Jessica is a Finance student at the University of Louisville who has always had a passion for various forms of dance.  She studied Jazz, Ballet, and Salsa during her school years, and began learning belly dance from Taletha in 2006.  Jessica began performing with troupe Asrar Al Badra in 2007.  She also performed belly dance and Bollywood dance with Souldancing, a dance troupe in Xiamen and Shanghai, China.  She plans to continue studying the various forms of dance from all continents and cultures of the world.

Dancing has been a part of Lakshmi's life as long as she can remember. In her birth place of India , she took Indian classical dance lessons, which unfortunately did not last for long. She did, however, continue to perform Bollywood dance and other styles of Indian dance. She has been onstage since childhood but has never done a solo performance which is one of her current goals. Here in Louisville , you can usually catch her in most Indian dance shows especially the University of Louisville ’s ISA (Indian Student Association) programs. Belly dancing is something Lakshmi had dreamt of learning but didn’t think it would be possible. She is glad she has had the opportunity to learn and achieve this (much thanks to Taletha!). The next thing on her list is to excel at Salsa dance. She has taken a few lessons but would really love to be able to put in more time and effort to learn it. Lakshmi looks at dance as a way to help her to grow as a person. It is a big part of her life now and will continue to be indefinitely.

Mercedes is a native of Cuba, who has long had the love of dance in her life. She is a devoted student of the art of Belly Dance and is always striving to better her art through workshops, classes and practice. In addition to her experience with Belly Dance, Mercedes also has experience with Flamenco and Salsa, the dance of her native land. You can currently find Mercedes performing as a regular soloist with Ahel El Nagam and performing with Asrar Al Badra.

Olivia was born in Maryland in 1991. She started dancing at around the age of seven after her move to Kentucky. She went on to take ballet for three and a half year at the University of Louisville School of Music. After growing out of the childhood dream of becoming a Ballet dancer, Olivia left ballet classes and began doing contra and swing dance periodically. Olivia began her belly dance studies in August of 2005 with Taletha. She has performed at the Dance Your Paws Off Fundraiser (2008) as well as with Troupe Asrar Al Badra where she is also gaining experience in working with a group. Olivia has begun to choreograph her own solos and is also experimenting with props. Olivia also has music experience. She studied piano for two years and clarinet for five. She hoes to pursue Tribal Style Belly Dance, Flamenco, Indian dance, and Latin dance in the future. In addition to her plan to enter the medical field, Olivia also hope to continue with her Belly Dance studies, gain more performance experience, and make the art of Belly Dance a permanent part of her life.

Parvathy was born in India and came to the United States at the age of 14. She has been performing Indian cinematic/folk dancing since 8 years of age, and has been studying classical Indian dance (Bharatanatyam) for a year and a half. She started learning belly dance with Taletha in April 2007 and has performed with Asrar Al Badra on a couple of occasions. Her future plans include continuing to dance and perform with Taletha's troupe, as well as continue her Indian dancing. Some of Parvathy’s dance highlights include: winning several first place awards for Indian group dance competitions, performing with her sister Lakshmi for the University of Louisville Diwali Celebrations , and performing with troupe Asrar Al Badra.