The Hipnotic team is made up of dedicated Belly Dancers who wanted to bring fabulous dance form to a wider audience through teaching, performing and hosting events in a setting that can be appreciated by all.

Emma Pyke


Emma is a Hipnotic teacher, the director of the troupe Covert Bling and contributes to the organisation of the Hipnotic events.

Deborah Fox

Deborah is a Hipnotic teacher, a member of Covert Bling and contributes to the organisation of the event. She started to take belly dancing classes 8 years ago and has been obsessed ever since.  The obsession has grown and as Blackwillow she creates one-off tribal and fusion belly dance costume pieces and for the last two years she has taught belly dance and improvised tribal belly dance in a venue close to Reading town centre.  In 2009 she was invited to teach and perform at Celebrating Dance in Devon, and will be doing so again in 2010.

Both a member of Covert Bling and a soloist she is keen to convert more people into the sensual and challenging art of Middle Eastern Dance (belly dance).

Kathryn Whittington

Kathryn is one of the school's teachers, a member of Covert Bling and contrubites to marketing the events, troupe and school. She has been dancing for 6 years, having been drawn to belly dance by it's vibrancy, inclusivity and fabulous costumes. She has explored many different styles of belly dance and loves all of them, though admits she does have a tendency towards weird fusion sometimes.

She can regularly be seen performing with troupe Covert Bling, as well as on her own across the country. She has recently started teaching Tribal Fusion at Hipnotic and now runs her own classes (see her website for details). She is excited about this new event, as she would like everybody to see how great belly dancing is.