Meet the Troupe

Silent Rhythm Dance & Fitness Studio

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Meet the Troupe

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: KAREN
CO-DIRECTOR: BARBARAH

Together with these amazing women,
we are Silent Rhythm Dance Troupe.

KAREN KAREN

Karen Snow fell in love with dance when she was a very young girl. Growing up in a big family didn’t give her much alone time, so she would wake up early Saturday mornings before everyone else and dance her heart out. "I remember feeling so free ...it was something that was just for me!" Things haven’t changed much; she still has little time for herself, being a wife, a mom, working full time and teaching Yoga and Pilates on weekends – (AND in her spare time) running the troupe!!! Dancing helps her keep her sanity she says "the dance kind-of found me, a friend invited me to go belly dancing with her, it instantly felt right, my body yearned for this way of moving". Now five years later, she has started her own dance troupe which she stresses, is a "celebration of women -at all levels, colors, and sizes, coming together for a common bond”. This is the most supportive and loving group of women involved in this dance –it’s truly amazing to be a part of it all!"

BARARAH
Barbara Durkin stumbled onto her first Belly Dance class the same way most of her students begin; she saw an ad in the paper and grabbed a friend to go with her! She fell in love with the movement, the costumes, the music and how it made her feel. After getting married and moving to NC with her Marine Corps husband, she decided she could teach and share this amazing dance form to other women. Barbara's first costume was a deconstructed prom dress and she's been making her own costumes ever since that day! After moving around the country while both taking lessons and teaching for 10 years, an injury sidelined her love of the dance. After a long hiatus and a chance encounter with Karen Snow, Barbara began to teach beginner belly dance to ladies throughout the Finger Lakes. Karen and Barbara formed a performing dance troupe in 2005 and most recently opened their very own Dance & Fitness Studio.

SAJA
Belly Dance became a bright light for me in 2004 when I took my first class with Ameera (Kamenha). I knew this was something that I wanted to perfect so I continued taking classes. One day, Ameera spent the entire hour class working with me on one step (camel walk) which I successfully conquered!! Shortly after, the facility closed and I touch with Ameera. A few months later, I was in the locker room at a local gym getting ready for a nice work out, when Ameera appeared around the line of lockers. Hugs followed and Ameera said that she was now teaching classes there! I was back into Belly Dance and very happy and excited! I became one of the original troupe members in the spring of 2005.

ATIKA
I have been with Silent Rhythm Dance since it's creation in 2005. I first was introduced to Belly Dance when I took a beginners class with Kamenah at a Fitness Center and fell in love with the dance instantly. Actually I think I fell in love with wanting to be a belly dancer!!! Belly Dancing is very challenging for me but with the support of my teachers and my troupe friends, I have overcome many challenges both in dancing and my personal life. I look forward to every practice. I drive an hour each way just to go to practice to enjoy the camaraderie and good feeling I get when I'm there. Belly dancing to me means empowerment, confidence and being a little sassy. All those things I feel I am shimming away in practice. I love it!!!

BIRHANA

I attended my first belly dance fitness class in 2005. I had no idea what to expect but I was very excited to try it out. It literally had me at “hello!” I loved the class and when our instructor Karen Snow and belly dancing guru Barbara Durkin suggested the class form it’s own troupe, I was on board immediately! Dancing in the troupe takes on so many meanings for me. My mother was also in the troupe and I loved sharing this special experience with her. All the women in our troupe are beautiful, creative, and talented in so many ways. It is an honor to dance with all my “sisters” and I hope we have many more years of dancing ahead!

SANDRA
My first exposure to Belly Dance was when I was about 8 years old by my Aunt Laura Klauss from Midland TX. She was a performer and teacher of the art of belly dance (cabaret style). I remember being mesmerized by the music and the movement and I wanted to dance like she did. I have studied, performed and taught dance for most of my childhood and adult life. I focused my studies on classical jazz, contemporary and lyrical but there still seemed to be something missing for me. In the Spring of 2007, I met and began to study with the teachers of Silent Rhythm Dancers and I have found the dance style that I was born to dance. My passion is in Tribal Fusion Belly Dance which blends well with my strengths in jazz, contemporary and lyrical. I plan to continue to study this wonderful art form and share my passion with others. I feel blessed by the wonderful women who are sharing this journey with me, my sisters from the Silent Rhythm Dancers.

JAEL
"I like to think of my first time dancing as being before my first time breathing. My mother’s warm consistent heartbeats played as the first gentle, yet stirring rhythm that imbedded itself into my soul before cells had a chance to form around it in the womb. Every time I dance, it feels like I am coming home to commune and celebrate with that which is not tangible, that which wears no skin, has no boundaries, judgments, or separation. It is a way to shake off the worries of the mundane world, to release and let fly stresses and clutter of the mind, to twirl it right out my fingertips… to, for that moment, live right in the now… feeling, not thinking, and to remember what a unique privilege it is to be alive at all. If I quiet my mind, I can hear a pulse… an even bigger mother’s heartbeat coming from the trees, or from the water rushing over the smooth stones of sugar creek. I can hear a sweet rhythmic undercurrent rising up from the footfalls of the people walking on streets late at night, or from thunder closing in from the hills. When I quiet my mind, I can hear life’s song calling me to dance, and I can’t imagine a better partner.” Jade Nehring-Myers lives with five cats and a dog in Canandaigua, New York. She is currently in the process of opening a website to share her excitement for dance, music, writing, fire, creativity, and to hopefully inspire those who visit it to find or further develop similar aspects within themselves. She chose the name “Jael” as her dancing name because its first meaning is “mountain goat”, perhaps chosen as a testament to her level of grace when she is learning a new song with her troupe. Heh. The second meaning for “Jael” is “to descend”. It was a nice combination of something that rises strong to great heights, but at the same time must also ebb into unfathomable depths. Somewhere at the crossroads, where the heights and depths meet like a bow to a fiddle, great music is made. It is the place of creation, the place of the womb. .. The level grounds on which to dance. Jade has scattered experience with formal belly dance classes beginning from 1991, but it wasn’t until she got with the amazing women of the now Silent Rhythm Dance Troupe in 2006 that she felt compelled to, at last, drop everything and go where the dance took her.

BRIGID
I was never enrolled in any dance lessons but I was a gymnast and in colorguard for many years. When I was in Yoga class, my instructor mentioned about a Belly Dance Class in our area. I told my 17 year old daughter about it and she wanted to go with me. It was the most addicting activity I had ever taken! The movements and the music and the feeling of being in class with all those glorious people flowing together,is something I can't live without . I feel that when I'm Belly Dancing, all of the unwanted stress of life unwinds itself from my body with every twirl and shimmy. I've also lost almost 20 lbs. I was asked to join the Silent Rhythm Dance Troupe in January of 2008 and I hope I can dance on with all those lovely women.

BELLAH

In the summer of 2007 I stumbled upon a beginner belly dance class taught by Karen Snow (Kamenah) while looking for an exercise class that would be different. I continued on with additional classes with Barbarah as well as belly dance fitness and Pilates with Karen. In Summer of 2008 I was invited to join the Troupe, and continue to grow with each practice and performance. Being a part of the Troupe is so much fun, and I thank all the members for helping me build confidence and self esteem. Kamenah and Barbarah are such an inspiration to me following their dreams and are wonderful teachers.

CARLYE

Throughout my life I have always been in search for something to have of my own. To love, and dedicate to. When I was younger I tried many different sports and activities, but none that I could see myself pursuing for a long period of time. I really loved dancing and I aspired to be a ballerina, but after starting it so late I knew it wasn't the path for me. In high school I was on the diving and cheerleading team, both which I really loved to do. I quit gymnastics after about five years and took to cheerleading my sophomore year of high school. I loved being able to continue the tumbling and staying physically active, but once I graduated, I didn't know where to go from there. Belly dancing has helped me in so many ways that I finally feel like I have found my utopia. It has brought me into a mindset that not only keeps me mentally strong as a women, but an artistic way to express myself that nothing I have ever experienced can. I am very grateful to be a part of Silent Rhythm Dance Troupe. I feel so inspired by all the amazing women I am around and the positive energy that flows throughout the studio. The history, movements, expression, the beauty; I’m attracted to it all. I hope to continue belly dancing as long as I can because I have never found something I have connected with so spiritually. When you find something you love so much, so great, you should never let that go.

Coming soon-Bio on our Newest Member: Rachel

NANI
More a troupe groupie than a performer, Nani comes to belly dance by way of more than a dozen years study of body mechanics and practice of yoga, and a monstrous love of her sister, Jael. It was clear right from the first class – belly dance is a portal to vital truths about the powerful, beautiful rhythms of the female spirit. Nani dances with gratitude to her teachers, her sister, and the troupe for ever helping her to realize the deep source of the dance: a core that is both fluid and strong, a heart that is open and joyous, an intention that is clear and present, and an abiding communion with sisters past and present. When she’s not dancing with the girls, Nani counts her man, the moon, and the wind in the trees among her most beloved dance partners.