EVA CERNIK traveled extensively in the Middle-East from 1979-2010, learning, exploring dance and culture, leading dance-tours, working as a solo dancer, and for a year with a Turkish Oriental troupe. Eva continues to teach internationally and at her home-base in Denver.

After extensive training in gymnastics and ballet, at age 19 Eva was first introduced to Belly dance by Anahid Sofian in New York. The following years, she studied in Denver with Naila-Rose, of the original Salimpour school. Then for 13 years, Eva studied intensively with the recently deceased Adnan Sarhan of Baghdad. This training filled her with a deep love for Middle Eastern music and with techniques to practice Dance as a spiritual path.  

In order to absorb directly from the cultures which have nurtured this dance for centuries, Eva set out on her first trip to the Middle East in 1979. To finance her explorations and ongoing studies abroad, she worked as an Oriental dancer in London, Paris, Istanbul, and in-troupe in much of Spain, Baghdad, and Cairo. She also traveled in Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Morocco and 14 other countries. Eva’s adventuresome field research and the dance study tours she produced, were not limited to the night clubs of Cairo and Istanbul. They also extended to the villages where Ghawazi, Turkish Roma and “folk” dance to traditional acoustic music at their festivals, weddings, and homes.

Eva was voted "Innovative Dancer of the Year" in 1997 by the International Academy of Middle East Dance (IAMED);  "Favorite Interpretive Artist" in 2002 by Zaghareet Magazine;  "Master Instructor" by IBDC in Las Vegas 2007.  She accepted  a "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Belly dancer of the Universe competition in Long Beach which prompted a three page interview in the July 2009 issue of The Chronicles.