About

Our motto? Variety is the spice of life.

We take pride in the diversity of our dance as well as our diversity as women from various backgrounds at various stages of our lives. We perform several styles of bellydance, mainly Raqs-Sharqi, American Tribal Style, and Tribal Fusion. Though some of us have a style preference, we all perform every style as we want to express our many facets, from the sparkly to the scary.

We are the longest-running troupe in town, we have been together since 2005, starting as the Jewels of Isis through Isis Dance Productions under Anemone Ruder. We became Raq-a-Belly dance! a year later with our former president, Denise Leclair, who is now the owner of Bedouin Beats dance studio. We owe a great deal to these amazing women and their studios, as well as to the many other instructors in the city who have led us to where we are today, most notably Shahenda and Aldiya.

Raq-a-Belly dance! performs at Edmonton city festivals, charity fundraisers, corporate functions, weddings, and family events. You may have seen us at Capital EX, Cariwest, the Feats Festival, or at the Edmonton Fringe Festival (most recently in our 2009 outdoor stage show, Once Upon a Belly). Every time we dance, it’s important to us that we illustrate the artistic depth of bellydancing while promoting a positive attitude towards the female body.

Want to know more about an individual member? Read our Dancer Biographies.