BESS Bess is originally from Connecticut, although life has since taken her to many other wonderful places. She graduated from the University of Idaho in 2004 with a B.S. in Natural Resources Ecology – Conservation Biology and now works for the National Park Service. Early on, Bess’ family instilled in her an appreciation of other cultures and dances. She has traveled all over, including living in Nepal and exploring India. She loves learning different dance styles from around the world and is especially interested in the fun and colorful Bollywood numbers, being a self-professed Bollywood addict! Bess has long admired Middle Eastern dancing and has been belly dancing since 2005 in northern California and southern Oregon. The quick changes of rhythm and graceful transitions from fast and sharp to slow and smooth captivate her attention and inspire her dance style with Sahara Bellydancers. In particular, she enjoys the classical Egyptian and modern Lebanese styles and the expressive, dramatic movements that exemplify these beautiful dances. When not dancing, Bess is usually creating artwork, learning more Nepali, or wandering around outdoors, being especially fond of bicycling and backpacking. She is also a professional henna artist and is passionate about this ancient art form.
	TIAZZA Tiazza was born and raised in Morocco till she was 23 years old when she first moved to New York . Growing up with Arabic music all her life, she was intruduced to belly dancing at a very young age, she danced as a kid in weddings and social parties and grew up learning more styles as she met dancers from all over the world in Morocco. She then took a long trip around the world visiting  Canada, Japan, Hong Kong / China, Singapore, Vietnam, India, Seychelles, South Africa, Brazil and Cuba. In every country, she tried to learn about the music and the dance and was surprised at how all these dance styles have a lot in common with belly dancing. After this long trip, she received a full scholarship at SOU and decided to move to Ashland, OR. She graduated in 2003 and has been involved with the dance scene at SOU directing and performing at the International Show every year since 2002. After  graduation, Tiazza started teaching all the different styles of belly dancing she has learned in Morocco and through her travels. This led to the birth of Sahara Bellydancers in 2006 where she is currently the artistic director and the main choreographer. Tiazza is usually featured at all the group dances with Sahara bellydancers and many solos: drum solo, cane dance, sword dance and Flamenco remixes.
	HAMSA