Instructors

Jesse Stanbridge was introduced to group improv when she saw her first performance at a club in 2002. She was instantly hooked.

Upon moving to London in 2005, Jesse was determined to foster and shape the UK’s burgeoning group improv community. As co-founder of Moirai Tribal with Philippa Moirai, Jesse performed and hosted dance events throughout the UK. Through a job offer, Jesse relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012 where she co-founded Tessera Dance alongside Sofia Salazar-Rubio and continues to seek every opportunity to study with top instructors.

Jesse enjoys serving her students solid technique with a healthy portion of humor on the side. She has been a certified FCBD®Style Instructor since 2008 and an Advanced FCBD®Style Teacher since 2014.

You may also catch her showing off her spooky side as a principle dancer with Ariellah Aflalo’s Deshret Dance Company.

When she’s not dancing, Jesse loves being a co-host of “The Cue – FCBD®Style Podcast" with her partner and IRL Best Buddy, Sofia. She’s a gin drinkin’, metal listenin’ cat-mom of two who enjoys camping and pizza. 

Virginia is from Burgos, Spain, but she moved to the U.S. in 2001, finally settling down in Indiana. Her dance journey began in Ohio in 2005. While taking belly dance classes, she met a girl wearing a tassel belt and she was in awe of this style. She immediately searched the web and found Fat Chance Belly Dance®. She was hooked. She started taking a 3-hour round trip once a week to take classes and then studied with Dark Side Troupe when she moved to Bloomington, eventually becoming a troupe member and then the troupe's director.

Her passion for FCBD® style and her desire to share it with others lead her to complete her General Skills certification in 2010 and 2015, and Teacher Training in 2012, when she also became a Partner Studio.

Since then, she has continued her education attending workshops each year, since she believes in life-long learning. She is honored to be an Advanced Teacher Training graduate (2016) and certified Continuing Education instructor, and a Datura® Style practitioner.

In addition to belly dance, Virginia is a Spanish professor, a personal trainer and Orangetheory® coach, and a certified yoga instructor. 

Krisztina is the founder and artistic director of Czigany World Fusion Dance. Her formal dance training began over 30 years ago with classical ballet and she has been building on that foundation ever since. She has studied many dance styles over the years and combined them all in the formation of Czigany World Fusion Dance.

As a teacher she strives to not only teach a series of steps, but to also show her students the magic that is dance and the freedom it gives them to feel and to express what lies deep within their soul. "Everyone has a beauty inside that is so indescribably brilliant; one that consists of all of their passions, their hopes, their fears, and their dreams. I help my students to get in touch with that part of themselves through dance."

As a performer, Krisztina not only shows you the dance visually, but you can actually feel her become one with the music. You will experience the combination of dance and music in waves of energy and emotion as she paints a picture and creates a breathtaking work of art before your eyes.

Krisztina is Michigan's first Sister Studio to FatChanceBellyDance®, is Advanced Teacher Training Certified, and is an ATS® Sister Studio Continuing Education Instructor. She is also certified in group fitness and holistic fitness, has been teaching since 2001, and is the creator of the ATS® Drill Companion DVD series and the Work that Skirt ATS® Style DVD.

Clara Ortiz started her journey as a bellydancer 25 years ago, exploring different styles and influences of this beautiful art form. Starting in traditional oriental bellydance, and later expanding into Fusion and FatChance BellyDance, she aims to reach folks of all ages, shapes, and skill levels, teaching and performing in the US and in her home country of Colombia for the past 2 decades. She holds the FCBD® General Skills and Teacher Training certifications, and is a certified FCBD® Partner Studio since 2012. Clara has also completed the first 3 phases of Rachel Brice’s “8 Elements” Program, achieving the Practitioner Certification.

As a teacher, she strives to keep expressing her own voice, and show students and audiences the beauty and range of these dance styles; she is committed to improving her knowledge in dance technique, musicality, zills (her favorite!) and beyond through continuous training, always looking for sources of inspiration and knowledge, in a spirit of collaboration and growth. 

Outside of her dance life, she is a jewelry designer, a hobbyist painter, a frustrated singer, and a Master in Business Administration. Along with her dance adventures, she is the owner of Muysca Knots, which brings one of a kind pieces made of artificial silk ribbon, handmade by Colombian women artisans in the macrame style. 

Richard Harper has had a successful career as a hair and makeup artist working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tours and regional opera companies as well as print work, portrait work and industrial films. He has worked for the Broadway companies of Les Miserables, Grease, Blood Brothers, Kiss of the Spider Woman, My Fair Lady, Cabaret and Sugar Babies, among others, and has been lucky enough to work with great stars of the stage: Vanessa Williams, Carole King, Rosie O'Donnell, Joel Grey, Debbie Allen, Ann Miller, Kim Criswell, Maureen McGovern, Andrea McArdle, Werner Klemperer, Lea Salonga, Regina Resnik, Sharon Lawrence and Kay McClelland. He has received cosmetology licenses in several states, worked as a platform artist and colorist and specializes in wig construction, repair and design.