As the child of a belly dancer, Karen has always been surrounded by this ancient enigmatic art. As a toddler she would gaze at her mother's performances, mesmerized by the swirling silk and glistening beads. At thirteen years of age her dream of taking the stage herself came true. Today, she attributes her strength, grace, flexibility and understanding of belly dance to these early experiences as well as her continued study of ballet, modern, tap, jazz, yoga and work as a personal trainer.

Manon's story proves that with a determination and enough daring, dreams can come true. Manon was introduced to belly dance relatively late in life, yet after only a few years of part-time dancing at weddings and Bar Mitzvah's in Seattle, Manon took the leap of leaving her stable job as an accountant at the University of Washington to belly dance in the cabarets of Paris. But it was not just gumption that made this brave woman's dream come true, it was also hard work and natural ability.

Currently one of Western Canada's best-known belly dancers, Simone began her training in 1994 with Nahida and has since experienced the joy of exploring another culture through movement with many masters of this art form such as Raqia Hassan, Amir Thaleb, Yasmina Ramzy, Yousry Sharif, Jahlila and Suhaila Salimpour. Simone has performed in numerous nightclubs, hotels, corporate events and festivals throughout the Greater Vancouver Area and Internationally and is a currently a regular performer at many of the Arabic, Persian and Greek venues throughout Vancouver.