Talisman Dance Company is a professional belly dance

Belly dance

Belly dance or Bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "Middle Eastern" dance, especially raqs sharqi . It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West, or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli...

 troupe based in San Diego, California

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

.

Formed in 2006, Talisman Dance Company specializes in the Raqs Sharqi

Raqs sharqi

Raqs sharqi is the classical Egyptian style of belly dance that developed during the first half of the 20th century.Based on the traditional ghawazi  and other folk styles and formed by western influences such as marching bands, the Russian ballet, Latin dance, etc., this hybrid style was...

 (cabaret) and fusion styles of belly dance. They are often accompanied by the San Diego-based Middle Eastern group Midnight Debke.

Principal Dancers

The artistic director of Talisman is Heather Wells. There are currently two other principal dancers, Elizabeth Yeatts and Laura Hunter. Talisman also has “apprentice dancers” who perform with the company and are training to become principal dancers.

Performances

Since its inception, Talisman has performed at a variety of festivals and entertainment venues throughout Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 and Baja, Mexico

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

. The company has performed at Alma Paradiso, Renaissance Faires

Renaissance Fair

A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are...

 and a number of coffee houses and restaurants in San Diego and Los Angeles.

External links

• Official site
• The Talisman tribe on Tribe.net
  Tribe.net
  tribe.net is a website that hosts an online community of friends, similar to other social networking sites. The site name is always spelled in all lower case.-History:...
  
  
• Photos of the Talisman debut performance
• Alma Paradiso 2007