Performers (Main Company)
Dawn Xiana Moon (Founder/Director)
After years of teaching swing dancing, a YouTube video prompted Dawn Xiana Moon to reinvent herself as a fusion bellydancer. She studied with Stephanie Barto of Read My Hips and soon after was invited to join the troupe, performing 100 shows a year at venues like the Chicago Field Museum and Alhambra Palace for almost a decade; she's trained extensively with Kami Liddle and other teachers all over the country. She's been featured on Britain's Got Talent and was named Chicago's "Best Dancer" (2019, 2022), "Best Choreographer" (2022), and "Best Stage Performer" (2019, 2020) by the Chicago Reader. The Singapore-born geek has given talks at The University of Chicago, C2E2, Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, DePaul University, and more, and regularly out-nerds even computer science professors. She is also a singer-songwriter that has toured through 10 states and sung the National Anthem for the Chicago Bulls; her latest album features folk/pop with influences from jazz and traditional Chinese music. She was also runner-up and third place for Chicago's "Best Singer-Songwriter" (2019, 2022) and "Best International/World Music Act" (2020, 2022). When she's not performing, you can find her leading UX design for projects with the CDC and Medicaid (like this site? She made it). Conversations with her may cover the following topics: the differences between the Lord of the Rings films and books, Shakespeare, how incredibly relevant Babylon 5 feels almost 30 years after it originally aired, and the importance of good art.
Kamrah
Programmer by day, bellydancer by night, Kamrah is basically a superhero. Oh, and they can kick your butt too: They have 13 years of experience in a variety of martial arts, won third place at Tae Kwon Do World Championships (White Belt), and studied kung fu with Lou Illar (Sidekicks with Chuck Norris). As a bellydancer, Kamrah has been performing traditional, cabaret, and fusion since 2001; they currently perform throughout the country as a soloist at places like Chicago's Double Door and were featured on NBC. Kamrah has taught at Tribal Fest in Sebastopol, CA, the largest tribal bellydance festival in the world, Tribal Revolution (now Fusion Evolution), Bayou Belly, and Tempest's Waking Persephone (Seattle). Kamrah has also danced with Tucson-based Skirt Full of Fire, directed by Jolie Roberson, and Xanadu Dancers (Phoenix, AZ). Their love of science fiction, fantasy, and comic books is well known, but lesser known is the fact that they an Alien tattoo. And a virus tattoo. And Rebel Alliance and Imperial tattoos. Up for a challenge? When Kamrah's not kicking literal butt, they kick figurative butt in Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and Final Fantasy. You've been warned.
Gaea Lady
Gaea Lady is an enchantress by nature, a force that will make you feel the earth move. She fuels her passion for life into performance art, mentorship, silk veils, fire dancing, hoops, bellydance, and burlesque. Deeply trusting her unique magic, Gaea seeks to inspire creative authentic expression in all she encounters. Ranked internationally in the top 50 "Most Influential Burlesque Artists of 2018 & 2019," Gaea has performed, taught, and headlined all over the world, notably at the Burlesque Hall of Fame 2016 where she won "Best Debut" and "Most Classic,"" and headlined across Italy. She is the creator of the Pussy Magic Burlesque Program, and co-leads Ignite Fire Keeper Retreats, such as "Ignite Your Inner Flame," all over the world. Gaea also geeks out about food, Star Wars, Octavia Butler, sci-fi, fantasy, and mythology, especially loving the projected realities sci-fi and fantasy. Being Leia and a Jedi has been a dream of hers ever since she first saw Episode IV at the age of five. Galadriel was her inspiration to see the depth in reality as empowered magic, which she still does every day.
Michi Trota
Michi Trota has been spinning fire for over a decade and is a life-long geek and foodie. She's a five-time Hugo Award winner, British Fantasy Award winner, and the first Filipina to win a Hugo Award. Michi is the former Editor-in-Chief of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), former Senior Editor of Prism, and also co-editor of the WisCon Chronicles Vol. 12 with Isabel Schechter (Aqueduct Press). She's written restaurant profiles and food articles for Chicago Magazine, and was the exhibit text writer for Worlds Beyond Here: Expanding the Universe of APA Science Fiction at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, WA. She’s been featured in publications like the 2016 Chicago Reader People Issue, Chicago Tribune, and The Guardian, and has spoken at the Adler Planetarium, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and on NPR. Michi is past president of the Chicago Nerd Social Club Board of Organizers, a former organizer and board member of the Chicago Full Moon Jam, and lives with her spouse and their two cats in Chicago.
Lee Na-Moo
Internationally known, Lee Na-Moo combines bellydance with contemporary dance, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and several Asian styles. He won the 2010 Chicago Oriental Dance Competition, which brought him to audiences in Argentina, and was invited to teach and perform at the 7th International Oriental Festival in Spain. He has also toured with Bellydance Evolution in Morocco, Germany, and the Czech Republic as a teacher and performer and was nominated by the Chicago Reader as "Best Choreographer" in 2019. Lee was a longtime member of Read My Hips and is currently a member of Joel Hall Dancers, a contemporary dance company based in Chicago. He is also an avid video gamer and a lover of all things geek.
