Karen Custer Thurston, M.S., is a fitness consultant, dance artist, Master dance instructor and choreographer of Turkish~Egyptian Dance styles.  Educated at Purdue and Butler Universities in Indiana, she is a business member of the international IDEA Health Fitness Association.   Karen co-founded the Indiana State Association of Middle Eastern Teachers and Dancers (ISAMETD), is a member of the Arizona Middle Eastern Dance Association (AMEDA), and was selected as artist-in-residence at FALA Arts and Leadership Academy in Flagstaff

For two decades in Indiana, Karen's business grew into a double studio that housed staff and fitness/dance clientele, incorporated as Total Fitness Concepts. Karen served as an Indianapolis YWCA Board member as well as on the fitness staff and as a consultant for ENCORE, a rehabilitative program for post-mastectomees.

Karen's fitness work is the foundation for her active life style. She has whipped-in as staff for Questover Hounds in the Midwest, solo backpacked in Australia/New Zealand/Tasmania, accomplished a winter ascent of Thorong La Pass in Nepal (the highest mountain pass in the world at 17,764 ft.), backpacked to 10,000 ft. in the American West and hiked remote areas of the American Southwest, Alaska, Spain, South Africa, Botswana and Kazakhstan. In fall of 2002, Karen trekked to 18,000 feet and Everest Base Camp in the Khumbu Glacier region of the Himalayas. Before returning to the U.S., she explored the temples of the spectacular Angkor Wat World Heritage site in Cambodia. In 2003, Karen journeyed on the mighty Mekong River in Luang Prabang, Laos (another World Heritage Site) and climbed to 19,000 ft in the Gokyo Region of Nepal's Himalayas.

In 2004, Karen delighted in adventure travel to the turquoise ports of Croatia, the ancient beauty of Bled and Lublijana areas of Slovenia and a World Heritage Site, the City of  Prague, in the Czech Republic. In 2005, travel to China's Tibetan Plateau (12,00-14,000ft), Lixiang (World Heritage Site), the Terra Cotta Soldiers of Xian (World Heritage Site) and mingling with the Khampa people in the Buddhist village of Tagong were all life-altering experiences.

Karen travels internationally with her daughter, Rachel.  To keep up on their travel adventures, please visit www.thedivatales.blogspot.com. Please also visit Rachel's home site www.rachelsthurston.com which features her accomplished travel writing and spectacular photography.

Karen's association with the International Center in Indianapolis resulted in years of staffing and organizing the annual International Festival's multi-cultural entertainment for the main stage and audiences of 500. Karen presented solo Turkish~Egyptian performances for 17 years in the Parthenon restaurant of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Having studied with the reknowned Ibrahim Farrah, Natasha, Dahlena, Mesmera, Eva Cernik, Bert Balladine and the staff of the Magana Baptiste School of Dance, Karen has maintained her pace of study as well as zealously promoted within her classes, respect for self, peers, audience and the Dance. 

"With the amassed knowledge of teaching thousands of students the basics and technical foundation and from work with two dance companies in Indiana and Arizona, I look forward to sharing with you successful information for audience-pleasing results regarding:"