Melina of Daughters of Rhea (Melinda Pavlata, PhD)
is an internationally known second-generation belly dancer and aerial circus artist.  Melina grew up performing nightly in Greek tavernas under the Acropolis at the shimmying hip of her legendary mother, Rhea of Greece, and danced with her sister Piper (Belly Dancer of the Year 2000) in the hotspot Arabic clubs of Athens in the 80s. Melina is invited to teach and perform worldwide: from Singapore to Taiwan, New Zealand to Kripalu Center of Yoga and Health.  She is a world-class artist who takes the art of belly dance to new heights of elegance, creativity and entertainment.  Always engaged in new creative and collaborative ventures, Melina loves to blend top-notch 'vintage-oriental' belly dance with European-style circus arts.  Inspired by the "point-to-point" balancing circus acts of Europe, Melina is the only belly dancer in the world to balance a sword on the tip of a dagger clutched in her jaws in while belly dancing and descending into a full split.  She has balanced a tray of lit candles on her head while dancing since the age of seven, and she is always inventing new ways to amaze, delight and - hopefully - inspire her audience.  Melina loves to teach ad perform and tries to use her passion for the dance to promote positivity in the universe. 

Photo of Melina's sword and dagger act by Kevin Hannon

Upcoming Performances:

Wednesday August 4
Melina with John de Kadt at Omega Institute

Wednesday August 11
Melina with John de Kadt at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.
7:30 concert

Saturday August 14th
Melina to perform in "Mend," a show featuring Bellybeat's debut performance and the dance works of Christina Banacos Ackley (aka "Odella") at Green Street Studios, 185 Green Street in Cambridge, MA 02139.  Highlights include beautiful silk veils fluttering through space, sword balancing, folkloric cane dancing, drum solos, and a hoop fusion belly dance piece.
Purchase $20 tickets here.

Saturday August 21st
Melina, Piper and Rhea at BELLYPALOOZA!
Seminars, Shopping and SHOW in Baltimore

Friday September 3
Karoun Restaurant in Newtonville, MA

When she is not on performance tours or traveling to teach for special workshops, Melina regularly takes the stage at the lovely Karoun Restaurant in Newtonville, MA.  Located on the corner of Washington and Walnut Streets, Karoun's features delicious Mediterranean-style dining, live international music on Friday and Saturday nights, and a beautiful large dance floor where you can spin about with your date or shimmy it up on your own!  Call Karoun's for dinner reservations:617 964 3400. 

Melina's Karoun Restaurant
Belly Dance Performance Schedule


Call Karoun's for Dinner Reservations: 617 964 3400 and to verify that I am dancing.
Ask about their table minimums for the evening you are planning to attend.
9:30 p.m. Melina show-time (I recommend making dinner reservations for 7:30/8 p.m.)
 

2010

CLICK HERE FOR MELINA'S JUNE NEWSLETTER FULL OF INFO ON UPCOMING EVENTS AT HER BELLY DANCE AND CIRCUS ARTS STUDIO, MOODY STREET CIRCUS

Saturday January 16th, 7- 9 p.m.
Grand Opening Party of Melina's new studio Moody Street Circus
Performances with Daughters of Rhea cofounders Melina and her sister Piper
& Special Guest artists Najmat. BellyBeat Dance Company, Celia and Di'Ahna Restry
$10 Cover to go to the Moody Street Circus Mirror Fund

March 27 2010
Shimmies for a Cure ...Quatro
Workshops and Performances by New England's talented belly dancers
to benefit the PanMass Challenge.

April 10 & 11, 2010
Madison, Wisconsin
Melina Workshops and Performance

Sunday May 1: Fred Elias Live at the Karoun CD Release Party
featuring Melina of Daughters of Rhea and including belly dance performances
by Erzulie, Samia, Zameena and Xylinia. 
$15 cover, reserve through Karoun: 617 964 3400.

Tuesday May 11, 2010
Melina's Spring Student Showcase
Karoun Restaurant, 7-9 p.m.
$12-20 cover depending on seating
Reservations REQUIRED through Melina -
this event SELLS OUT every time so get your seats while they're hot!
Purchase your seats here

May 15, 2010
George and Jasmin Present:
Melina belly dance workshops and live show in Athens, Greece
Information and Registration contact: Jasmin Kalathaki. 210.698.3461.193


July 2010:
Melina's Cirque Passion European circus tent up in Nyack, NY
Circus and Belly Dance Shows
Circus Extravaganza Collaboration with Amazing Grace Circus!

August 8-13, 2010:
Melina at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
Weeklong Workshop "Wild Hips, Gypsy Heart: Belly Dance as Self-Empowerment"
Information and Regsitration at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.
Concert with John de Kadt on Wednesday August 11th at Kripalu

October 2010,
Lisa Zahiya Presents:
Melina and Piper Workshops and Shows in Asheville, NC
Studio Lisa Zahiya!

PAST ENGAGEMENTS

Saturday January 10, 2009
Concert and Belly Dance Performance with
John de Kadt, Steve Gorn and Melina at
Kripalu

Saturday January 17th, 2009
Private Wedding Performance at the StateRoom

Saturday February 7th, 2009
Melina to perform with HuDost in evening concert at Kripalu

Thursday March 5th, 2009
Melina to perform at "The Red Carpet"
Hollywood Themed Event at the Pearl Restaurant and Lounge in Providence, R.I.
9 p.m. - 1 a.m.  For tickets contact Edward Gala Consulting 401.305.2508

Saturday March 28th, 2009
Melina to teach Greco-Turkish Belly Dance Seminar and Performs
for "The Shimmy Fund": Shimmies for a Cure Fundraiser

Saturday April 4th, 2009
Melina at Karoun Restaurant
Dinner Reservations: 617 964 3400

Thursday April 9 and Saturday April 11, 2009
Melina and Sacha present Cirque Passion
Aerial Circus & Belly Dance Show
Featured at Roxy's Anniversary Gala Bash
Providence, R.I.

Friday April 10th, 2009
Melina at Karoun Restaurant
Dinner Reservations: 617 964 3400

Tuesday April 14th, 2009
Spring Shimmies: Melina's Student Recital
Karoun Restaurant: Showtime 7:30
Dinner Reservations Required : 617 964 3400

 MELINA IN SINGAPORE
April 30 - May 4, 2009
Seminars and Gala Show with Melina, Rhea of Greece and Sacha Pavlata
Seminars and show at Victoria Theatre, Singapore
Produced and Sponsored by Goddess Motion
 

Wednesday May 13th, 2009
Melina and Piper, Daughters of Rhea Co-Founders
Corporate Event Performance
Turning Stone Casino Resort Gala Show

Saturday May 16th, 2009
Melina's sister Piper Hunt, PhD in Boston area PiperMethod Technique Seminars
Call 508.822.6449 for times and information on how to register
Ancient Art Studios in Berkley, MA

Saturday May 16, 2009
Melina at Karoun: Dinner Reservations 617 964 3400

Wednesday May 20th, 2009
Melina to teach Greek Folk Dance Workshop
Hasapiko, Zembehiko, Kalamatiano, Hasapaserviko
7 - 9 p.m., $45 at the Women's Club in Newton Highlands
Pre-registration required.

Thursday May 21st, 2009
Melina presents:
GYPSY HIPS and DRUM STORIES
Rhythm Poetry, Raks Sharqi, Greco-Turkish style belly dance, Aerial artistry and more
Featuring
John de Kadt
Najmat
Hanan
Sara
Troupe Moirae
 Melina
LOCATION:  Karoun Restaurant, 839 Washington Street in Newtonville
$10 Cover charge at the door per person
Dinner Reservations Required with Accurate seat count:
617 964 3400
Special dinner packages available; code word "Melina show"

MELINA IN GREECE 2009
Studio Rhea in Plaka
May 30 Seminars at Dance2Dance Studios
Info - Studio Rhea - 210 323 1289

Cirque Passion and Amazing Grace
Melina and Sacha's Cirque Passion Collaboration with Amazing Grace Circus
Hudson River Quadracentennial Celebration
 July/August 2009

August 9 - 14, 2009: Melina at Kripalu
Weeklong Workshop and Wednesday August 12 Performance with John de Kadt
"Wild Hips, Gypsy Heart: Belly Dance as Self-Empowerment"
 

Melina and her Daughters of Rhea Arabian Nights Ensemble
BOOK MELINAAND HER TROUPE

Melina performs and teaches fun demo belly dance classes at gala events and private functions like weddings, bridal showers, grand openings, batmitzvahs, barmitzvahs, birthday parties etc.  You can book her solo or with her beautiful team of professional Daughters of Rhea dancers. 

Melina's artful, inspiring and entertaining belly dance show platter includes:

~ World-famous sword and dagger act balancing act
~ Tray of burning candles balancing act
~ Ancient Goddess dance on mobile candle holders
~ Spinning golden Isis  wings
 ~Turkish Drop
~ Drum Solo
 ~ Taqsim floorwork
~ Turkish Karsilema
~Greek Tsiftetelli
~ Finger Cymbals
~ Dramatic veil
~ Tambourine dance

CIRCUS FUSION BELLY DANCE ACTS INCLUDE:

~ Aerial fusion dance on Lyra (suspended aerial hoop)
~ Trapeze Duet with Sacha Pavlata of Cirque Passion
~ juggling clown turns into elegant belly dancer act
~ Vaudevillian dance comedy act with Sara Cabral
~ Silks Dance

  Call 781 209 0950 for rates, booking info and availability.
 

MELINA'S PAST EVENTS INCLUDE:

[PRIVATE LARGE GROUP FUNCTION]
Wellesley College Belly Dancing Society
Wellesley College, Wellesley MA
Melina's CLEOPATRA'S FRENZY choreography
Technique, Drills & Choreography
March 2008

[PRIVATE LARGE GROUP FUNCTION]
Newton, MA
First Unitarian Church Event
March 14, 2008
Introduction to the Ancient Art of Belly Dance
 

Melina and Sacha Pavlata at the ROXY Nightclub in Rhode Island
FIRST ANNIVERSARY GALA BASH
aerial cirque/belly danceshows:  sacha's cloud swing, melina's lyra, romantic double trapeze, melina's world-famous sword and dagger act
March 27th and March 29th, 11 p.m. - 2 a.m.

MANOUCHE! Melina's Student Recital and Showcase
April 1, 2008
Karoun Restaurant
7 p.m. ($10 - $15 cover)
 

Boston, MA
The StateRoom
April 5th 2008
Private Wedding Function
 

Newton, MA
April 5, 2008
Fool's Folly
Fundraiser Performance for Mason-Rice School
 

Northshore, MA
SHE Network Gala Event with Show & Seminar by Melina
All proceeds to benefit SHE.
April 10, 2008
 

Athens, Greece
Studio Rhea
April 12 - 20, 2008
Seminars & Shows at Dance2Dance Studio in Plaka and Kritikos Taverna
 

Singapore
Victoria Theatre Performance April 29th, 2008
Seminars May 1 - 4, 2008
(sponsor/producer:  Goddess Motion in Singapore)

Verona, NY
Turning Stone Casino Resort
May 14th, 2008
Greek Belly Dance show with Piper
Private Corporate Event

St Louis, MO
Circus Flora Tour
June 5 - 22, 2008
 

St Louis, MO
Center of Creative Arts
June 30-July 11, 2008
Circus Arts Camp
July  5th:  Belly Dance Master Class at COCA (Pending)

Stockbridge, MA
Kripalu: The Sacred Pulse Music Festival
Weeklong Festival July Jul 13-18, 2008 (5 nights, Sun – Fri)
Faculty: Krishna Das, Mickey Hart, Wah!, Donna De Lory, Tracy Vernon, Shivananda Thomas Amelio, Toni Bergins, KDZ: The Drummers at Kripalu, Melina of Daughters of Rhea, John de Kadt and The Nanapowe Drum Group
 

Nantucket Island, MA
Last weekend of July, 2008
Circus Flora Tour

Baltimore, MD
Daughters of Rhea BellyPalooza Festival
Johns Hopkins University Campus and BMA
August 2-3, 2008
Festival, Workshops & Show

Kripalu
Saturday August 8th
Concert featuring HuDost, John De Kadt and Melina of Daughters of Rhea

TUESDAY OCTOBER 13
Melina, Celia and Odella Belly Dance Show at Peabody Essex Museum
Featuring Musical Artists Okbari
Gala honoring Iris Apfel

SATURDAY OCTOBER 17
Melina in performance at MFA gala
Musical guests Jamal Sinno Quartet

SATURDAY OCTOBER 17
Melina to perform at the second annual Helping Hips charity gala featuring Egyptian, Turkish and fusion styles of belly dance. 6:30 - 11 p.m. at the Roseland Ballroom, 174 Broadway (rt 138) in Taunton, MA.  Tickets are limited and sold in advance through the Helping Hips: 508.822.6449.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7
RAQ ON Dance! Presents Melina workshops in
Enfield, New Hampshire - Melina's Magic Medley of Greco-Turkish Gypsy-Flamenco Fusion Combos AND Melina's Secrets of Floorwork and Prop Balancing.  Registration Details at www.raq-on.net.

Photos Below:  MELINA THEN (age 7, belly dancing at the Athens by Night Taverna in Plaka, Athens, Greece) AND NOW (dancing at Karoun)!

Melina was the featured belly dancer on the television show Bridezilla as well as MTV's hit show "MADE", and she appeared as herself in the Award-winning documentary So, Much, So Fast. Melina also owns her own European-style family circus Cirque Passion.  Cirque Passion puts up its elegant little tent for circus and dance shows in the context of festivals, museum and theatre shows, circuses, nonprofit & corporate galas, birthday celebrations, weddings, elegant holiday parties, anniversaries and corporate events. 

Melina, Sara and Panayiota

"Melina dances like a Poem"
-Cleopatra of Athens

"Beautiful and entertaining. outrageously so."
-Four Seasons Hotel

Rent Melina's Cirque Passion circus tent or engage her circus aerial show entertainment for upscale & unique elegant weddings and parties.

Melina's tent

View new clips of Melina's World-Class Belly Dancing in Athens on YouTube!  Watch her ONE OF A KIND sword and dagger act!

NEW: Melina's Daughters of Rhea Blog
 

CONTACT MELINA
to book her and the Boston Daughters of Rhea dancers for an elegant belly dance or circus arts show. 

Melina toured as trapeze artist, dancer & juggler (cirque passion) with circus flora's 20th anniversary production of Homage. 

"The sensuous aerial adagio dance of Melinda Heywood and Circus Flora co-founder Alexandre Sacha Pavlata, for example, will entrance the adults (as will Heywood's belly dance number) while the antics of Nino the Clown (the multi-talented Giovanni Zoppe, a Flora regular for many years now) will keep the kids in hysterics." -- Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX.

MELINA'S ABRIDGED PERFORMANCE HISTORY

Cirque Passion
Melina (Melinda Pavlata) is co-creator along with world-renown 5th generation Czech circus artist Alexandre Sacha Pavlata of Cirque Passion, an intimate one-ring cabaret-style circus that features dance, circus arts and aerial acts.  Cirque Passion delighted audiences at the Baltimore Museum of Art with "Reve," a romantic trapeze duet (see photo at right). In addition to regularly touring with Circus Flora, Cirque Passion has performed at the Red Bull Art of the Can Exhibit opening at Boston's Artists for Humanity Epicenter, at the Boston Center for the Arts HUBBUB! gala, throughout Europe including Paris and Athens, Greece, and for the Charleston, S.C. nonprofit organization Darkness to Light.  Cirque Passion recently performed at the St Louis   COCA's gala for Mikhail Baryshnikov and other delighted audience members.  They toured to Auckland, New Zealand with the Flying Wallendas for Dean Lonergan's "McDonald's Cirque Rocks!" stadium extravaganza and will tour to Taiwan and Puerto Rico in late Fall 2006.

Circus Flora

Melina is an aerialist, dancer and theatre choreographer for Circus Flora, a one-ring, European-style circus.  She played the role of Little Egypt for the “Ruvna” Show in St. Louis (1996) & Norfolk, VA (1997), dance as the Allegory Hope for the “Pegasus” show in St. Louis (1998) and Irving, TX (1998), and was the Juggling Dancing Girl who teaches the elephant how to belly dance in “Farewell to Flora” show Phoenix, AZ (2000-1).  Most recently she danced with stallions in the ring as the "Muse of the East" at the Spoleto Arts Festival in South Carolina and in St. Louis, MO. In June 2005 she played the "Silent Daughter" in the production of Tzigan.  She danced in the ring with horses and took to the air with Sacha as they performed their acclaimed aerial ballet on the trapeze (visit www.cirquepassion.com for the pictures).

Tavernas/Cabarets: 

Athens, Greece (Age 7 through present).    Athens by Night Taverna,  Kalokairinos, 1001 Nights, Sahara, Vrahos, Musikes Skies, Axum, Palia Athina, Kritikos, Giovetsakia, Zeus Taverna, 1002 Nights, Axum Restaurant.

Boston, MA  (Wellesley College Days & Present) Karoun’s (1989-present); Layaleena (present) Averof (1989), Middle East Restaurant (1989-90) Shahrazad  Restaurant (’90-‘91).

Philadelphia, PA  (Grad School Years) Middle East Café, Painted Bride Art Center show with ethnic fusion band “Jaffna” .

San Diego, CA (Post-PhD Year  by the Sea 1998-99).  Marrakesh (La Jolla), Greek Village (Carlsbad), Greek Town, Armenian Café, Kebob House, Zorba’s, Greek Palace.

San Francisco Bay Area (From age 2 dancing with costume pinned to diaper to present). Parthenon (Walnut Creek), El Morocco (Pleasant Hill), Zorbas (San Jose).

Recent Festivals & Special Shows (abridged)

Founder & Creative Director of the ALS Therapy Development Foundation’s Belly Dance Fundraising Extravaganza.   Melina & her sister Piper have raised over $300,000 for Lou Gehrig’s Disease Research.

Baltimore BellyPalooza. Co-created by Daughters of Rhea productions, this annual event features seminars with Melina,  Piper, Rhea and guest artist instructors as well as an evening show at the Baltimore Museum of Art.  View a multi-media montage of our 2006 production "Belly Dance Magic," on the Baltimore Sun website.

Rakkasah East 2000, 2001 & 2002 in Somerset, NJ. (www.rakkasah.com)

Three Arrows Cooperative Society, Putnam Valley NY (2001).  Danced in collaboration with Phil Marsh, Melina's father and folkster guitarist extraordinaire.

Rhea's Athenian Haflis at Axum, Greece's premier Ethiopian restaurant and venue for Rhea's middle eastern dance happenings.

Mediterranean Night @ Wellington School in Belmont. April 3, 2003.  Performed to the wonderful live music of Karim Nagi Mohammed & Mal Barsemian for elementary school students, their siblings and parents. 

Brownie's Girl Scouts meeting.  Melina brought finger cymbals, sword dancing and a Greek language lesson to the Brownie Scouts in Belmont on Thursday February 26th, 2004.  Brownie Renee Eurdolian insists it was "the best meeting EVER."

Misc: 
On Thursday September 12th, 2002, Melina participated in a one-night-only production of "From the Horse's Mouth" at the Springold Theater Center at Brandeis University.  From the Horse's Mouth, an evening-length theatre/dance piece conceived and created by Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham, has produced unprecedented and exhilarating results wherever presented.  First done in 1998 at Joyce Soho in NYC with only modern dancers and choreographers, subsequent productions became more diverse by including dancers from other disciplines and styles such as African, Flamenco, East Indian, Japanese, tango, jazz, ballet, belly dance and Broadway.

Saturday October 12th, 2002.  Melina and her Daughters of Rhea Dance Ensemble performed at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, MA before the screening of Tunisian movie SATIN ROUGE.

February 7 & 8, 2003.
Melina debuted her new choreography "Walk Like an Egyptian," a witty take a l'orientale on the 80's pop song  in "East Meets West: Arabia American Style," an ensemble show produced by Johara and Snakedance productions.  

August 2004: HIP, HIP, HOORAY!  Melina, Piper and Rhea perform at the Baltimore Museum of Art in "Belly Dance Magic," a gala show produced by Daughters of Rhea, recently reviewed by Elaine in the gilded serpent. Featured Melina's debut as an aerial circus artist in her romantic trapeze duet "Reve" with Sacha Pavlata of Cirque Passion and Circus Flora.  Standing Ovation!  Visit www.cirquepassion.com for more info.

February 2005. Melina and Daughters of Rhea dancers Johanna, Panayiota and Sara danced for St. Jude Medical Research Fundraiser at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts.

.
Pictured Left to Right:  Daughters of Rhea Dancers
Sara, Melina and Soraya Nahzlu.
Photo by Allison Durham.

saturday february 26th
Melina & sacha of cirque passion performed their sensual aerial ballet duet and sacha's cloud swing solo @ red bull art of the can exhibition opening at the Artists for Humanity Epicenter.