Susan was born in Reno, Nevada. The dancing began naturally as soon as she learned how to walk. She grew up putting on performances for the family at every holiday event, encouraged by her "Yugoslavian" grandfather, who was, amongst other things, a general manager & CEO of various Nevadan casinos. Beside the fact that he hung out with Joe DiMaggio, Bing Crosby, and Dizzy Gillespie, to Susan he was her very own inspiring showman, magician, and comic— who had to provide, on and on, her favorite acts of his “animation” of her stuffed animals.
Susan was always interested in communication through movement and body language. She acted and danced her way trough tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, also studied martial arts! She studied Kung Fu under master Charles Song the Obosan, and was #1 in California and Nevada for kata.
She moved to New Mexico and went the College of Santa Fe to study theater and took modern and African dance classes, the latter of which she studied for 8 years. After a year and a half of theater she switched over to the music department and ended up with a degree in music performance and composition. During college she mainly produced avant-garde style music as well as collaborating with peers to put on multi media performances. During her time in New Mexico, Susan became interested in holistic and alternative medicine and studied Traditional Chinese Medicine and various styles of body work. Somewhere during that time she discovered belly dance – American Tribal Style, the merging crown of all her interests and skills.
In 2003 she moved to New York City and lived there for 3 years. During that time, Susan was a dancer in the original PURE (Public Urban Ritual Experiment) branch and co-founded Alchemy Dance Theater with Sarah J. Locke. In 2005, she joined Bellyqueen and toured with them. She is featured on the Peko Records Bellyqueen DVD, The Belly Dance Experience.
Always curious for more experiences, she went to Croatia in search for her roots in honor of her grandfather, and grew attached to the lovely city of Dubrovnik where she performed and started spreading American Tribal Style and Tribal Fusion all over the country. In 2002, she was coined "the biggest attraction of the Adriatic Coast" by Amsterdam's Elle Magazine for her nightly performances at the famous Troubadour Live Jazz Cafe in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
After NYC, she moved to Long Beach, California, and then to the Bay Area putting her bags down in Oakland, just outside of San Francisco. She stayed there for 2 years and collaborated with Mira Betz, Elizabeth Strong, Frederique, Rose Harden, Sarah White and Jill Parker of Ultra Gypsy in The Barbary Coast Shakedown.
Susan is currently living in Zagreb, Croatia, teaching 10 classes a week, completing the mission she began in 2003.
She travels doing workshops and performances, all over the US: Albuquerque, New York, Boston, thru the Mid West, Long Beach, Oakland, as well as all over the world: Montreal, Cuernavaca, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, Nagoya, Rome, Paris, Girona, and also Croatia in Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Karlovac and Varazdin, and nearby Slovenia - Ljubljana and in Maribor where she teaches monthly classes at Hiša Zahir.
She has taken workshops and classes with and by many talented artists like Carolina Nericcio of Fat Chance Belly Dance, Heather Stants of Urban Tribal, Jill Parker, Rachel Brice, Sharon Kihara, Zoe Jakes, Kami Liddle, Suhaila, Amar Gamal, Valentina Lacmanovic, Kaeshi Chai, Ranya Renee Fleysher, Mira Betz, Elizabeth Strong, Frederique, Ariellah, Olivia Kissel and Maria Hammer of Zafira and last, but certainly not least - Arianne Monti, a teacher and dance partner from Apsara Tribal Belly Dance Ensemble that gave her strong foundation in American Tribal Style.
Susan Frankovich is available for performances, workshops, and group or individual private instruction around the globe. For more information, please contact Susan at susanfrankovich@gmail.com