In 2007, Talisman Dance Company performed at many local and international events, including, but not limited to, Troupe Extravaganza, The Escondido Renaissance Faire, a special performance with Suhaila Salimpour, Alma Paradiso (La Salina, Mexico), Gypsy Night as headliners, the 10th Annual SAMEDA Faire with Jinni Al Hawa, and Sahar Sami's “Glimpses of Cleopatra.”

Here's a glimpse of this talented troupe…

How long have you been dancing? The principal dancers (Heather, Elizabeth, Laura) have all been studying Middle Eastern dance for seven to nine years.

How was the troupe started? The troupe started in 2006. The three founding members and principal dancers had been dancing together in another professional dance company for three years, Jim Boz's Sandstorm. During that time, we'd formed a strong bond and we knew that we wanted to continue dancing together. The decision to start our own dance company didn't come easily. We knew all too well the demanding nature of working in a professional dance company, but none of us had worked in the business and promotional side of it. Furthermore, we had to develop a whole new repertoire from scratch. I wasn't sure how long it would take to choreograph new material. Most of all, we would have to keep each other motivated.

What is your dance background? We also have developed a shared dance vocabulary, but we have different training that we can contribute. I initially focused on tribal fusion styles when I started studying belly dance but then changed my focus to cabaret style. Elizabeth has a passion for folkloric styles and she's been studying classical Egyptian style.

How often do you practice? We have a weekly rehearsal for the principal dancers, where we develop new choreographies and work on our solo material, giving each other feedback. We have another weekly rehearsal which includes our apprentice dancers, where we work on group choreographies and performance technique. Midnight Debke, a band that we perform with frequently, often attends those weekly rehearsals. In addition, we have a special zill rehearsal with the members of Midnight Debke about twice a month. Of course, we schedule additional rehearsals if we're preparing for an important show. We all attend several dance classes a week with different teachers.

Discuss your choreography. Our choreographies tend to be group efforts among the 3 principal dancers. After we choose a song, we discuss the “story” we're going to present. We listen to the song together and map out major sections of it first. Sometimes the blocking comes before the combinations, so we know when we're dancing in a formation, when we're traveling, when we're doing floorwork, etc. Then we attack a section at a time. Elizabeth is great at hearing a piece of music and putting together combinations on the fly. Laura brings in a more modern approach and a lot of the sassiness in our choreographies comes from her. I feel like my role is often to bring it all together, blending the best of what everyone has come up with, blocking the song as a whole and playing with the different group dynamics. An advantage of working together as long as we have is that we have an intuitive sense for each other and we complement each others' strengths and weaknesses.

Discuss your favorite performance thus far. Elizabeth's favorite performance was the Escondido Renaissance Faire. She writes, “The last day and last show was incredible. We had made some friends over the weekend who were in the audience, and since it was the final show, it was easy to relax and enjoy. It's fun to be in character all weekend and to end the fun with a stage show. And we were working with Midnight Debke — our favorite band in the whole world!” Read more about Escondido Ren Faire…

My favorite performance so far was Alma Paradiso, a 3-day festival in Mexico. From Heather's news story about the event: “…I was met by many of the audience members from the night before, who thanked me and raved about the performance. One actually said she felt “star struck” to meet me. I'll treasure that comment for a long time.” Read more…

What do you do when you aren't dancing? Laura has her own jewelry business and is now being kept quite busy with her newborn son, Aeron Dale, born February 6, 10.5 lb. Elizabeth likes to spend time with her husband and spends lazy Saturday mornings baking muffins or scones and drinking coffee. I create and maintain our Talisman web site, which sometimes takes as much of my time as dancing. I also have started studying tango with my husband, and I love it but find it a real challenge to be a follower in a social dance after so many years as a performer.

How does one join Talisman? We have two apprentices right now, Liz Thompson and Michelle Burkhart. When we began seeking new dancers we decided to try bringing them in as “apprentices” to the troupe first. We were a bit concerned what it would be like to bring someone new into our energy, since a lot of our strength comes from how long we've been dancing together and how much we love dancing with each other. We know from experience that an audition isn't enough to know whether a dancer will work out with the troupe. It's a tremendous time commitment, and sometimes an enthusiastic new member won't realize just how demanding it can be. It takes time to discover how quickly someone learns, whether they can pick up a choreography right away or whether they need it drilled again and again, whether they take corrections to heart and work on improving their technique or not. Personality fit counts for a lot…we don't always get along all the time, but we do spend a LOT of time together, rehearsing, traveling together, sharing hotel rooms. An unresolvable personality conflict can really damage a troupe. Also we have a certain style and a shared artistic vision. We have our differences there too; some members want a more contemporary style, some a more traditional one, but those differences are resolvable and help keep our performances lively. But if someone joined who really wanted to be a tribal fusion dancer, then they'd be a better fit somewhere else.

We didn't like the “student troupe” dynamic, so we decided to experiment. Apprentices have less of a time commitment and less pressure. They're expected to learn and perform our group choreographies, but not to solo during performances. They're expected to learn our style and work on their technique inside and outside of rehearsal. They're expected to be available for as many performances as possible but they aren't penalized if they can't make a performance. So far, it's been working out well. An apprentice who decides to continue with us and pursue full troupe status knows what they're getting into, and we know what we're getting.

If you are interested in becoming an apprentice, contact Heather at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text76258 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it