st, 2008:

It was a fairly quiet summer at Tribal Dance Arts, most of our time being spent renovating the Theater Waggon and bringing our newest apprentices up to speed with repetoire.  Our May performance of The Feast of Sarah was probably the best performance we've delivered to date (see see photo to right).  Everyone was elated.  It was particularly satisfying to be able to work with former troupe member Fatin, who joined us as a guest artist, especially for that show.  Ashtar gave what is becoming an annual lecture at Georgian Court University (see notice below), and she saw her ballet students at Inspira Performing Arts and Cultural Center through their year-end recital.  Unfortunately, she also had to bid her little ballerinas a fond farewell, rising gas prices and other responsibilities making another season at Inspira an impossibility.

If you want to see some photos taken from a video of this performance, Click here.

May, 2008:

On May 31st, 2008, the Daughters of Sophia again joined Alborada Spanish Dance Theater in their Gypsy festival, "The Feast of Sarah". The Show was performed at the newly renovated George St. Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ.  The showing featured guest artists Metro Folk Hungarian Band, Talpra Magyar Hungarian Dance Ensemble, and - of course - the Daughters of Sophia Tribal Dance Troupe.  The Daughters of Sophia danced "Marco Polo", their signature dance composition, and "The Journey", a choreography created specifically for The Feast of Sarah.  To everyone's great delight, the Daughters of Sophia were joined by a former troupe member, Fatin, as a guest artist.

If you want to see some photos from one of our earlier perfomances, Click here for the Feast of Sarah, May 2006.

May, 2008:

On May 1st, 2008, at 6:30pm EST, excerpts from Alborada Spanish Dance Theater's production of "The Sephardic Connection" were aired on NJN TV in the New York metropolitan area.  The show was presented as part of the Emmy Award-winning TV series "Imagenes".  Featured in it were portions of the "Water Jug Dance" performed by Daughters of Sophia Ashtar, Avani and Aysha.  The show was originally filmed at the George St. Playhouse in May 2007.

April, 2008:

On Thursday April 17th, 2008 Ashtar presented her lecture and demonstration on "Women, Culture and Art" to an anthropology class at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, NJ.  At the invitation of Dr. Cynthia Ninivaggi, Ashtar discussed Orientalism and its relationship to the Ballet Russe, Ruth St. Denis and Tribal Style Bellydance, exploring the varied ways in which different art forms influence each other and society as a whole.  The notion of women as dancers, and the evolution of Tribal Style Bellydance tied the themes of the lecture together.

As a "hands-on" demonstration of art influencing art, Ashtar performed her 2002 choreography 'Lotus Blossom', a tribute to Ruth St. Denis which showcases Ashtar's training in both Russian Ballet and Tribal Style Bellydance.

February, 2008:

On Sunday, February 10, 2008, Ashtar and students from Tribal Dance Arts attended a workshop given by Vorona at Yoga Durga Studio in Asbury Park, NJ.  Just being able to watch Vorona move was worth the price of admission.  Ashtar had a muscle injury, so that's what she spent alot of time doing.  Nonetheless, learning vocabulary from an unfamiliar style was satisfying.  Vorona gave a comprehensive overview of her style of Tribal Fusion, including stretches and movement patterns, layering, level changes, "pops and locks" from hip-hop, and a short choreography that demonstrated use of space and transitions.  The four hour workshop flew by!

If you want to see more photos of Vorona's performances with Tribal Dance Arts - on the Gypsy Theater Caravan, at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park and elsewhere, Click here.