hmmm... Let's change that to grandma's secrete recipe (not receipt) and we're good to go!

That's a really hard question to answer. I don't think we set out to have a specific style. "American Fusion" might be the best name for it, but if you really wanted to know the ingredients to our secret recipe here they are (to the best of my knowledge):

Amy is the main choreographer, and her background is American-Turkish Caberet with Alia Saleem. Alia studied under Serena in the 70's. Amy is inspired by the earthiness of Tribal and loves Indian fusion. So our skirt dancing, prolific use of karshlamas, bits and peices of world fusion, grid-style line ups, and "hubble bubbles" and "tea cups" come from Amy.

Both Bobbie and I also started out with Alia Saleem as our teacher. Bobbie has three little kids at home so she doesn't get to dance as much as she used to, but she is very active in theater and brings those skills to the table. Around two years ago I started studying with Alexia, with whom I've studied the styles of Turkish Romani, West African, modern Egyptian and modern fusion. My contributions to the troupe are typically staging. I constantly pester Amy like a fly in her ear saying "Can we do this in a circle?" and "Can we do this while moving?"

Megan and Kat are our Tribal goddesses. They started out with Christiane and were once part of Ak~Ana. They have taught the rest of the troupe some Tribal moves, cues and transitions, and in the future we'd like to have the ability to perform Tribal as a troupe. They did an awesome duet at Rakkasah East last year, but the rest of us still need more training before we're performance ready I think. Kat taught us how to use fans.

Moriah and Trisha have their roots in the SCA and learned how to dance at Pennsic and other events, as well as taking some classes. Trisha is an opera singer and Moriah is an actress, so they both bring those skills to the mix. Trisha loves Fosse and jazz and is currently working on a fabulous choreography to a mash up of Bootilicious and Superstitious. Moriah can freestyle on the dance floor like a diva.

So two parts 70's Turkish, one part Tribal, a pinch of glute squeezes, and a dash of world fusion curry powder. Bake, add pink frosting, and you get Mahira Tribe.