Sirena Instructors

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SADIE ADAIR is the Director of Desert Darlings Belly Dance, Co-director of student company Wicked Muse Dance Project, and Owner of Sirena World Dance Studio, LLC. She began her studies in Egyptian Style Belly Dance with Diane Eger when she was 12 years old after seeing belly dancers at a Festival in Madrid, NM. From there she went on to learn Tribal Style Belly Dance at Pomegranate Studios in Santa Fe, and has since studied and collaborated with Lorena and Adriana of Sirena Studio.

Sadie has traveled to California, Texas, Nevada, and Illinois to study with dancers such as Mira Betz, Ashley Lopez, Zoe Jakes, and more. In the summer of 2015, Sadie completed a week long intensive with Mira Betz in Taos, NM where she focused on honing her creative process. In 2017, Sadie completed Level 1 of Dance Craft with Zoe Jakes in Oakland, CA.

Sadie teaches both Raqs Sharqi and fusion style belly dance at Sirena, and also has a Patreon page where she shares belly dance tutorials:
​www.Patreon.com/SadieAdair
To book a private lesson, please email Sadie at sadieadair90@gmail.com
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LORENA MARTINEZ BURR is a MENAT and Fusion performance artist known for her outrageous facial expressions and dancing with dangerous objects on her head. Along side Sadie Adair, she co-directs Desert Darlings Belly Dance and student company Wicked Muse Dance Project, and has co-produced many creative theatrical belly dance productions around NM.

​Lorena’s dance studies began in 2009 with Eric Salazar at Central New Mexico Community College. Under Eric's instruction, she was introduced to Middle Eastern, North African, Turkish and Fusion belly dance fundamentals, history, and technique. She holds a Bachelor's of Arts in Dance with a concentration in Flamenco from the University of New Mexico, and has completed programs from artists including Zoe Jakes (Dance Craft, Key of Diamonds), Sahra Saeeda (Journey through Egypt 1), April Rose (Dance Cohesion Stage 1), as well as a week long performance intensive from Mira Betz.
When she’s not choreographing, training, teaching or performing, Lorena loves to create goodies for her dance accessory line, Banshee Cat.

To book a private lesson, please email Lorena at lorenaraqs@gmail.com
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ADRIANA SANDOVAL began studying Middle Eastern dance at Farfesha World studios in August of 2009. Prior to belly dancing, Adriana was a member of Yjastros, the professional American Repertory Flamenco Company under the director Joaquin Enciñias from 2001-2004 and prior to that she was a member of the pre-professional group, Alma Flamenca, under the direction of Eva Enciñias-Sandoval from 2000-2001. Prior to Flamenco dancing, Adriana was a member of Ballet en Fuego, a professional Mexican folkloric and Latin dance group under the direction of Frances Lujan from 1992-1999 and, Los Tapatios in 1991 which landed a televised performance on the show Sábado Gigante on Univisión and a performance in Barcelona, Spain representing the state of New Mexico back in 1999.

Having a professional background in Mexican folk dance and Flamenco, she enjoys cultural, folk dances. Adriana instantly fell in love with Middle Eastern music and dance and has studied with various local teachers as well as internationally acclaimed artists. She traveled to Cairo in 2012 on vacation, where she got to dance with Randa Kamel on a boat on the Nile, a dream of hers come true.

Adriana is an award-winning choreographer, a former house dancer at Pars Mediterranean cuisine in Albuquerque, and former Farfesha troupe member from 2010-2017. Farfesha troupe won 1 st place at Ya Halla Y’all in 2012. Adriana won 1 st place in the professional Raqs Sharqi category at Ya Halla Y’all 2018. Adriana is currently director and lead choreographer of the professional raqs sharqi troupe, Raqzia and also director of the student raqs sharqi troupe, Mermaid Muse, since their inception in 2019.
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At Sirena World Dance Studio she currently teaches two classes on Saturday mornings: level 1 Raqs Sharqi from 11:00-12:00 where the focus is on drilling basic belly dance movements and putting them together into simple combinations. Following this class, she teaches the level 2 Raqs Sharqi class from 12:15-1:15 where some layering is added onto movements and more complicated combinations are explored. In the level 2 class, there will be some choreographies taught periodically in preparation for haflas, or shows (refer to on-going calendar of events posted on Sirena’s page). Adriana is known for having challenging, fast-paced classes, suitable for an enthusiastic beginner dancer that likes a challenge and for more experienced to professional level dancers.
​To book a private lesson, please email Adriana at lapachuquita@hotmail.com
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ALLY LOWRY began dancing at a very early age, when her parents exposed her to the Eastern European and Israeli folk dances of her heritage. She developed a taste for cultural, world music and when she was introduced to the music and dance of North Africa and the Middle East at age fifteen, she was instantly entranced. Her belly dance education began in Santa Fe, NM under the instruction of Christine Siegrist and Myra Krien of Pomegranate Studios.

Ally was originally introduced to the group improvisational style referred to as Tribal Style, for its basis in group interaction. She eventually branched out into more traditional styles of belly dance, typically referred to as Oriental, Egyptian, or Cabaret. She was a member of the Mosaic Dance Company at Pomegranate Studios and at age eighteen began teaching the “Little Seeds” dance classes for girls aged 8-12.
​To book a private lesson, please email Ally at allylowry@gmail.com
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SHANNON SWEET is known for her innovative style and skill with Fan Veils,  and is a multi award-winning dancer and choreographer (1st Place Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice in the Yaa Halla Ya’ll Yellow Rose of Texas Tribal Fusion Professional Solo Category 2017), She has been a member of the Desert Darlings since 2015.

Shannon has been studying, performing, and instructing fusion styles including Eyptian Folk Dance, Raqs Sharqi, and American Tribal Fusion styles since 2002, and loves incorporating elements of Jazz, Hip Hop, and various Latin dances into her choreographies.
Shannon has a Bachelor’s of Art from Ithaca College, and fabricates jewelry for sale out of Sirena World Dance Studio Boutique under the name Desert Moonshine Jewelry, which helps with her endless obsession over shiny things!
Join Shannon for the Slinky Sundays class out of Sirena World Dance Studio - All Levels welcome! She is also available for small group and private lessons via Zoom.
To book a private lesson, please email Shannon at sweetfanveils@gmail.com
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ALEXANDRA PADILLA was born and raised in Albuquerque. After high school, Alex decided to move to Colorado Springs to pursue her Bachelor’s in Philosophy. In college, Alex went to her first yoga class and instantly fell in love. After a couple of years of practice, she decided to pursue her love of yoga and got her 200-hour certificate in power vinyasa in Colorado Springs. She is a lifelong yoga student and has certificates and internships in chair, yin, restorative, and kid’s yoga. Alex’s classes focus on the
connection of breath and movement with an emphasis on alignment. Her work experience includes teaching yoga classes at the YMCA and other yoga studios, creating and directing the Goodwill Possibilities Movement Program, and has owned her own business as a personal yoga instructor since 2017. 

She is currently getting her Master’s in Social Work and one day hopes to combine the healing breathe and movement with therapy to help other’s heal through yoga. When she is not teaching or practicing yoga, Alex enjoys hiking, belly dancing, and drinking good beer!

To book a private lesson, please email Alex at savayoganm@gmail.com