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Shari has been studying
belly dance since 2001, performing since 2002, and teaching belly dance since
2006.
Shari and her dance partner Jen created Shimmy
Mischief in 2007 to give them an outlet for creating fun, genre-busting, and mischievous choreographies.
Known for the spirit of fusion and infectious energy they bring to their performances, they regularly perform "Gypsy-Balkan-Belly-Dance-Fusion"
with BALKANIZE!, Richmond's only Old World TurkoBalkan folk music band.
In addition to Shimmy Mischief, Shari is known for her high-energy
performances and drum solos with Geoff, for her duets with her sister Shane, and for the spirit
of fun and fusion that she brings to her solo dancing.
Shari is
an ACE-Certified Group Exercise Instructor, and has been teaching group exercise classes since 1993.
She is thrilled to be able to apply her knowledge of kinesiology, anatomy, choreography, and musical phrasing to the
belly dance classroom.
She was born in South Africa and grew up there and also in Moscow, USSR; San Jose,
Costa Rica; and Reston, VA before settling down in Richmond, VA. Shari has a BA in English and Psychology from UVa and
her master's in Adult Educaton from Central Michigan University. When she's not choreographing, teaching classes, performing,
attending workshops, or practicing belly dancing, Shari can be found teaching teambuilding, communication, and leadership
workshops; teaching indoor cycling classes; or camping, hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, and traveling with Geoff.
Geoff has been playing Eastern percussion for six years, fusing Arabic, Turkish,
North African and Balkan rhythms and techniques
into a hybrid style. He plays Arabic tabla, riqq and tar, and Turkish darbuka
and davul, as well as many stringed and wind instruments, including
saz, Macedonian and Bulgarian kaval, octave mandolin, and guitar
(with just enough Bulgarian gaida and accordion to annoy the neighbors).
He currently plays with
BALKANIZE!, an ensemble that performs folk music from the Balkans, Turkey and the Near East for belly dancers and international folk dancers.
Geoff was born in Fairfax, Virginia, USA, and grew
up in Reston, Virginia, and in Beograd in the former Yugoslavia before settling down in Richmond,
Virginia. He earned his bachelor's degree in English
from Virginia Commonwealth University. When he's not playing and practicing
with Shari or BALKANIZE!, he likes to travel across
America and abroad, read history and fiction, camp, hike, mountain bike, lift weights, jog, and watch zombie
movies.
Shari & Geoff Bennett Speer perform their
original, intimate and high-energy belly dance drum solos together at restaurants, art galleries, haflas and private parties
in the Richmond, Virginia, area. They have been married since 1991 and have traveled together to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
Slovenia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, England, Canada, and 37 states in the USA.
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