Asia has a background in ballet, jazz, tap, flamenco
and classical East Indian dance. She taught ballet and jazz with
the dancers workshop in Stockton, Ca from the young age of 13 to
20. At 17 she won the Young Californian's Choreographers Showcase
with an adagio dance. At 18 she moved to Carmel, Ca on a dance scholarship
to study with Nancy Lang, she was then awarded a highly sought scholarship
to study dance with Martha Graham in NY City.
That summer while making plans to move to NY City she went to the
Northern California Renaissance Faire and saw Jamila Salimpour's
Balanat Troupe. Asia was proufoundly moved by the music and dance.
She dropped modern dance and never looked back!! Her pursuits in
the art of middle eastern dance began here.
Asia founded Chimera Folkloric Dance Troupe in Stockton CA in 1973.
The troupe performed at rock festivals, county fairs and cutural
events almost every weekend in the spring and summer. The 17 dancers
and 5 muscians functioned like a large family. In 1984 Asia moved
to San Francisco to pursue a solo career. For 14 years she performed
up to seven nights a week in night clubs and restaurants, while
continuing to teach workshops and seminars throughout the United
States. In 1991 Asia formed Asassara a troupe which performed dances
based on ancient cultures, rituals and mythology. In 1994 this group
grew into Henna Tawi who performed for the San Francisco Film Festival,
the San Francisco Opera Gala for Aida, the J. Paul Getty Passage
to India party and many other San Francisco venues. In 1998 she
moved to Ann Arbor Michigan and taught middle eastern dance at the
Universtiy of Michigan. She moved back to California in 2000 and
began teaching belly dance at the Downward Dog Yoga Studio in Pacifica
CA. where she currently teaches seven classes a week. Downward Dog
Yoga Studio is the home of Arabesque Troupe and muscians.