Katia K Dancer, performer, choreographer and instructor. Born in Ukraine, raised in Tajikistan, Katia moved to US after living and dancing in Siberia, Russia. She started dance at the age of 5 with classic ballroom. Later, Katia began her belly dance journey with traditional “raqs sharki” in 2001, with beledi, tabla solo, Turkish, national Tajik and Uzbek dance. Inspired by YouTube videos of Rachel Brice, Sharon Kihara, Zoe Jakes and FCBD, Katia continued to explore her dancing with modern American belly dance style, known as “tribal fusion belly dance”. She completed numerous workshops for ATS FCBD format, ITS Unmata format, and Suhaila Salimpur belly dance format. In 2010 she started teaching her first ATS level 1 class in Siberia, then grew into her own dancing school in 2015. Katia has been busy directing and organizing numerous dance shows and workshops since then! Katia moved to Largo, FL, in 2020, and is excited to join the Hip Expressions dance community and share her passion to dance. “I fell in love with belly dance 20 years ago, and this love is absolute. Every single step of this whole big world of dance makes me happy. It could be drilling new dance moves, stitching a new costume, choosing a song to perform or creating dance patterns in my head. In my dance class I walk you through the music to the place where you become a queen of your own fairytale. I will help you build strong dancer muscles, develop coordination, find your balance and explore new edges of your body.”