Jessamyn
soloist

Jessamyn of Springfield, Missouri has been performing for 12 years. A founding member of her grandmother’s Dream Dancers troupe, she has studied Middle Eastern dance since she was seven years old. As part of an extended family of Middle Eastern dancers, she currently studies Middle Eastern percussion and advanced technique with aunt and mentor Angela Belle Shikany at the Global Dance Collective.

Jessamyn is particuarly skilled in improvising moves "on the fly" and has created her own personal style based on improvisation. Her style is American cabaret combined with the Middle Eastern technique of capturing the emotion of the music through improvisation. Jessamyn's reperatoire includes dancing with finger cymbals, veils, and drum solo stylings. One of her specialties is dancing with the Saidi cane and also performing to Latin-Arabic fusion and Zombra Moro music.

Her influences include instructors such as Dahlia Carella, Morroco, Ramzi, Raffa, Margo, and Jim Boz. Jessamyn says her ultimate goal in the dance is to, "Above all, portray vividly my love of the dance and my ability to interpret and feel the music."