Inanna LeFay is a maiden of fairies and the magical realm. She embodies enchantment and grace, apparent in her bold and beautiful dance moves. A lifelong student of dance and singing, Innana holds a second career in opera and musical theater. When not helping choreograph some of ChoveXani's better moves, she can be found traipsing through dark, vampiric European countries singing at high octaves or teaching singing to a new generation. Also heavily inspired by the Morrigan, she combines ancient aesthetics with a strong dance background.

Assistant Artistic Director of Chovexani, this Sorceress of Dragons uses her supernatural powers to better the troupe. Her particularcreative skill began at an early age, where fantasy, art and costuming led her to actions such as begging her mother to sew ornate costumes because mere photos could not express the relationship of the textiles to the accessories and the fullness of the experience. Rocza carries this same spirit and desire to embrace the audience with the experience in her dance. Even as a youngster, she often taught herself steps after thoroughly observing others and dissecting their execution (a detail she notoriously continues to this day–can we say "diagrams" anyone?)

Hispanic by heritage, her home was always full of music, dance, and a culture she is still proud of. Her degree from NYU, youth in New York's Greenwich Village, and current alternate career in the textile industry have allowed her to experience and express her full creativity, from the arts to costume design.
These skills would prove useful for her most innovative role yet; having begun her career in Middle Eastern dance 3 years ago with Z. Asha, her talent as a dancer and organizer, and all around kick butt female couldn't be ignored. To her credit, she is an accurate choreographer and detailed transcriber.

As Assistant Artistic Director, she is excellent at assisting in choreography, a clever costume designer and seamstress, jewelry maker, all around organizer, promoter and advisor. Not to mention one hell of a dancer; her career in Middle Eastern dance includes performing in New York's Annual Arab Cultural Street Festival, and BAAD's Mid~East Dance Jam. Her own style allows her to be both wickedly funny, but humble in the learning process of dance, and steadfast about her contributions to the group.

Cyn - Sin

Cyn-Sin is thrilled and honored to be dancing among such incredibly talented and fiery women in her first Night of 1000 Goddesses, as a new member of ChoveXani.  She first came to NYC in 2002 for her theater training at American Musical Dramatic Academy (AMDA), and then the School for Film and Television.  She has studied many kinds of dance and theater and performed in cabaret venues but has recently found her heart in this gorgeous fusion of dance and theater.

Cyn-Sin studies with Sarah Johansson-Locke and Jeniviva and is part of Jeniviva’s Mystical Hips Tribe. She is also a passionate visual artist, sculptor-painter. Her art can be viewed at www.lookatlife.com and www.barebrush.com (where she has won multiple curator’s choice awards).  This performance is dedicated to the Goddess Kali-Ma and her own mother, both who taught her to dance with complete, passionate abandon. She also practices Brazilian Capoiera.

Teuta Ilyriana

Teuta Ilyriana is above all else her own person, unique and distinctive, both on and off the stage. She has dedicated her life to becoming the best dancer she can be, respectfully seeking out and learning from the most accomplished dancers in their respective styles. She has become an amalgam,of sorts,of all that she has seen, yet more than just the sum of her parts, imbuing it all with her personal experience.

She has always kept her own sense of identity and drama, making each move her own, always in service of the music, allowing it to speak through her.. Teuta considers herself a Darque fusion bellydancer, fire spinner,and Acolyte of Desire. Utilizing a strong foundation in ethnic tribal fusion, locks and pops, modern fusion, ATS, Middle Eastern, tango, flamenco, and symbolic movement, she projects her vision to the audience. Ever learning, ever evolving,but always herself. Earthy yet elegant. Sophisticated yet sensual. Archetypal and timeless.

The fearless (and sometimes insane) leader of Chovexani, Z. Asha has spent most of her life pursuing the theater arts. Her Egyptian and Hungarian ancestry initially piqued her interest in ethnic storytelling, dance, and arts, and these gypsified roots eventually melded with her interest in theater, film, music, and dance from various sources. Armed with a film and theater degree from NYU, her initial steps toward Chovexani came after her first company, City Sahara, launched its traditional Middle and Near East dance repertoire. Chovexani, in turn, is the experimentalist/riot grrrl/gothic/tribal response to the traditionalists' drum, and looks to expand its fusion vision. Her theatrical bent lends to a unique choreography in her works, while a background in ethnic dance (including studies in ethnic dance from sources such as Lotus Music and dance) makes for a look particular to the troupe--both ancient, and futuristic.

When not directing her two troupes, Z can be found teaching Middle Eastern, North African, East Indian, and Thai workshops throughout the Bronx and Manhattan. She is also a featured dancer at the annual Arab Cultural Street festival and Bronx's BAAD! Ass Women's Fest, and when not dancing, she writes for various Middle Eastern publications. "Downtime" includes steadfastly perfecting arts of storytelling, puppetry, Middle Eastern drumming, jewelry making, costume making, near contortionism in perfecting dance vocabulary and fusion...and generally finding ways to sleep in between all of this.

Guest Dancers

Eshtar-Lucretia

Studied Cabaret Style Belly dance for about nine years. She then discovered American Tribal, found herself drawn to the Tribal Style, then motivated to combine both elements of Cabaret and Tribal. Gothic Bellydance, however is the performance/theatrical aspect that she loves to incorporate into my dance as well as the “Goth” music she likes to dance to.