Webmaster: Cris Mendoza-Howell

Central  Valley  Dance  Festival

Central Valley Dance Presents

Last Updated:May 17, 2008

 

 

Way of Dance

Who we are:

The brilliant and dynamic temple dance Bharata Natyam from South India will be presented as well as the dreamlike and meditative court dance from Java. These richly costumed and adorned dances are the jewels of South & Southeast Asian cultures. The sunlit Bharata Natyam is based on complex rhythms and speed, and depicts various stories and poetic epics from Indian history. Javanese dance is a mystical moonlight world of introspection and extreme refinement. These dance styles are rarely seen in the Valley, and have particular appeal to audiences of all ages.

 

Lesandre Ayrey:

was born in Australia and started dance lessons in Paris at the age of five. A graduate of the Royal Ballet School, London, she studied, taught, and performed the world's great dance traditions from the Far & Middle East and Indonesia. She has been performing and teaching Eastern dance since 1973, and teaches advanced ballet and ethnic dance styles at the California Arts Academy.

"San Francisco style" belly dance comes to Fresno thru Tanjora, Fresno's first Tribal Belly Dance troupe, presenting the modern style  of Tribal Fusion Belly Dance, as well as American Tribal Style (group improvisation) and Retro Belly Dance. 

 

Tribal Fusion Belly Dance is a modern, sophisticated, globally aware style of Belly dance. It blends Egyptian style belly dance with Indian dance (Odissi, Kathak, Bhangra, Bollywood), Flamenco, North African, Hip Hop, & Turkish Rom ("Gypsy"). Presentations are entertaining, based on good dance technique and showmanship. Costumes and music are beautiful and exotic, with ancient and modern influences. Some shows include fire dancing too. 

 

Lydia Fortner teaches Tribal Belly dance at Cynthia Merrill's since Jan. 2004. She has been involved in this San Francisco based form of fusion Belly dance since 2000, taking classes and workshops from prominent Tribal Belly dancers. Her training began in 1998 at Zamora's Middle Eastern Dance, studying and performing with them for 3 years. Raised in Fresno, Lydia studied Ballet and Modern Dance with local teachers Cynthia Merrill, Clare Porter, Diane Mosier, Hae Shik Kim, Madeline Gaynard, and Ruth Griffin, and performed with the Fresno Ballet, Fresno Civic Ballet, and Portable Dance Troupe.

 

Lydia has a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art from CSUF, and played cello in the CSUF Orchestra. Lydia was also the lead singer of local band The Shroud.  She currently is the director of Tanjora Tribal Bellydance, and the Guild of Banat Tanjora.