""Desert Sin's Middle Eastern dance extravaganza unsettles and enthralls with its striking concoction of latex, glitter and pain...coiling, languorous and cruel...the audience spends Act 1 feeling uncomfortably implicated in the tortures underscoring the stunning beauty and skill of Djahari and Sa‚ Elayssa‚s choreography...this spectacle has fangs." - LA Weekly (Amy Nicholson)

"The Desert Sin Dance Company, under the direction of Djahari Clark and Sa'Elayssa, creates an enticing and eclectic mix of Middle Eastern, Hindu, and modern dance forms, techno-ethnic music, puppeteering, and presentational drama...they have developed an original and energetic mix of styles that makes for a delightful evening." - Backstage West (Hoyt Hilsman)

"I want that. Gimme some of that. Carve me off a big hunka Desert Sin, like, now...one killer group of offbeat babes..." - SF Weekly (Hiya Swanhuyser)

"...extremely profound and very sensual...beautifully decadent. I only hire the best..." - Palagia (OneLegUpNYC - HBO)

"Absolutely beautiful...the best, most polished, critically acclaimed talent in the business." - Jeremy Vargus (RPI Entertainment)

"Exceptional..." - ChicacoPride.com

"...stunning...flawlessly danced...pure sensuality..." - Dhyanis (Gilded Serpent)

"Sensual & Ethereal...Imagination and Audacity--Blending a carnival-macabre gleefulness with Hindu kitsch, the (mostly) women of Desert Sin Dance Company cavort through Djahari and Sa’Elayssa’s undulating choreography. In these “tales of the grotesque and arabesque,” not a word is spoken. A pierced-nippled ringmaster-devil (Jeffrey Damnit) slithers in front of a circular platform/merry-go-round to the sounds of a calliope…Three dancers meld to form the ancient six-armed Hindu Goddess (of Creation) Kali before breaking apart and gyrating erotically to Middle Eastern pop. In “Red Shoes,”…Sa’Elayssa morphs into a human puppet in a skillful and brilliantly horrifying rendition of a child whose dance shoes crush her feet and dictate her motions (society’s payback for her wearing only those beloved shoes to church). Djahari’s “Saint Joan” — appearing from the dead and making peace with her persecution — is somehow both sensual and ethereal at the same time…Act 2 goes Egyptian with puppets, shadows and a battle between the Sun God Ra and the serpent Apep. It employs the entire ensemble and gallons more body paint and glitter, while torsos galore" - Steven Leigh Morris (LA Weekly)

"Watching them dance makes me feel like I could be told how many breaths were left in my body and I wouldn't care a whit. Their costuming, choreography, has that shocking totality, that power to remake things in the image of itself." - Karin Lewicki ("The Guardian" - CBS)

"If you haven't seen Desert Sin, they are a brilliant Middle Eastern dance group--bellydancers in layman's terms--but on top of that they create these visually stunning characters and scenarios." - Brad Miller (Bizarre Magazine)

"Fucking fierce!" - Sandy Sachs (The Factory)


"An emotionally moving piece by Sa'Elayssa...All I can say is Wow! Djahari's jarring performance in "Recurring Scream" took us on an emotional journey. Her stunning presence gives the impression of an imprisoned woman on display. Amazing. Another spectacular piece by Desert Sin...deliciously wicked performance..." -Monica Khudan (Jareeda Magazine)

©2005 desert sin