Jeana has been belly dancing for nearly 14 years. While at first it seemed an innocent hobby, belly dance has become one of Jeana's favorite creative endeavors, something that permeates her life. Trained in cabaret, American Tribal Style, and tribal fusion, Jeana also explores experimental, ritual, and gothic themes in her dancing. She enjoys dancing to everything from Natacha Atlasand Marilyn Manson to Imogen Heap and Funkadesi, running the spectrum from pseudo-traditional music to the truly bizarre. She incorporates props like fans and veils into her dancing, and also performs with a hula hoop and with fire fans.

Jeana started dancing in California, having trained and performed in both Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. She moved to Bloomington, Indiana to obtain her PhD in folklore (which she recently completed after a stint in Estonia to finish writing her dissertation). She currently lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her main area of study is narrative, particularly fairy tales, though she has also presented and published on belly dance costumes. For that research, she did fieldwork with past and present members of Different Drummer Belly Dancers in order to investigate how the dancers make aesthetic choices that reflect their individual and group identities. She is conducting ongoing research on the sacred and spiritual aspects of belly dance, and welcomes questions and comments from dancers and non-dancers alike.

In March of 2012, Jeana became a certified American Tribal Style® teacher with Carolena Nericcio of FatChance BellyDance. She taught a workshop as the first ATS®-certified teacher in Estonia as she was wrapping up her year there. While in Estonia, she danced with a tribal troupe called Fakesnake. Whenever she's able to make it to Bloomington, she joins Different Drummer to practice and perform. Some of her performances are available on her Youtube channel.

While living in Indianapolis, Jeana founded the performance troupe Indy Tribal, which is Indianapolis's only America Tribal Style® troupe. Indy Tribal has performed at fundraisers, art fairs, and open mic nights as well as events sponsored by ISAMETD (Indiana State Association of Middle Eastern Teachers and Dancers, of which Indy Tribal is a member). Their mission is to share the joy of ATS® with art and dance lovers all over the greater Indianapolis areaa.

Whether busting out belly dance move Jeana conducted research on sacred and spiritual belly dance practices with current and former members of DDBD, and her article on this data was just published in a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. You can read it here: Dance the Numinous: Sacred and Spiritual Techniques of Contemporary American Belly Dancers.

Whether busting out belly dance moves at clubs or perfecting her choreography at home, Jeana approaches dance passionately as well as intellectually. She loves to teach dancers at any level and connect with friends and colleagues at workshops, performances, and over the internet. Dancing with Different Drummer is yet another oppportunity to share her love for dance with her community.

You can also visit Jeana's personal/professional Website at: http://jeanajorgensen.com/wordpress/