GFAD International - 2 and 3 May 2014
Mercedes Nieto, Ashley Lopez and Gypsy Caravan

Mercedes Nieto
Internationally acclaimed oriental dancer, teacher, choreographer, founder and choreographer of the Nymph Oriental Dance Company, founder and organizer of the CAIRO! Festival Budapest, master teacher and performer of the Nile Group Festival in Cairo, Egypt.
Audience prize winner at the MEDINA (Middle Eastern Dance in North America - Missouri, USA) international bellydance competition in 2004
Winner of the Raqs Sharqi 2004 National Hungarian Bellydance Competition in the Professional Category
One of the winners of the Nile Group international festival in Cairo, Egypt, 2006
Winner of the Best Coreographer prize at the 7th and 8th RAQS SHARKI -  Hungarian National Oriental Dance Competition in 2007 and 2008
The Nymph Oriental Dance Company was the 1st place winner in 2009, and the 2nd winner of the Nile Group international bellydance festival in the Group Category both in 2007 and 2008.
Visit:  www.nietomercedes.com

Ashley Lopez
Ashley’s dance and fitness career began in college, where she accepted a part-time job as a fitness instructor as a far more entertaining and less messy alternative to restaurant work.  During her senior year, Ashley wandered into a bellydance class taught by Ishara Gamal. After graduation, she found herself in Ishara’s troupe rehearsals where she expanded her knowledge of basic Egyptian/Cabaret technique, ATS, and zills. While in the Bay Area, she explored more bellydance in weekly classes, workshops and intensives.  This dance obsession also led her to enroll in Jazz, Hip-hop, and Flamenco classes.  In 2006, she started a troupe in Champaign, Illinois called Trikhala.  Relocating back to California in 2007, Ashley began collaborating as a soloist with the Mona Khan Bollywood dance company and was accepted as a lead dancer for a professional Polynesian troupe, SF Hula.  Both her observation of and participation in large Bollywood dance concerts and her in-depth Hula and Tahitian dance training have greatly influenced her technical and theatrical approach to dance.  In 2008, she created her own professional Bellydance troupe, Orchid Bellydance, who was honored to win First Place Fusion Troupe at the Wiggles of the West competition in 2009 and First Place Troupe in the Breakthrough Fusion Competition in 2010.  Most recently and since relocating to Portland, Oregon, she has had the extreme pleasure of participating in performances with her teachers Zoe Jakes (Beats Antique, The Bhoomi Project) and Rachel Brice (Datura).
Visit: www.ashleylopezbellydance.com 

Gypsy Caravan Dance Company
Cinzia Di Cioccio from Milan, Italy and Deirdre Macdonald from Scotland, UK are Master Teachers of the Gypsy Caravan Tribal Bellydance (TM) format and members of the International Gypsy Caravan Dance Company! They enjoy working with and teaching the Gypsy Caravan Dance Company’s gift of dance, as they share the magical energy and camaraderie of dancing together, the celebration of this beautiful planet, with the sheer joy of creating art with improvised and synchronistic movement!Founded by Paulette Rees-Denis in Oregon, USA -  this wonderful dance is now going global - one set of hips at a time!
Visit: www.paulettereesdenis.com/gypsy