~ biography~

Dance when you're broken open. Dance when you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free. Struck, the dancer hears a tambourine inside her, like a wave that crests into foam at the very top, Begins. Maybe you don't hear that tambourine, or the tree leaves clapping time. Close the ears on your head, that listen mostly to lies and cynical jokes. There are other things to see, and hear. Music. Dance. A brilliant city inside your soul! ~ Rumi ~

Kirra performs traditional folkloric dances and original works of contemporary bellydance. Her stylistic repertoire includes improvisational works and original choreographies based on North African, Turkish, Persian, Arab, Roma and Armenian traditions. Her lyrical and earthy performances strive to communicate the passion, grace and drama of the ancient art of oriental dance.  Kirra’s dignified and emotional style has been cultivated over the years by her sisters at Circle Dance Theater and is grounded in the practice of hatha yoga.  Involvement in this creative community has been an incomparable source of inspiration for Kirra.  In addition to dancing with CDT, Kirra is a co-collaborator in the experimental bellydance group Le Serpent and performs her own solo choreographies and improvisational works.  Her current project involves developing a dance curriculum for young women and girls in the San Francisco Bay Area. From early childhood, Kirra has never shied from the dance floor.  She is inspired by diverse forms of music - from primal chants of the deep desert to urban hiphop and breakbeats.  Her journey into oriental dance first began in 1995 with a class at the Berkeley YWCA, but it wasn't until 2001 that she truly committed herself to the art, under the enlightened instruction of long time teacher and friend, Amelia J. Moore.  Since then Kirra has been performing, teaching and studying in venues up and down the west coast. Her ever-expanding interest in Middle Eastern, Central Asian and North African dance has lead Kirra to explore various regional styles and study with world-renowned teachers including the talented and wise Katarina Burda,  Helene Eriksen,  Robyn Friend,  Laurel Victoria Gray,  Sahra C. Kent ,  Morocco, and Amel Tafsout among others.  Through study and performance Kirra has reached new heights of personal and artistic expression, built confidence, grace and strength, and rekindled an interest in her Armenian roots.  She continues to draw inspiration from her friends and family, the beauty of the natural world, the immense diversity of human culture, and above all, the music.