About Audra
Audra Simmons is a captivating dance artist from Toronto. Her authentic performance style is just as at home steeped in musicality as it is in complete silence. Her signature balance of tension and release keeps audiences at the edge of their seats. As a solo artist, she has graced stages of festivals and shows, both in person and online, across Canada and internationally. With the recent pivot to online shows and video collaborations, Audra stands out as a master of lighting and effects that drench her performances in atmosphere and mood. Her offerings are authentic, unexpected, and thoughtful.
With regular appearances at live online shows such as Glitter Super Amazing Exploding Art Show and Bellydance Brew, she’s grown a dedicated online following. Video collaborations such as Dark Winter, Connections, and her own production of Uncanny Haunting’s Living Ghosts, have solidified her place as a sought-after dance video creator. In fact, her course The Online Dancer: Shooting and Editing, was featured in the 2021 Bellydance Bundle, a collection of classes from 55 renowned instructors from all over the world.
Audra’s dance company Lavish performs modern, fusion bellydance, and experimental dance at local and international venues. Under her direction, Lavish’s diverse body of work includes full length productions: STEP in 2010, Affogato in 2011 (which toured Ontario and Quebec), and Fragment Repair in 2017. She has also produced many events showcasing local dancers and international icons in the bellydance world.
A forever student, Audra continues to stretch her own ideas and skills by reading, researching, and attending workshops. She builds on the foundations that she learned during her early training with Arabesque Academy, Rachel Brice, Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellydance, and Suhaila and Jamila Salimpour at the Suhaila Salimpour School of Bellydance.
In 2003, Audra founded The Dark Side Studio in Toronto, Canada’s first dance studio dedicated to fusion and modern bellydance. Under her artistic direction, the studio has evolved to include experimental movement studies as well.
Audra specializes in movement for adults with all levels of experience. While her specific style leans toward fusion or modern bellydance, her teachings can apply to all styles of bellydance and the wider dance community. Audra strives to create a welcoming and supportive environment for her students. She aims to help all students develop their dance skills, their mind/body connection, and their ability to move with confidence and creativity. With over 20 years of experience in teaching, Audra is well known for her ability to challenge and elevate her students, and for creating community in the truest sense of the word.
At the Dark Side Studio, she launched her Dark Side Dance Program, a four-level certification in technique and musicality geared toward bellydancers of all styles. She has taught over 25 of these intensives and has certified dancers in Canada, the US, and internationally. Audra also teaches Take It Back intensives which focus on musical theory, music mapping, and movement creation techniques. In 2019 she hosted the first Illumination retreat at the prestigious Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta and returned in 2020 for a second year before the pandemic hit.
Quickly adapting to our new reality, Audra switched her full weekly class schedule to live online classes and workshops, as well as on demand recorded classes.
