BIO: I am Ankestamen (aunk-es-tah-men) (AKA Sherry Jeffries). It began when I was about 10 years old. My mother "Nefertiti" (AKA Doris Demarest-Nemith), who owned Nefertiti's Belly Dance Academy in Phoenix, AZ from 1974 to 1981, taught me Middle Eastern belly dance. She gave me a dance name and certified me as a teacher at the age of 15. I continued dancing until the age of 20 when she closed her studio and I moved out on my own. I took a 12-year break from dancing, deciding at the time it was not something I really wanted to do (or something my husband really wanted me to do). I had a child at age 30, and at 33 (1995) decided it was time to get back in shape. But I didn't know how to get in shape except for belly dancing. Everywhere around me dancing drew me back. First my neighbor Adam Burke of the Desert Knights (in photo above) informed me he was starting to play music for belly dancers. Then my sister-in-law (now a teacher) in Port Angeles Washington informed me she was taking belly dance lessons. Nobody would believe that I knew how to belly dance, let alone that I was a certified teacher. Well, to reintroduce myself to the dance, I took lessons from a very good teacher (Morginia) in the valley of the sun, and took workshops with various teachers, until I felt ready to teach again. Of course this dance is a never ending learning process and I continue to take workshops from nationally known teachers throughout the US.

I teach small and private classes out of my house, which include Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced. My teaching style is structured, innovative Lebanese. My students perform choreographed and impromptu style using zills, veil and floor-work. After Advanced, they can continue to perfect their moves, learn props - such as cane, sword, candles, etc, and choreographed routines. I don't perform often due to family matters, but during the years I've performed in many areas in the Phoenix area and am known in our dance community. - Ankestamen