FIERCE FUSION FEST - Workshops and Festival

Dark Fusion Belly Dance workshops, performances and shopping! A Fierce Weekend of Dark Fusion Belly Dance Join dancers, artists, and enthusiasts for a weekend celebrating dark fusion belly dance, creativity, community, and powerful performance. Whether you’re looking to train, perform, shop, or simply enjoy the show, Fierce Fusion Fest offers workshops, performances, vendors, and what we hope will be an inspiring and unforgettable experience. Friday Oct 9th Workshops 10 - 11:30 am Belladonna- Forged by Fire 11:45 - 1:15 pm- Rin - Embodied Dance & Movement 1:45 - 3:15 pm- Brenna - Dancing with your Devil 3:30 - 5 pm- Kamrah - The Weighted Veil Saturday Oct 10th Raven's Night presents ARCANA! Tickets available at the Birchmere.com and Ticketmaster.com Sunday Oct 11 Workshops 10- 11:30am - Irina Akulenko - The Ceremony 11:45-1:00pm - Starry Moon - Triple Moon: The Power of Threes Festival 12:00pm - Festival doors open to vendors 1:30pm - Performances begin Workshops Belladonna - Forged by Fire - Sword Workshop - Friday 10 am Step into the world of Arcana with Belladonna Blade in this all-new single sword workshop inspired by transformation through challenge, pressure, and power. Through signature Boho Blade technique, theatrical fusion bellydance, and immersive movement exploration, dancers will use the sword as a symbol of strength—cutting away fear, self-doubt, and limitation while forging confidence, resilience, and presence. *Please bring a bellydance appropriate scimitar Rin - Embodied Dance & Movement - Friday 11:45 am You will be guided through a few general movements and concepts that will culminate into a short dance combo. This is an invitation to observe your process with physical embodiment.Compassionately notice blocks and inner narratives that might be inhibiting a full experience of this moment as your body. Melt into flow, with guided structure and opportunity for improv. all levels welcome Brenna - Dancing with your Devil - Friday 1:45 pm In this workshop we’ll use The Devil Tarot Card as a creative lens to explore the subtle “chains” we carry into our dancing: habitual tension, over-control, avoidance, and unconscious performance patterns. Through guided exercises, improvisation, and short choreographic exploration, dancers will navigate where they become “stuck” in their movement and how awareness can transform those “limitations” into expressive power. We’ll work with themes of desire, presence, breath, focus, and stage magnetism to uncover a more intentional, grounded, and compelling performance quality. Please bring a notebook for notes and reflection, water, curiosity, and your sense of adventure. Kamrah - The Weighted Veil - Friday 3:30 pm Silk like water: flowing, powerful, liquid, and stunning. Learn the basics of manipulating the weighted silk veil - flows, spins, holds, and tosses - to bring silk sensuality to your performances. Students will be provided with connections to purchase a weighted silk veil, or they can modify a silk veil of their own (heavy silk, 8mm, is best). Suitable for any student, whether they have used veils before or not. Irena Akulenko - The Ceremony - Sunday 10 am This workshop is a fusion belly dance journey through the living forces of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. Dancers will explore grounded strength, fluid expression, passionate intensity, and expansive lightness through technique drills, guided improvisation exercises and combinations.Each element becomes both a physical quality and an emotional state — stability and resilience (Earth), surrender and intuition (Water), transformation and power (Fire), clarity and freedom (Air). The resulting series of combinations will be linked to create a beautiful moving meditation. Starry Moon - Triple Moon: The Power of Threes - Sunday 11:45 am In this workshop, Starry Moon Dance Company, Maria Hamer, Christine Andrews, and Joanna Abel, will break down the essential skills for powerful trio work. We’ll dive into formations, transitions, and shared musicality, while sharpening your spatial awareness, timing, and group connection. You’ll learn dynamic movement phrases and a choreography segment designed to showcase the beauty, precision, and magic of three dancers moving as one. No trio? No problem. Come solo, get grouped, and leave with new connections and serious trio skills. Threesome, anyone? Host Hotel