Mosaic Dance Theater Company:

      Samara (Artistic Director for Dance, Choreographer) began dancing professionally in her teens, and has become one of the most celebrated and sought after Arabic dancers of today.  A protégé of the late master Ibrahim Farrah, she performed with his internationally acclaimed Near East Dance Group in some of the most prestigious concert arenas in the US, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, New York’s Town Hall, Theatre of the Riverside Church, and the Spoleto Festival.  In addition, she has performed with some of the most famous singing stars of the Middle East.  Samara was a 1998 inductee into the American Academy of Middle Eastern Dance Hall of Fame.  Samara is engaged regularly as a soloist in Middle Eastern nightclubs and special events in New York City and throughout the US.  She is a popular seminar leader, conducting dance workshops across the US and abroad, and is on the dance faculty of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Extension.  As special guest artist, she has performed in Mexico, the Caribbean, Paris, London, China, Japan, West Africa, Jordan, Greece, Turkey, Russia, and throughout the Middle East.  Samara has appeared on television,  including the MTV Awards where she danced with Christina Aguilera.  A trained actress, she has appeared on the New York stage.  Recent  choreographic credits include Mosaic’s The Fisherman and The Djinni (2006), Visions of the Near East (2005), Celebration (2003); the New York world premier of Banat el Emir or The Dancing Princesses, in which she also performed; and Caravan to Cairo, critically acclaimed in its presentation at the NY International Fringe Festival, which tours to schools as part of arts-in education programming.  As a professional model, she worked in the US and in Europe in runway, print and fashion.

     Morgiana Celeste Varricchio (Producing Artistic Director) is a classically trained actor, a storyteller and a dancer, as well as the founder of Mosaic Dance Theater Company. Her works have been commissioned and performed internationally, in New York, and at regional and stock theaters throughout the U.S., including such venues as Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Museum, Paper Mill Playhouse, the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, the Nashville Institute for the Arts, the New York International Fringe Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.  An accomplished writer and producer, she has adapted and/or written for the stage, produced, performed, and toured in: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Lincoln Center, NYC); Gypsy Tales (New York International Fringe Festival); Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Scotland); Banat El Emir (Greenwich Street Theatre, NYC); and for Mosaic Dance Theater Company, Ubar, The Lost City of Brass, The Fisherman and The Djinni, and Land of The Pharaohs.  In addition to her numerous acting credits, she worked as a production assistant for several Broadway productions, was an artistic consultant for the late film star Anthony Quinn, and is privileged to list on her resume the remarkable experience of working for five years at the Dallas Theater Center (TX) during its leadership by the legendary Paul Baker.  Morgiana also teaches classes and workshops in Middle Eastern dance, and conducts workshops for storytelling and story theater.  She holds an MFA from Trinity University and a BA from Lehigh University. 

      Adriana Rosa has taught and performed Middle Eastern dance for over 20 years. She was a featured member of L’Orient Danse Troupe and has performed in a variety of venues including carnivals, festivals, theatres, restaurants, and television in the US and the Caribbean.  Also a student and performer of Hawaiian dance, Adriana holds a BA from Hunter College and an MA from Columbia University.

      Nina Brewton, a Mosaic company member since its original production in 2003, has had extensive training in ballet, jazz, modern dance and Dunham technique (African dance), having studied at the Clark Center for Performing Arts where she was awarded a two-year full-time dance scholarship. As a performer of the Polynesian dances of the Pacific for many years, Nina toured professionally with three Polynesian dance companies.  She aspires to be a master teacher of Hawaiian dance and culture, and travels to Hawaii each year continuing her studies in a 5-year graduate program under the guidance of Kumu Hula (master teacher) Mapuana de Silva.  Nina studies Middle Eastern dance with Samara, and has performed at special events, in theatrical productions and Middle Eastern venues in the New York area.

 

      Nahoko Sugiyama began studying Middle Eastern dance in Tokyo, Japan, quickly becoming a popular oriental dancer, with professional appearances at special events, at many private and corporate functions, and regular club engagements. Nahoko’s passion this beautiful dance form led her to New York City to pursue her career with more in-depth training from Samara, and other notable teachers such as Yousry Sharif, Jehan, and Dalia Carella.   Nahoko can be seen regularly, performing at Middle Eastern venues and special events in the NYC area.  Recently, her love of the dance has inspired her to organize special shows with live music to introduce the NY Japanese community to oriental dance.  She studies other dance forms, including ballet and modern dance at Dance New Amsterdam in NYC, and this has led her to expand her performance horizons as a dancer and an artist.  Nahoko has been a member of MDTC since 2007.

      Dianna Dwyer’s love for Middle Eastern music and dance was sparked when she worked as a nurse in Saudi Arabia in 1991. Dianna, a native New Zealander, began her study of dance in the USA, and made her first stage appearance in 1996. She has participated in professional shows in Washington DC, Baltimore, New York, Honolulu, and New Zealand, and was named the Duchess of Dance and the Peoples’ Choice winner in the 2003 East Coast Belly Dance Classic Competition.  Dianna has studied under master teachers Samara, Faten Salama of Egypt, Artemis Mourat, and Yasmin, both of Washington DC area. She has attended the Nile Group festival in Cairo for the past three years fostering her desire to continue her studies in the art of Middle Eastern dance. Prior to relocating to the NY-metro area, Dianna had been employed as a regular and featured dancer at Casablanca restaurant in Alexandria, VA since 2002, and danced at many other venues in the DC area. Dianna became a member of Mosaic in 2009.

      Rie Sueyoshi, a native of Japan and currently enrolled in theater classes at Hunter College, was introduced to ballet as a child while living in Vancouver, Canada, and has since studied several dance forms, including hip-hop and jazz.  While enrolled in Samara’s five-day master dance workshop, Rie found her metier in Middle Eastern dance.   Discovering the beauty of art and performance, Rie has set her goal to become a professional performer.  Her natural dance talent caught Samara’s eye, who then invited her to apprentice with Mosaic .  As Rie works hard to develop her talent and achieve her artistic goals, she studies dance with Samara and makes her theatrical debut in this production.  Rie has been dancing with Mosaic since 2009.

      Jennifer Bocian made her theatrical dance debut with Mosaic Dance Theater Company in Celebration 2005 and has been studying Middle Eastern and North African Dance with Samara for approximately ten years. She took a hiatus from Mosaic after 2005 and continued her studies with Samara. Her dance background also includes training in Jazz, Tap and Hip-Hop. She has performed in local venues including Nell’s, Lafayette Grill, Thiasos and many more.  She currently assists Samara and Jajouka, also a former principal dancer in Ibrahim Farrah’s Near East Dance Group, with various student teaching assignments and pre/post production events.  In November 2004 she traveled to Japan with Samara to further her studies and aid as her assistant.  In June 2008 she accompanied Samara to Egypt to experience first-hand the culture of North Africa and assist her at the annual oriental dance festival, Ahlan Wa Sahlan!

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