Julia DiVerdi has been a dedicated belly dancer since the age of 14. She is the originator and now retired director of Desert Rain, Colorado's premier tribal belly dance troupe. Originally a cabaret dancer (Rocky Mountain Belly Dance Co. anyone?) Julia fell in love with American Tribal Style after discovering the work of FatChanceBellyDance and is constantly inspired by its director, Carolena Nericcio.

In the summer of 2004, Julia met newly relocated dancer, Molly McClellan, and the two quickly built a Tribal Style dance company together known as TribalTique. After firmly establishing American Tribal Style locally, TribalTique branched out into Tribal Fusion Style seeking inspiration from the likes of The Indigo, Urban Tribal Dance Company, Unmata, and their own unique blend of tango, salsa, hip-hop and burlesque.

Julia performs and teaches workshops both locally and nationally with TribalTique and as a solo artist and has taught sold out workshops at the Big Kahuna itself, Tribal Fest, in 2007 and 2008. She has been a local instructor for more than 10 years, building a loyal following of amazing students.

Freshly General Skills Certified by Carolena herself, Julia has also received training from Suhaila Salimpor Dance Company, Rachel Brice and the Indigo, and Suzanna Del Vecchio (to name a few!). She continues taking classes and workshops with as many instructors as possible as she firmly believes that no matter how experienced she gets there is always more to learn!

A graduate of Colorado State University, Julia received her master's degree in apparel design with her thesis dedicated to the origins of American Tribal Style Belly Dance and it's costume. She also designs her own unique line of tribal belly dance costuming which can be purchased at workshops and shows as well as the online Boutique.

What is Tribal Fusion Style anyway? Well, TFS is one of the newest styles of belly dance out there and is therefore rather undefined as of yet. For Julia and TribalTique, TFS is a unique blend of crisp belly dance isolation, layering and technique with tribal style posture and presentation.

The aesthetic leans towards the "creepy" or enigmatic with heavy overtones of vaudville and burlesque, but is always simply beautiful. Costuming incorporates heavy ethnic jewelry and textiles with rhinestones, glitter and bling for that stage shine. Muscial choices tend towards electronic mixes of ethnic music or just funky versions of modern music. TFS dancers usually have a varied dance background in more than just belly dance and cross-train in classical dance styles (ballet, jazz, modern) as well as social dance (salsa, tango, swing).