Desert Magick had its beginnings in the spring of 2001 and was first known as The Desert Wind Dancers. The group was hurriedly assembled to perform at a workshop gala. I asked my daughter Hillary and my two buddies Pam Weston and Carrie Hiebert to perform with me and they actually agreed. In Carrie’s case she got off a plane from Winnipeg at four in the afternoon and was rehearsing in my kitchen at six o’clock that evening for the performance just two days later! Now that’s true friendship!


For the next incarnation of the troupe, we were joined by Shakti. Carrie had of course gone back home to Winnipeg after the workshop and Hillary moved to Ontario soon after that to study graphic art, so Pam, Shakti and I became a troupe of three. We rehearsed at Shakti’s store all that year and performed at several events. I had started teaching classes and in the summer of 2002 and a very enthusiastic group of my students decided to get together to dance once a week. Shakti invited them to perform at a function that she was involved with that fall and the “just for fun” get togethers turned into serious rehearsals. That fall the group expanded again to include several more of the students from that class that were unable to attend through the summer. There were now twelve of us in the troupe. We realized that we needed a much larger space to rehearse and decided that it was time to get serious. We began renting space at local fitness studios to rehearse regularly and it was about at that time that we changed the name of the troupe to Desert Magick.

We've been very active since then, adding to our repertoire and performing at numerous functions. We also produce our own events, which include performances and workshops with master teachers. Over the years the troupe has continued to evolve and change with some members leaving to pursue other interests. Of the original twelve Pam, Raya, Linda, Amaya and Bahiya are still with the troupe. We welcomed Natasha in 2003, Alena in 2004, Vi and Roxanne in 2006 and Nakia and Paulina in 2007.