The Guardian Angel

The Guardian Angel
2007, Acrylic on canvas, 48"x60"
As I worked on this I would play the song "We're Missing You" from recording artist Kris Kelli whom was a dear friend of my brother who departed this earth in 2001. The song was written and recorded by her as a tribute to his memory. Initially I had planned to paint a blue Krishna/ Shiva figure with a woman in a red saree but when I got into the zone that place where space and time stand still, the blue figure regressed into the background, the woman in the red saree ended up having a corset top and protective metal cage like skirt over her clothes.  In the painting the metal dress is like an armour to face the rough times, the winged  figure in the background represents those we have lost who are still with us and whom can inspire and give us the push we need. I believe we are all energy and at death that energy doesn't die it continues on.  The ground dove that has chosen to fly in through the female figures protective metal over skirt and land on her soft garment is a symbol of the messenger able to dwell in the two worlds heavens and earth, visiting at will.  I was not planning to give this piece a title but a friend encouraged me so I blurted out "The Guardian Angel".  Kris Kelli did ask how I came up with the title she was curious because the song was recorded on the Guardian Angel riddim (rhythm) which is not noted anywhere on the CD. That coincedence I believe is a message from him.  Happy Birthday Jeffrey Stephenson we love you now and forever and always until we meet again and again our love will never end.

Kristie Stephenson Artist Documentary

Warrior Women: Art ~ Women ~ Archetypes

Miami Tsunami Reconstruction Team

Remembering the December 26th (Boxing Day) 2004 Tsunami, the friends I met in Galle, the stories they told of loosing loved ones. The beautiful spirit, hospitality and kindness of the Sri Lankan people.  The seven samurai from Miami who journeyed there.  We were living in Miami from several countries and we made it happen and made a difference.  You are always in my thoughts, always. Namaste.
I had lost a loved one when I took that journey, a change in geography, helping people who lost several family members and friends created a shift and a positive change and outlook in me.  I am late with this message, thinking of you all.

Ring of Fire: Welcome 2013

"The Messenger", 60cm x 80cm, acrylic on canvas. The painting is influenced by my occassional jogs through the forests and woods in Belgium, running there was my yoga I felt grounded. I would stop and listen to the birds there and admire the beauty and awe of the woods in fall and winter. No trees perse are depicted but the subject is surrounded by a ring of fire, suggesting her environment is up in an enferno, the enferno was my new life and role in a foreign country. Although that constructed paper mache world was burning around me, the fire I would later realize is a positive thing. Fire represents destruction but also regeneration, purification and transformation. The hands symbolize her connection to self, to source, when all else cannot be trusted, your heart or your head the one thing you should always listen to according to Einstein is your intuition. The figures right hand rests on her stomach and holds the plumes of the mythical phoenix bird that is speaking into her ear. The Phoenix is described as a bird with colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet. It has a 500 to 1000 year life cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix rises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. The Phoenix's ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal.  I look forward to leaving all those things that did not serve me in 2012 behind and I express gratitude for all the wonderful things that I experienced that year. Here is wishing you all better positive energy for the new year, a year filled with being surrounded by good honest people and energy and the ability to listen and trust your intuition. 

Wake Up Sleeping Beauty!

"Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty!"

An original Play invites us to participate in the creative reawakening of a young woman's psyche, asleep for more than a thousand years in an enchanted wood. Using song, imagery and movement, this princess' rebirth is the death of the damsel-in-distress archetype. With story by theatre-artist and musician Michelle Riu, live original music by the Gritty Girl Ensemble, set and costumes by visual artist Kristie Stephenson, and hand-drawn animations by Diego Romero, 'Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty!' is a tale of metamorphosis, intuition and communion that explores female empowerment, self-esteem and anti-bullying. 

Not appropriate for children under 12.

Funding for this project is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council with support from the Broward Center's Arts Access Program. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Purchase Tickets Here 

Serving as a Creative and Performing Arts Lab, Gritty Girl workshops guide girls in finding their voices- individually and collectively- through acting, poetry-writing, and music skills. Under the facilitation of professional singer-songwriter, actress, and teaching-artist Michelle Riu, the girls create and perform original music and skits.

Presenting 'Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty!' An Original Play for one day only Sat. Sept. 15th, 8pm at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts 
 http://grittygirl.com/wordpress/

Oud Xamayca: The Mermaid Project. Workshops

Oud Xamayca: The Mermaid Project

Every culture it seems has a mermaid or water spirit story.

Jamaican Intuitive artist Kapo (Mallica Reynolds) depicted Mermaids in his paintings as did Australian artist Colin Garland who made Jamaica his home for 45 years.  I will be sharing images of their work  with a group of 8 to 14 year old at risk youths in Kingston as well as telling stories of similar Mermaid tales from Jamaica the Caribbean and Africa.   I want to communicate that talented artisans, scientists, families, kings and queens were uprooted from their homeland transported half way around the world and that our ancestors memories live on through cell memory, intuition, dance, the arts, story and myth.  And wonderful things have come out of our colonial past. And countries with a similar background to ours have this connection too.  She always teaches a lesson in these stories.   We will create a magical world where anything they draw can manifest in their lives.

The images attached are that of South African artist Karen Miller. Whose work and especially these images I adore.  I will be using them as part of Oud Xamayca's visual art workshop with under served and at risk youths in Kingston.  The majority of which consist of Jamaica's population of African origin.  Xamayca is the Taino word for "Wood and Water" they were the original inhabitants of the island of Jamaica.  The Neo Tainos of the Caribbean had a mermaid /water spirit goddess who they called Aycayía.  The Europeans who came also had mermaid stories.
In the ocean near Haiti in 1493, Christopher Columbus (probably glimpsing a manatee) reported seeing three mermaids but said they were "not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men."

 The ships the Europeans came on when they docked in Africa before coming to the New World sometimes had carvings of Mermaids on the bough of the ship.  These images along with European mermaid tales of the comb and the mirror helped to shape the image of the African Mami Wata, water spirit goddess.  Mami Wata  from  Africa is said to have the body of a snake and the upper torso of a woman, by the time her people arrived in the New World, European imagery and folktales had an influence and as such in the Caribbean she ended up with a mermaid tail and not the body of a snake.  But her story is still alive, in Jamaica she is known as the River Muma, she guards fresh water ways and canals, river and streams, the fish in these waters are known as her children. She also has a golden table located at the bottom of the river and comb. In Haiti she is one of three sisters who are powerful water spirits La Sirène, Erzulie and Simbi. In Trinidad & Tobago she is known as Maman De l'eau.

 Oud Xamayca: The Mermaid Project explores themes of identity, femininity and interculturality through the use of metaphors and myths of the African Diaspora, particularly mermaids and water goddesses. Through the unique intervention of North African/Mid-Eastern dance, in addition to the exploration and connections with National Xamaycan dances, Oud Xamayca strives to offer a culturally enriching, socially progressive and empowering bodyworlding experience to participants and audiences. Visual arts and movement arts come together in Oud Xamayca to create new modes of expression and wider global contexts. Oud Xamayca is a community outreach and performance project that recodes notions of womanhood, individual articulation and cultural relativity.

Jamaica is a patriarchal ruled society with households run by matriahs.  Anything considered  not christian is viewed as evil or of the devil especially where religion is concerned.  I have come back to a country where some members of society are bleaching their skin, men, women, and some children and some upper  and lower classes are spooked by anything 'African'.  So I have called in for reinforcements in the form of Tiffany 'Hanan' Madera an academic who will be facilitating the dance workshops with at risk girls, teen mothers and pregnant teens.  She allows one to dance from within and  to connect to your core. Dance is rooted in ritual, when one dances as if no one is watching or makes visual art, becoming lost in time and space and has no concept of time, is a form of prayer or communication with god.  During my darkest moments it was the dance that woke me up and breathed life again into me.  Middle eastern dance in particular, perhaps it was the community of women of all shapes and sizes, the rhythmic, curved movements, the drum beats and the winded instruments which carried me faraway in my mind. To another place and time.

Finally An Empowering Take on a Classic Fairy Tale - Snow white

Looking forward to my collaboration with Michelle & Diego Romero for "Wake Up Sleeping Beauty" in September 2012.




Wake Up Sleeping Beauty Project Synopsis:
A modern musical telling of a classic fairy tale, 'Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty!' invites children and adults alike to participate in the creative reawakening of a young woman's psyche, asleep for more than a thousand years in an enchanted wood. Performed live in a poemagogic style, this princess' rebirth is the death of the damsel-in-distress archetype. (In a surprise twist, the audience itself awakens the sleeping beauty!) Upon re-awakening, she babbles in a multitude of languages, gestures and song in a near-vain attempt to relate what she has seen in her mind's eye: Death and birth, masculinity and femininity, time and space are all one and the same. With music and story in collaboration with theatre-artist and musician Michelle Riu, set and costumes by visual artist Kristie Stephenson, and hand-drawn frame by frame animations by Diego Romero (all South Florida artists) 'Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty!' is a multi-lingual tale of metamorphosis, intuition and communion.


Funded in part by the Broward County Cultural Division and the Broward Center's Arts Access program, the show aims to recruit and develop youth talent from Coral Springs, Parkland, Coconut Creek and Fort Lauderdale.

Blessing Beads

I call them Blessing Beads: My secret island find they are protective and magical, of mother earth. They are also called Job's tears (Job from the Bible) Mary's Tears, Christ's Tears. My inspiration in using these seed beads were of photos of tribal women in mourning from Papua New Guinea (PNG). The story is that these Mindima widow's will remove one collar of seeds each day while the mourning time until the last one. Then she can wash herself and find a new husband. Papua New Guinea 1983, photo by Jeff Shea.

They are mother natures perfect bead they already come with a hole and when you tap them against your teeth they feel like porcelain. This is my spin on it I have been attaching some of my designs I had cast in bronze, they are of female archetypes. The yoga community here in Jamaica will see the Buddha and I notice Trinidadians here will say they see Mother Lakshmi.
Excerpt below from Waynes World.
The common name Job's tears refers to the droplet-shaped, pearly white "beads," and to the biblical man of the Old Testament who endured great suffering. This relationship to tear drops is also reflected in the specific epithet lacryma-jobi, in reference to the tear-producing lacrimal glands located near the eyes. Although there is unanimous agreement that the beads resemble tears, there appears to be some disagreement as to exactly whose tears the beads resemble. Depending on exactly where you happen to be in the world, this plant goes by various names including David's tears, Saint Mary's tears, Christ's tears (Lacryma Christi), and just plain tear drops.

The leafy inflorescence of Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) showing numerous green "beads." The dried, gray beads are strung into necklaces throughout tropical regions of the world.

3. Structure Of The Job's Tear Bead

Interestingly enough, the actual beadlike structure resembling a seed is not a seed at all. It is a very hard, hollow structure (called an involucre) containing a minute fertile female flower and two sterile flowers. Pollen-bearing male flowers are produced on a slender stalk that extends out of the bead through a tiny pore. Two feathery stigmas from the fertile female flower also protrude from the pore--ready to receive pollen from the male flowers. Like other members of the enormous Grass Family (Poaceae), Job's tears are pollinated by the wind. Following pollination, a seed-bearing grain is produced by the fertile female flower. The shiny gray beads are dispersed and planted like seeds, but they are actually remarkable little shells containing flowers and grains.

Close-up view of flowering Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) showing the hollow, beadlike involucres which naturally have a hole in them. The threadlike styles of a female flower and a cluster of male flowers protrude from a tiny opening in each bead. Inside the bead is a minute, seed-bearing female flower (bottom).

4. Job's Tears As Food

Native to tropical Asia, Job's tears (also called Adlay) are used for food, particularly by peasants of the Far East. The distinguished 17th century naturalist Georg Eberhard Rumphius stated that in his day Job's tears were planted in Java and Celebes on the margins of rice fields. According to Agnes Arber (The Gramineae, 1965), Job's tears were introduced into China in the first century A.D. by a Chinese general who conquered Tongking, where the grains were widely used as a cereal. The general became so fond of Job's tears that he carried back several cartloads of the seeds to his own country.

A patch of Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) in full bloom at the WAYNE'S WORD headquarters in southern California. The numerous flower clusters contain immature, green "beads."

Like other cereals, there are many cultivars of Job's tears, including soft-shelled, easily-threshed types with a sweet kernel. In some, the hulled grain is adapted for parching or boiling like rice, while in others it can be milled, ground into flour and baked into bread. Reportedly, the grain has a higher protein content than most cereals. The grains are also utilized in soups, porridge, drinks and pastries. In India, the Nagas use the grain for brewing a beer called zhu or dzu. A Japanese variety called "Ma-Yuen" is brewed into a tea and an alcoholic beverage, and roasted seeds are made into a coffee-like drink. According to Agnes Arber, the leaves are used as fodder in parts of India, and are especially relished by elephants.

The Right Moment

Somewhere Other than Here: Caribbean Fashion Week

The attitude of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess for her fiery temper and Huna for the beautiful treasures from her sea and Island Goddesses everywhere inspired my black coral and smokey quartz necklaces shown on the runway for Caribbean Fashion Week (CFW).  The long spiny black corals remind me of black sea urchins, a delicacy in Japan and a nuisance on the North Coast of Jamaica, I stepped on one many a time when I was little and yes I did try my own pee/ urine to dissolve the spikes.  I cannot recall if it worked or not.  In the states my coral creations were my personal Island Goddess armour, representing intrigue, mystery and danger.  I just love using mysterious black pearls and beautiful corals unfortunately these materials are all imported.  The more time I am here in Jamaica the more stories I hear of interesting materials  I could source, -so I am excited as to what I will find.  The clothing shown is by Trinidadian Designer ZADD and EASTMAN.  I dubbed this Trinimaica when a Trinidadian and Jamaican collaborate in some kinda fashion. 

 



















Huna: Is the goddess of corals and spiny creatures of the sea.  She appears as a woman and a coral reef.  From her shells Maui made his famous hook for drawing the Hawaiian Islands together.

Pele: Is the goddess of the volcano. Pele has a staff -- a staff used to find out if ground is dry. Many books on the subject say that Pele is a myth, but many families of Hawaii today believe that Pele was an actual person from Kahiki (somewhere other than here).

Caribbean Fashion Week: Spinning & Weaving

Mother archetypes helped to inspire this silver pendant.  Stories of earth mothers and wise women who weave the world and create life,  inspired the drawing painting above which then translated into jewelry, metal.  I call this pendant Spider Woman: she weaves and creates her world shaping her own destiny. 
For more on Spinning and Weaving Myths click here. My Story and Myth inspired jewelry pieces will be at Caribbean Fashion Week.  In a country where they are in the Guinness World Book of Records for the most churches per SQ. mile, how are they going to react to the empowered goddess archetype and the story and myth behind it.  Quite well - I HOPE- Jamaica is a matriarchal society.   Regardless people of the diaspora have always hidden deeper meaning behind things...

We're Missing You

Mourning someday we will have to experience this, I always thought there were certain natural rules like children don't die before their parents.  Well I realized in life there is no order to things when I lost a sibling.  My family was not the only one grieving his friends were too, I remember one of his friends putting together a video of him running a race during a sports day event at his high school with the music of Enya playing in the background, it was beautiful. Another I knew well wrote deep poetry and yet one other friend of Jeffrey's whom I did not know at the time pursued her passion to become a singer and not a dentist, her's is the music video above- I just checked my MYSPACE account after not doing so for many years and found this message dated December 14th, 2007.

Kris Kelli says:

Hi Kristie,I hope all is well with yu.I've been busy doing shows in the Caribbean.I was in Anguilla last week and all the school kids there knew Jeffery from the video..isn't that wonderful...All the best for the xmas to yu and the family.
Nuff luv.
Kris

 

 

 

Mariposa de la Muerte: Folklore & Mythology

In many cultures one of these flying into the house is considered bad luck.  Growing up in Jamaica when they came into the house, and it would always be one and not very often, I saw them as a visiting spirit.   It is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore. In Spanish it is known as "Mariposa de la muerte" (Mexico & Costa Rica)^[1], "Pirpinto de la Yeta" (Argentina) or simply "Mariposa negra" (Colombia); in Nahuatl (Mexico) it is "Miquipapalotl" or "Tepanpapalotl" (miqui = death, black + papalotl = moth); in Quechua (Peru) it is "Taparaco"; in Mayan (Yucatán) it is "X-mahan-nail" (mahan = to borrow + nail = house)^[2]; in Jamaica and the Caribbean, the moth is known as the "Duppy Bat" or "Money moth"^[3]. Other names for the moth include the Papillion-devil, La Sorcière Noire, or the Mourning or Sorrow moth.  I love the positive meaning the Hawaiian's have,-  In Hawaii, Black Witch mythology, though associated with death, has a happier note in that if a loved one has just died, the moth is an embodiment of the person's soul returning to say goodbye. For me the loved one is stopping by to say hello.  On Cat Island, Bahamas, where they are locally known as Money Moths or Moneybats, the legend is that if they land on you, you will come into money, and similarly, in South Texas, if a Black Witch lands above your door and stays there for a while you will supposedly win the lottery

Durga Kali Gaia Oshun Isis

The University of Miami's Department of Art and Art History and International curator Ludlowe Bailey present a Panel Discussion on “The role of Egyptology and Kemetic Philosophy in general in the development of Contemporary Africana Culture.”  In preparing for the panel discussion today I came across a blog I created titled Multi Goddess in it I journal my dance musings and workshop participation and the paintings it inspired.  Above is "Durga Kali Gaia Oshun Isis" painted after a BollyWood Indian dance workshop I participated it.  I also realized that that my silhouette drawings on the Multi Goddess Blog later became jewelry pieces.  The Book on Egyptian Yoga by Dr. Muata Ashby helps to explain the ancient Egyptian's way of being and how we can adopt and apply it in our lives.  Yesterday at the University of Miami children from area schools were treated to a visual presentation on identity by New York artist Robin Holder as well as the creating of a vision board led by Ludlowe Bailey.

Durga-kali-gaia-oshun-isis body print inspired by the Hindu Goddess Kali, Kali is a manifestation of the Hindu Goddess Durga the goddess of material creation. Her Greek name is Gaia, her African name is Oshun and her Egyptian name is Isis.   According to Dr. Love Kali is the destroyer of men's ego, she cuts off their heads and then revives them sexually

Blogger Pulsoma asked the question: "Hi. I'm very interested in the link your making between Isis and Oshun. How do you know it is the same deity? If you could help me clarify that... Thanks."

Blogger Divine said:"Dionysus and Shiva are the same... So are Oshun and Durga -- and both are the ass-kicking, demon-slaying goddesses to whom the other deities turned when dark entities were ravaging the earthly realm... Both answered fear with laughter. Fear is the lock and laughter the key to the heart... & love is always stronger than death."

Art By Architects 2011

February 4
7:30 p.m. – The Gallery – Studio of JSK Architectural Group is proud to present the Exhibition “Art by Architects”, a collection of works of art created by Architects who are united by the common artistic vocation, that of their creation and their passion for Art. AIA Miami Chapter website
Location: Gallery – Studio of JSK Architectural Group, 137 Giralda Avenue, Coral Gables. RSVP: 305.448.1986 or gallerystudio@jskarchitecturalgroup.com
Architects/Artist include: Jorge Kuperman, Robert Burghardt, Jim Palma, Jacob Brillhart, Orlando Comas, David Ghezzi, Robert Swedrow and myself Kristie Stephenson.

The paintings above were from the show in Coral Gables,  held in the gallery area of architect Jorge Kupperman's storefront office.  Architect Gail Baldwin and his daughter Brandi pictured below have always come out in support of my art shows, they came to my first one in the design district and Brandi  was part of the jump start that got me painting and on our way to Sri Lanka.  It was a wonderful night with interesting people, we ran into a woman who used to take ballet lessons where the architectural office now is.

Architect Jorge Kupperman and Myself

Gail Baldwin and Brandi Baldwin

“ATUM ENERGY: CHANNELING KEMETIC METAPHYSICS”

UM DEPARTMENT OF ART & ART HISTORY AND AFRICANA STUDIES PRESENT
“ATUM ENERGY: CHANNELING KEMETIC METAPHYSICS”

ART EXHIBITION & PANEL DISCUSSION CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

ART SHOW “ATUM ENERGY: CHANNELING KEMETIC METAPHYSICS” 02/11/2011 6:30pm to 10pm
PANEL DISCUSSION “The role of Egyptology and Kemetic Philosophy in general in the development of Contemporary Africana Culture.” 02/13/2011 3:00pm

The University of Miami’s Department of Art & Art History and Africana Studies present “Atum Energy: Channeling Kemetic Metaphysics,” an art exhibition celebrating Black History Month.

The show, curated by international art curator Ludlow Bailey, will run from February 1, 2011-February 28, 2011 at the University’s College of Arts and Sciences Gallery, 1210 Stanford Drive in Coral Gables. The exhibition is free and open to the public. A special opening reception will be held on Friday, February 11, 2011 from 6:30 pm-9:00 pm.

The exhibition will include a series of lectures and will feature the works of African-American artists Robin Holder and Kerry Stuart Coppin, Haitian-American artists, Asser Saint-Val and Nzingah, Jamaican-American artist, Kristie Stephenson and Black British artist, Everton Wright.

The following lecture to contextualize the exhibition will be held at 3:00 p.m. on February 13, 2011. It is titled “The role of Egyptology and Kemetic Philosophy in general in the development of Contemporary Africana Culture.”

Ludlow Bailey has curated shows in Europe, The Caribbean and the United States. He has lived in Egypt and has travelled extensively in Africa. He is a lifelong student of Egyptology & Metaphysics. He holds degrees from both Brown and Columbia Universities. He currently resides on the island of St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands.

Find Your Voice: MEDE Members Pay Tribute

The MEDE 21st Anniversary event on Sunday was a huge success. Touring and traveling artists took a brief break to honor the founder of the Mid Eastern Dance Exchange. There was performance, vintage film clips and a panel discussion. The most important thing I walked away with that night was how giving the founder was, wanting her students to find their own unique voice in dance and how supportive of them she was leaving the nest to create their own dance networks. Of the performances that night there were no "soldier dancers" as Aireen put it, everyone was very different. It is like the painter, at first their early student work will be like that of their teacher or the other artists they are studying until they start to develop their style. Singers and musicians too, I love the story of Johnny Cash who was about to cut a record with his band when after hearing them play, the producer advised him to think that this was his once in a lifetime chance, so he started to play something from deep within that his band members had never heard before so they kept up with him on their instruments and the rest is history. Find your voice.

Left to right: Jihan Jammal, Tamalyn Dallal, Hanan, Amar Gamal, Mustafa, Bozenka, Virginia, Aireen and Alexandria.


Below is an excerpt from Tamalyn Dallal it gives the history and lineage of the Mid Eastern Dance Exchange in Miami.

MidEastern Dance Exchange (non-Profit organization for the cultural arts)



Tamalyn Dallal - Founder and Director



The Mid Eastern Dance Exchange was conceived on a train in Egypt. I was floating on air after seeing all the big names of my formative belly dance years perform; Nagwa Fouad, Souhair Zaki, Fifi Abdo, and Azza Sharif. Not looking forward to going back to a steady diet of bellygrams and birthday parties in Miami, I announced to my traveling companion "I'm going to start the Mid Eastern Dance Exchange (MEDE)." "What's that? He asked. I had no idea what the MEDE would become but such an authoritative name would surely raise the perception of our art form. I thought it might become a publication, an agency, or maybe a dance school.



The original studio had two floors and became something of a community center, with children’s classes after school. In the evening it was home to a multitude of movement forms: Belly dance, Kathak, Tai Chi, Yoga, African dance, Haitian, Afro Cuban, Jamaican, Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Tap, Hip Hop, and Acting. In 1993, Lincoln Road became prohibitively expensive and we moved to an upper floor of an office building. Belly dance was quite marginalized and I was told numerous times that we would never get funding. Thanks to Hanan (now the president/director of the MEDE), when she was a new dancer in the troupe in 1997, she wrote and secured our first grant.



The MEDE was the first in Miami to produce a full scale theatrical production (Emerald Dreams) in 1997, followed by numerous other theatre productions: Ghazal, Sawah, Infinito, and 40 Days and 1001 Nights, Dancing Across the Lines. In 2001 we had the privilege of joining forces with New York's World Music Institute to bring the 28-member show "Gypsy Caravan," showcasing authentic Roma culture from four countries, to Miami's Gusman Theater.The original troupe consisted of Mona Mandall, Amar Gamal, and Katia Yasmina (Now known as Maja). This was the troupe from 1991-1995. Mona was in the troupe until 1998 and on the board of directors for 10 years.



The original bellydance teachers at MEDE were; Tamalyn (then known as "Dallal"), Scheherezade, Jihan Jamal, and Myriam Eli (who stayed a short time due to the driving distance.)



pre MEDE

• Ylsa - was the teacher with the most years- 17 years with MEDE then 3 more years at Bozenkas.

• Kathy Lamis

• Jihan Jammal (taught for 3 years)

• Maria Jammal ( taught for 5 years)

• Scheherezade (taught for 2 years)

• Mustafa – Musician

• Fathe – Tunisia – Musician, Music and Dance teacher

• Mariano Parra - Flamenco teacher



1st Generation MEDE Dancers

• Amar Gamal

• August

• Carlos Danaan

• Charlan

• Elizabeth

• Maja

• Marisol

• Mona

• Yasmina (Rocio)



2nd Generation MEDE Dancers

• Aireen

• Barbara Brandt - Sabah

• Big Barbara Arrchevarelta

• Bozenka

• Brenda

• Faride

• Feiruz

• Hanan

• Helena

• Leslie

• Little Barbara Torrez

• Luz

• Marta

• Misha (Hawaii)

• Moki

• Patricia

• Samay

• Shahar

• Thaedra

• Virginia Mendez

• Yasmina (Jessie)



3rd Generation MEDE Dancers

• Alexandra

• Andrea

• Elisa Niederer

• Jennifer

• Jeri

• Kalinka

• Karen Tijerino

• Montserrat Saar

• Moran

• Wild Flower



4rd Generation MEDE Dancers

• Amalia

• Ana

• Francesca

• Joy

• Marilyn

• Roshana Nofret

• Xiomara



MEDE Guest Teacher

• Ahmet Luleci – 2007 - Turkey

• Amani – Lebanon – 1997

• Amel Tafsout – 2000 & 2004 - Algeria

• Amir Thaleb – 1998,1999 & 2000 - Argentina

• Ansuya – 2003 - California

• BellyQueen –2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004

• Dondi – 2001-California

• Dunia – 1992 – New Mexico (currently lives in New York)

• Fajwa (Morocco)

• Ghazal – 1998 – Iran

• Gypsy Caravan – 2001-(Concert 28 gypsys from India, Spain, Romania, Macedonia)

• Hassan El Banna – Egypt – 1992

• Helene Eriksen – 2006 – Germany (Seattle)

• Indian Kathak teacher – Nandu – Santur player

• Issam – 2006 – Lebanon (Bellydance Superstars)

• Jillina – 2006 – California (BellyDance Superstars)

• Karim Nagi – 2006 - Boston

• Kashi – 2005

• Louchia – 2005 - Russian

• Mohammed Shahin – 2007 - Egypt

• Noura – 2001 & 2003 – New York

• Pasha – 2005 - China

• Queen Harish Kumar – 2002 - India

• Ramzi El EDLibi – Lebanon (lived in New York ) 1993

• Raqia Hassan – 1995,1996 (Egypt)

• Richard Khuzami – many times throughout the 90s - from New York

• Saida guest dancer – 1999&2000-Argentina

• Sarat guest dancer – 1999-Argentina

• Sevedije Lika-2007 - Tampa

• Youkta – 1990

Teleamerica Broadcasting Network -Channel 88

Interview with InSight on my art and jewelry

 Behind the scenes of the InSight set

Miami Art Salon

Miami Art Salon is a project bringing artists together to inspire, provoke, and produce by hosting biweekly gatherings that are an experiment in active, participatory, organic, spontaneous, collaborative art.
This project is brought to you by Blackbird Arts and Research, 801 Projects, and the Arts of Citizenship at the University of Michigan.
Participating artists include: Angela Valella, Dinorah de Jesus Rodriguez, Juan Antonio "Erman" Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Zaldivar,  Kristie Stephenson, Lara Stein Pardo, Nereida Garcia Ferraz, Noelle Theard, Rene Rodriguez, Tatiana Silvia Sainz.

Miami Art Salon Open to the Public
November 2, 6PM – 8PM

 Myself and Erica Stringer cohost of INsight on the Teleamerica network who took time from her busy schedule to model my jewelry collection at the Miami Art Salon Opening.