Since the age of four, Emilie Lauren has been involved with dance and gymnastics. She was a gymnast for seven years before moving on to classical ballet, which she continued to study in college. She took her first bellydance class in high school and has been studying bellydance in its various forms ever since, including Tribal, American Cabaret, Turkish and Egyptian.  Emilie draws on her ballet and gymnastics background to create her own elegant and athletic style of bellydance, and help her students become stronger, more confident dancers.  Emilie is also a certified Balanced Body Barre instructor and is finishing her 480 hour Pilates mat and equipment apprenticeship with Momentum Pilates at Pearl Pilates.

Claudia is a soul dancer with roots in many dance forms. A broad title for her style could be “American Cabaret,” however she has been active in the ever-changing progression of this grand art. Being inspired by many innovations in this dance, and allowing herself the freedom to create her signature style, she has developed into a compelling and powerful dancer over the past 13 years.

Ameena Lacey is a Pilates, Barre and Aerobics instructor. She is Stott Pilates and Total Barre certified through Merrithew Fitness, having trained in NYC with founder Moira Merrithew and at Pacific Northwest Pilates in Portland. She has a background in dance and marketing, holding a BA in Anthropology from the University of Oregon.

CiGi was born and raised in Portland, OR and has been traveling and studying various dance forms throughout her life!  Her passion has always been for folkloric dance which has driven her study into various cultural dances, but she has found herself most at home in the free form club dance.  CiGi has performed as a freeform dance artist in six different countries, has over 1 million views on her online dance videos, and is a nationally recognized authority on GoGo Dance.

I absolutely love movement. Whether it’s sports, dance, or every day movement it’s all miraculous to me. What it takes for the body to perform these movements is where my passion lies.  I currently study Ballet, Contemporary, Fusion, Tribal Fusion, American Tribal Style (ATS), and Cabaret Belly Dance. A Level II 8 Elements Certified dance student, 200 hour registered Yoga teacher (RYT) in Vinyasa, and a Pilates Instructor.

Heather Powers is a movement artist and instructor based out of Portland, Oregon. Her journey started with belly dance and blossomed into a full blown passion for many modalities of movement including, ballet, hip hop and modern dance, as well as receiving certifications in Pilates, yoga, and fitness.

Heather is a certified personal trainer through NASM, with a specialty in Nutrition. She is committed to sharing what she has learned to encourage self awareness and creative growth in others.

Zora Phoenix is a Portland-based burlesque production powerhouse, producing two monthly burlesque shows (including Portland’s Longest Running Burlesque Show) as well as two bi-monthly events and quarterly burlesque & variety productions, all with a goal of bringing incredible burlesque to Bridgetown since 2009 with an emphasis of the diversity and variety in the art of striptease.  In addition, she is the Executive Director of the Rose City School of Burlesque, as well as founder and webmistress of BurlesquePDX.com. 

*On break for summer, but Zora returns in September 2018!