Who is behind - Art of Movement?

Tanya Bamford-King - Biography
[click here for Tanya's photo gallery]
Click the photo to see performance

Like many young New Zealanders Tanya started Ballet as a preschooler. She flirted with Jazz and contemporary dance and continued to study classical ballet to RAD Solo Seal level. She also started teaching junior level RAD. Taking a short break from dance over 1984 to 1987 Tanya complete a Bachelor of Management Studies double majoring in Accounting and Marketing. She began studying Middle Eastern Dance in New Zealand in 1988.

Over the following years she built a reputation for herself as one of the most highly sought after dance performers in Auckland. She continued to study and perform with a number of dance teachers and groups within the region. She also began teaching Belly Dance in 1992.

In 1995, having exhausted all study opportunities in New Zealand she moved overseas, taking the opportunity to perform and study Oriental dance in Luxembourg, Germany, France, England and Tunisia. She also accepted invitations to teach workshops in Germany and France.

Back in New Zealand in 1997, Tanya founded Art of Movement to promote Oriental Dance as a performing and recreational art in New Zealand. In addition to running her thriving dance school she has been guest instructor several time at the Middle Eastern Dance Festival of New Zealand and the Sydney Middle Eastern Dance Festival [www.sydmedfest.co.au]. She also teaches workshops regularly around New Zealand as well as hosting retreats at her own property, Haven Thyme. As director of Art of Movement Dance School she also produces regular dance shows featuring not only Art of Movement Students but various invited guest performers, manages and directs the prize winning community Dance Troupe, "Belly Hoo", as well as her own professional dance team "Dangerous Curves Ahead". Through Art of Movement she also regularly sponsors overseas Master Instructors to teach workshops around New Zealand. Her talent for absorbing and passing on knowledge and for producing consistently high quality dance product is well known and respected in the National Belly dance Community.

Click the photo to see performance

In 2006 Tanya had the opportunity to take her first pilgrimage to Cairo, Egypt. There she had the priviledge of seeing some of her Belly Dance Idol's perform (Dina, Lucy and Asmahan) and the opportunity to study with Raquia Hassan (again), Giseffi and Nagwa El Sultan. In 2008 she once more travelled to Cairo to attend the Ahlan Wa Sahlan [www.raqiahassan.net] Festival which featured not only some of Egypts most well respected dancers, but master instructors from around the world. Later in the year she is also travelling to Sydney to attend the Farha Tour featuring Randa Kamel [www.farhatour.com.au] aswell as Caroline of Cairo and Yasmina (the English Rose of Cairo).

Tanya has taken training both internationally and locally with the following Master Instructors:

In addition to numerous other instructors from New Zealand and over seas.