Melinda Heywood Pavlata
Dance Artist, Choreographer, Juggler

Melinda Heywood Pavlata Ph.D., is a modern-day Bohemian Renaissance Woman: second-generation belly dance artist, circus performer, choreographer, teacher, writer and quiet revolutionary. Born to musician father Phil Marsh and gypsy-artist belly dance trailblazer, Rhea of Greece, Melinda exited the womb into a vibrant and international life of belly dance, folk music and circus rings. Melinda first belly danced on stage in Greece with her mom, at the age of two, with a costume pinned to her diapers, and turned cartwheels in San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus ring from the age of six. On the academic front, Melinda graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude from Wellesley College and was a Ben Franklin Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her doctorate in Medieval French Literature. Despite “Ivory Tower” accolades and a deep commitment to scholarly excellence, Melinda experienced the primal realization that her childhood arts of belly dancing and circus were more personally rewarding than teaching in the university system. So she rededicated herself full-time to her family’s creative circus and dance traditions. She continues with joy, her circus life as an adult; dancing with horses, juggling with clowns, balancing swords and dancing aerially with her husband Sacha, above the ring. Melinda is cofounder of the Daughters of Rhea belly dance company, the nonprofit biotech ALS Therapy Development Institute and the intimate circus theatre Cirque Passion. She is mother to budding circus artist Zoe Isadora Heywood, age eight, who is also having lots of fun carrying on the family traditions.

Check out her websites!
Daughters of Rhea: www.daughtersofrhea.com
Cirque Passion: www.cirquepassion.com
E-mail: melinda@cirquepassion.com