As a lifelong student of dance, yoga, and movement, Joy has trained extensively in ballet, modern, jazz, and hip hop. While a Dance Performance major at Western Michigan University, she added West African and Indian Odissi dance, Pilates, and yoga to her movement vocabulary. This opened her eyes to a greater scope of dance and opportunity for movement. In 2002, she came upon "tribal" belly dance and became immersed in deep study, while traveling to numerous workshops around the country, and enjoying impassioned self-study.
Her in-depth training via many workshops throughout the years have been with the most well- known bellydance fusion artists, such as Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, Mardi Love, Mira Betz, Cammi Vance/Darshan, Kami Liddle, Jill Parker, Maria Hamer and Zafira Dance Company, Amy Sigil and Unmata in ITS, Aisha Ali, "American Tribal Style" with Megha Gavin, and extensive training with Carolena Nericcio, Dalia Carella, and Suhaila Salimpour. Joy is a former member of the Dalia Carella Dance Collective in New York City.
As a workshop host, she has brought Rachel Brice, Mardi Love, Zoe Jakes, and Dalia Carella for workshops in CT and NYC. Joy was the first "American Tribal Style" certified teacher in Connecticut, and was dually certified by Fat Chance Belly Dance®’s American Tribal Style® teacher creatrix, Carolena Nericcio, in General Skills and as a certified Teacher in American Tribal Style® belly dance. She is a former Sister Studio of Fat Chance Belly Dance®, and maintains her Level 1 certifications in both Jamila and Suhaila Salimpour formats, as a student of the Salimpour School.
Joy is a former member of the folkloric dance troupe Kadira Noor, led by Nerine Avital, and she later founded and directed her own troupes : Melange Gitan, a dark cabaret theatrical fusion troupe, and then Connecticut’s first "American Tribal Style" bellydance troupe, Celadon Tribal.
Joy continues her love of dance as a spiritual bridge to the Sacred Feminine, and enjoys contemporary fusion that draws from classic American Cabaret, folkloric movement, and modern dance styles that is both exciting and dramatic.
She teaches her own dance method, Dancing the 5 Elements™, a healing movement modality and conscious dance practice guided by the 5 Elements in nature, as well as her exciting style of Contemporary Fusion Bellydance.
