Jaleria Rivera is a transnational fusion belly dancer and cultural organizer, who uses movement as a form of African diasporic storytelling. Her signature style fuses the principles of North African belly dance, street dance and Symbol Dance. As a self-taught artist shaped by digital and community learning, Jaleria approaches dance as both personal expression and a political act that honors the living traditions of those who embody, steward, and birthed the art forms she admires.
Jaleria pursued a B.S. in Communications and Creative Writing with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and discovered fusion belly dance during the height of the pandemic. The temporary loss of connection amplified Jaleria’s purpose to use raw enthusiasm as a gateway to collective liberation. Her practice is rooted in the teachings of Rachel Brice, Donna Mejia, Gary Kraftsow, Kristy Nataraja and Ohad Naharin.