Rising out of the hotpot of Las Vegas' growing fusion bellydance scene, Raven, Nisha and Inara combined forces to create TABU in July 2007. They emerged with their "Tribal Sampler" style and have since evolved to include narrative choreographies that push the envelope with thought provoking, inspirational, and sometimes-controversial themes. With their first public performance winning them first place at the International Belly Dance Convention in the Tribal Fusion Troupe category, they soon after moved on to win the title of Ultimate Troupe at Hips of Fury 2007. TABU has had the great honor of performing at events across California, Nevada, and Vancouver including Tribal Fest 8 & 9, Punk Raqs, Tribal Massive, Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive, Las Vegas Renaissance Festival, The Essence of Arabia, Shadow Star Cafe, and the theatrical stage show Mythical Creatures. They have also taught workshops in CA, including Tribal Fest 9. TABU has helped to spearhead the tribal fusion scene in Las Vegas with the popular Las Vegas Tribal Nights monthly showcase celebrating tribal dance art. Edgy, innovate and playful...mixing cabaret, tribal, dark fusion, folkloric, urban and their trademark robot zombie funk. TABU pushes the traditional boundaries in challenging new directions, demonstrating that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas.   Raven: Raven's multifaceted journey in belly dance started under the direction of Marliza Pons in 1996 focusing mainly Egyptian/Turkish Cabaret. She became fascinated with ATS in 1999 after watching FatChanceBellyDance perform. She has taken extensive workshops with Carolena Nerricio and in August, 2008 earned her ATS General Skills Certification. In February 2009 she earned her Teacher Training 1 and 2 certifications in ATS and was granted Sister Studio status with FatChanceBellyDance. Among the many workshops in various tribal fusion, folkloric and oriental styles, she has also taken numerous workshops with Ariellah, who has been a consistent source of inspiration. She has also had training in Flamenco from Margo Torea, as well as Amira of Las Vegas. She is 1/3 of the award winning troupe,Tabu and also a member of Raqaseen. With Tabu she can make use of her extensive tribal fusion training. As a member of Raqaseen, under the direction of Amira, she has an opportunity to use her cabaret and Flamenco training. As director of Kumuda Tribal, she has added American Tribal Style to the Las Vegas Valley. For information regarding Raven's ATS classes, please visit www.raventribal.com. Inara: Inara learned to bellydance in 2002, and from the first class, she was hooked. Known for her "Tribaret" style which is a sassy marriage of Oriental Cabaret and Tribal Fusion, Inara has been a featured performer at numerous events in the Las Vegas area including numerous Middle-Eastern restaurants and local events. Nisha: Nisha has always had a love for dance! From the time she could walk, she wanted to do ONE thing, DANCE! Always keeping up with the latest in dance trends wasn't enough, she wanted to really learn, and be able to express her emotions with dance. After seeing Deborah Nervig dance at a party she attended, she was hooked! The costumes, the dance, the shiny stuff!!!!Nisha started her formal dance journey in 2002 under Deborah Nervig's guiding hand and later joined New World Rhythmatism, an improv tribal troupe based in Las Vegas. Starting out in a free form tribal improv setting would lay the building blocks for Nisha's style of dance later on in her career. She started out performing at community haflas and soon caught the performance bug. Once her study with Ariellah began she found her true niche, pop-locking her way to the spookified, and dark dance style known as "Dark Fusion*". Since then Nisha has worked hard to improve and perfect her technique as much as possible. Nisha can be seen performing all over California and Nevada! Passion, and perseverance have pushed Nisha to constantly grow and bring as much to TABU as she can. Her last two years have been full of great opportunities and great new friends! She owes this to TABU. *Term coined by Ariellah Danya: Danya has been dancing since she was very young. She's tried many different forms of dance throughout the years; from ballet, to ballroom, to highschool drill team and college cheerleading; but it was what we call bellydancing that has really held her interest. Though now primarily a bellydancer, she brings these many art forms together when she performs. She avidly workshops with other artists to grow in new directions, and strives to amaze with new moves every time you see her. Among the many that she has workshopped with, she especially acknowledges Rachel Brice, Ariellah, Samantha Riggs, and Heather Stants for encouraging, inspiring, and helping her to grow as a dancer. She is also proud to be a dancer in Raven's ATS troupe, Kumuda Tribal. In addition to bellydance, Danya also performs with fire and directs her own troupe, Seraphina Fire. She has performed with Cirque du Soleil, performed fire at the IBDC, has been found dancing in many various festivals and Renaissance faires on the west coast, and keeps a busy schedule choreographing new routines and dancing at private parties. Danya was extremely thrilled to be invited to join as the 4th member of TABU. She has admired them since their inception and has always longed to be part of such an amazing group. She's truly still in shock, and overwhelmed with love for the three girls that have been there for her through so much, and whom now welcome her as a TABU sister. For more info and for performance/workshop booking, please contact Tabu @ Tabutriballv@yahoo.com