Spotlight Dancer/Troupe
Hannah Romanza

Hannah grew up on the stage in the world of Western theatrical dance, performing in community theater productions and competing in statewide dance competitions. She received her early training in ballet, musical theater, and other western forms at the Kreuzer Academy of the Performing Arts in Marin County, California, where she performed her first solo at age 8 and was teaching and choreographing by her teens. Hannah has choreographed for numerous community theater productions, including Barnum, The King and I, and Fiddler on the Roof, and is widely recognized for her exceptional work with young people. She remains, however, focused on her own world dance program, Danceversity, where youths have the opportunity many of us would have dreamed of having -dance styles from around the globe at our fingertips. Many kids become disinterested in dance believing that ballet is all there is and that since they are not "cut out" to be a professional dancer by that standard dance has no place in their lives. However, the kids in Danceversity gain not only an exceptional introduction to international dance and an expanded cultural awareness, but an increased pride in their own capabilities.

So how did Hannah get involved in ethnic dance and belly dance in particular? She came from a family of performing artists, and her favorite memories from childhood were of dancing with her grandfather, a Russian immigrant and dancer, to her grandparents' foreign music on cassette tapes.

With a glass of water balanced on her head she was encouraged to perform for the family, carefully executing her moves as dollar bills were thrown at her feet.

At 19 she discovered her penchant for foreign cultures when she traveled to Asia for 9 months, spending most of that time in India. With this experience the world opened up to her, and she returned to study dances of North Africa, the Near East, and the Balkan Rom with the highly knowledgeable folklorist Katarina Burda, performing alongside dancers Mira Betz, Elizabeth Strong and other talents in the Aywah! Ethnic Dance Company for many years. She went on to receive a BA in Dance Ethnology and World

Music at San Francisco State University, studying modern, Caribbean, African, North Indian, and flamenco with masters in those fields. Following her undergrad studies she went on to study classical Persian and Central Asian dance with Sharlyn Sawyer, performing in Ballet Afsaneh while also studying flamenco with the acclaimed Yaelisa. She performed on a couple of occasions in San Francisco's Ethnic Dance Festival and was a founding member of Shuvani, a company presenting dances of the Roma who toured both China and India.

In 2007 a 30-minute television broadcast interview of Hannah aired on TV.

She has been featured in numerous music videos and art films, and her first and second educational DVDs on world dance have recently been released.

Hannah Romanza Romanowsky, a classically trained ethnic dancer with a degree from San Francisco State University in Dance Ethnology and World Music, is an artist, entertainer, educator and student dedicated to the enchanting traditions of North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. She draws her aesthetic impulse from many years of study in both Eastern and Western classical dance; and her movement style is informed by her wide range of vocabulary and emotive expression conveying a sense of joyful abandonment and intrinsic delight in movement, music and performance. As a seasoned performer on the proscenium stage, her repertoire includes the breath-taking turns and delicately exquisite flourishes of Persian classical dance, the saucy and exuberant gestures of the Rom (Gypsy) style of Turkey, and artfully balancing a candle-lit tea-set on her head while executing acrobatic feats and complex body isolations in the tradition of the Moroccan Sheikhat. Her unique contemporary approach to Belly Dance, rooted in classical form and characterized by elegant sensuality and fluid lyricism, is infused with architecture, sculpture, and precision with the aim of re-vivifying its ancient stature as a galvanizing performing art for women. 

As a passionate supporter of the international performing arts and instructor of youths in the art of dance for nearly 15 years, Hannah founded the educational world dance program Danceversity in 2005 where she continues to mentor pre-professional dancers, encouraging them to adopt a more expansive, global view of dance as an invaluable conveyor of culture and a rich source of artistic expression and creative inspiration.

An avid performer, Hannah has been featured at some of the most distinguished venues of Northern California; including San Francisco's City Hall, Palace of Fine Arts, Asian Art Museum, Legion of Honor, Ritz-Carlton, Fairmont Hotel, the Oakland Ballet's Gala event, as well as at festivals and museums in Asia, Europe, and across the United States. She has two instructional world dance DVDs on the international market entitled Belly Dance for Teens and Belly Dance Stylistics and continues to perform for events both local and abroad as well as model for independent films and photography. Her future projects include hosting an international television series on world dance. Hannah currently resides in Marin County just north of San Francisco and is pursuing an advanced degree in psychology.

To contact Hannah Romanza:
email: hannah@hannahdance.com
website: http://www.hannahdance.com/
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