Joanna Ashleigh is a fusion dance teacher and performer based in Denver, Colorado. She fell in love with Middle Eastern and North African folk dances in 2005 and has since studied many of those traditions as well as American interpretations and fusions of those styles. Always yearning for more knowledge, she sought out and completed her BA in Dance, and Minor in Arabic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She currently teaches in the Denver area and performs locally, and nationally at various dance festivals.
Notable performances include People’s Fair, Lannie’s Clocktower, and Boulder Creek Festival. Additionally, she's been a guest dancer with Beats Antique at Red Rocks, The Denver Convention Center, and The Fillmore. She has also performed at many national festivals, including Elevation Belly Dance Festival, Cues and Tattoos, and JamBallah NW.
She first began dancing with Lia Ridley of Romania, learning various Romanian, Greek, Israeli, Egyptian, and Turkish dances. Additionally, she studied, performed, and taught with Molly McClellan of Vespertina Dance Project for seven years, while co-directing the underground dance studio Red Elephant Workshop. During this time Joanna co-hosted workshops featuring Ashley Lopez, and Mat Jacob.
In 2012 Joanna began focusing on a solo and collaborative career and has since completed Rachel Brice’s 8 Elements™ of Belly Dance program earning her Practitioner’s Certificate and her Teaching Certificate, becoming one of the first Datura Style™ Teachers. She has also completed Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman's Classic and Modern Fat Chance Belly Dance Style® General Skills certification, level one of Sadie Marquardt’s Raqs Flow Program, level one and two of Sahra C. Kent’s Journey Through Egypt program, and has taken multiple master classes with renowned belly dance, contemporary, modern, post-modern, Hip-hop, and jazz teachers.
Joanna recently completed her BA in Dance and Minor in Arabic Studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She currently teaches locally in Denver and makes work to present at festivals such as JamBallah NW and Elevation Belly Dance Festival, while traveling as often as she can to Portland, Oregon to learn from her mentor Rachel Brice.
She is currently looking forward to completing the last two parts of the Journey Through Egypt program in 2021.
Notable performances include People’s Fair, Lannie’s Clocktower, and Boulder Creek Festival. Additionally, she's been a guest dancer with Beats Antique at Red Rocks, The Denver Convention Center, and The Fillmore. She has also performed at many national festivals, including Elevation Belly Dance Festival, Cues and Tattoos, and JamBallah NW.
She first began dancing with Lia Ridley of Romania, learning various Romanian, Greek, Israeli, Egyptian, and Turkish dances. Additionally, she studied, performed, and taught with Molly McClellan of Vespertina Dance Project for seven years, while co-directing the underground dance studio Red Elephant Workshop. During this time Joanna co-hosted workshops featuring Ashley Lopez, and Mat Jacob.
In 2012 Joanna began focusing on a solo and collaborative career and has since completed Rachel Brice’s 8 Elements™ of Belly Dance program earning her Practitioner’s Certificate and her Teaching Certificate, becoming one of the first Datura Style™ Teachers. She has also completed Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman's Classic and Modern Fat Chance Belly Dance Style® General Skills certification, level one of Sadie Marquardt’s Raqs Flow Program, level one and two of Sahra C. Kent’s Journey Through Egypt program, and has taken multiple master classes with renowned belly dance, contemporary, modern, post-modern, Hip-hop, and jazz teachers.
Joanna recently completed her BA in Dance and Minor in Arabic Studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She currently teaches locally in Denver and makes work to present at festivals such as JamBallah NW and Elevation Belly Dance Festival, while traveling as often as she can to Portland, Oregon to learn from her mentor Rachel Brice.
She is currently looking forward to completing the last two parts of the Journey Through Egypt program in 2021.
Intensive Certificate’s & Applicable Continuing Education
-Graduated with Distinction with a BA in Dance and Minor in Arabic Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder 2020
-Attended Rachel Brice's Virtual Datura Con for Datura Style Teacher’s™ in 2020
-Audited Rachel Brice's Cultivation Program in August 2019
-Attended Rachel Brice's Datura Con for Datura Style Teacher’s™ in 2018
-Attended Rachel Brice's Datura Con for Datura Style Teacher’s™ in 2017
- Completed Sahra C. Kent's Journey Through Egypt 2 in the Forty-Third Graduating Class as of January 2017
- Completed Rachel Brice's 8 Elements™ Phase 4: Transmission: Certified 8 Elements Datura Style Teacher™ as of April 2016
- Completed Sahra C. Kent's Journey Through Egypt 1 in the Sixtieth Graduating Class as of November 2015
- Completed Level One of Sadie Marquardt's Raqs Flow Program as of March 2015
- Completed Carolena Nericcio's Fat Chance Belly Dance Style® Modern General Skills Certification as of January 2015
- Completed Carolena Nericcio's Fat Chance Belly Dance Style® Classic General Skills Certification as of January 2015
- Completed Rachel Brice's 8 Elements™ Phase 3: Culmination: Certified 8 Elements Practitioner as of July 2014
- Completed Rachel Brice's 8 Elements™ Phase 2: Cultivation with Recognition as of March 2012
- Completed Rachel Brice's 8 Elements™ Phase 1: Initiation with Recognition as of October 2011
