Instructors

Internationally renowned for her encouraging approach to teaching and her elegant dance style, Philippa Moirai has been a professional performer and teacher for over 20 years. Taking her first ballet steps at the age of three, she has had a lifelong passion for dance. A dedicated dance and yoga instructor based in London, she continues to share her knowledge and experience with others, teaching and performing around the world.

With a strong desire to learn, and a background in classical dance, fire performance and circus arts, Philippa began studying Egyptian belly dance in 2004. This led her to discover the dynamic art of fusion and the FatChanceBellyDance® format a year later. Frequently travelling to learn from the source, she has trained extensively with Carolena Nericcio the creator of this dance form, and other master teachers, to hone her skills. In 2007 she became one of the first FCBD® certified instructors in the UK. Philippa feels honoured to be a Partner Studio, a Continuing Education Instructor, and to have cotaught several GS Intensives and Teacher Trainings with Carolena.

A lover of connection and collaboration, Philippa is a founding member of London’s first FCBD®Style dance troupe: Moirai Tribal, and the FireWater Collective; co-hosting events, choreographing performances and crafting shows in the UK for well over a decade. She is a key member of the European Dance Sisters Collective, and co-creator of the Kindred Skirts Movement Dialect.

Philippa has had the pleasure of sharing the stage and working collaboratively with many incredible dancers and musicians across the UK, Europe, USA, South America, Africa, and Asia. She has performed with Carolena, Megha Gavin, Kristine Adams and principal dancers of the FatChance® troupe, as well as Jill Parker, Olivia Kissel, Olga Meos and other esteemed Fusion artists.

In addition to her performance and dance career, Philippa is a qualified Yoga instructor with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. Yoga, meditation, mindful movement and dance are all an integral part of her life. She continues to train in these different disciplines which inform and enrich each other, weaving their teachings through all that she does, and sharing them from her heart.

Kristine Adams' lifelong love of dance led her to FatChanceBellyDance® in the early 2000s. She immediately felt at home in the South Van Ness studio and progressed quickly as a student. Her dedication paid off in 2005 when she was invited to join the professional FCBD® troupe. For over a decade, Kristine taught and performed as a principal dancer with the pioneering FatChanceBellyDance® company. She began teaching at the 670 studio in 2006, passing on the unique FCBD® style to eager students across the globe. Looking to connect with the global community, Kristine launched her acclaimed "From The Belly of a Traveler" world tour in 2012. The tour ran for four successful years until 2016. During this tour she visited 70 countries and danced with hundreds of dancers from around
the world. After retiring from the FCBD® troupe in 2018, Kristine continued teaching and performing full-time, bringing her special magic to audiences worldwide. The pandemic put her globetrotting career on hold in 2020. Now, after a hiatus, Kristine is thrilled to be reuniting with her beloved dance community. With decades of experience under her belt, she looks forward to many more years of performing, teaching, and sharing her lifelong passion for belly dance.

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.

Based in Quebec City, Canada, Jill Otter began her FCBD® Style adventure in 2009 and obtained her teacher certification and Sister Studio mention in 2019 in San Francisco with Carolena and the members of FatChanceBellydance. Since then, she has given several intensives in her area. Recently, she joined the Kateya group, which devotes itself to fusion as well as improvisation at medieval and history-themed events.

As a fusion soloist, Jill is known for her precise, original and expressive performances. In class, her students appreciate her versatility, positive approach and imagination. Involved in the community, she was a guest judge at RaKS Quebec 2018 for the provincial bellydance competitions and she is currently part of the organizing committee of the Tribalement vôtre - Tribally Yours fusion festival in Quebec.

In addition to FCBD® Style and neobellydance, Jill is trained in Indian dances. Having studied bharatanatyam and kathak for a few years, she also loves folk styles like Kalbeliya, garba and bhangra. She has been teaching Bollywood since 2013 and has earned some international distinctions: first place in professional solo category and public choice award at the Digital Dance Collective competition in 2020, and gold medal in professional solo category at the Bollywood and Multicultural Dance Festival of Athens in 2024, the largest festival of its kind in Europe.

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.