Belly Dance Life Iana Komarnytska

Nath Keo is the artistic director and choreographer of the Sacred Centre Dance Company based in Victoria, B.C., Canada. Nath is a belly dancer who has performed in over 51 cities with more than 1,000 performances during his career. Along with releasing a few music albums, a book and instructional dance DVDs, his resume includes serving as a featured instructor and performer at the International Bellydance Conference of Canada, alongside the legendary Farida Fahmy, and as a judge at the World Bellydance Championship hosted in Seoul, South Korea.

This is a best of episode! You will hear a collection of tips and practices from the belly dance stars regarding their experience of creating fusion between belly dance and other dance genres.

You will hear from Meher Malik, Anjelica Scannura, Soraia Zaied and Diana Gnatchenko.

Heather (Henna) Louise is a performer, teacher, and life long student of Middle Eastern music and dance based in Portland, Oregon. After studying belly dance for five years, life took Heather to Asia where she began her performing career in the restaurant gig scene of Tokyo, Japan. Along with her dance partners, she worked with the live band Alladeen and co-founded the Tokyo International Bellydance Competition. Since returning to Portland in 2008, Heather has taught and performed at Jamballah NW Festival, The Hawaii Bellydance Convention, competed and placed in Bellydance of the Year Competition, and won the Ms. La Danse Orientale title. She has been a featured instructor at the Middle Eastern Dance Guild of Eugene (MEDGE), as well as at Emerald Sanctuary Belly Dance Retreat, and has been a panel judge for The Belly Dance Off.

In order to find emotional connection with Baladi, you need to understand its cultural environment, and typical archetypes that are often associated with Baladi women. Let’s dive into this topic in this solo episode with Iana!

Randa Kamel is one of the most famous Egyptian dancers with her own unique style full of energy, as well as a teacher who has shared her knowledge with thousand of students all around the world. At the age of 15, she began studying folklore with the famous Reda group. After 7 years Randa transitioned into her solo career as a professional oriental dancer in Alexandria. Later moved on to Cairo, and quickly became a performer at the Meridien hotel, sharing the stage with legendary Fifi Abdou. Today Randa appears in weddings, parties and in the Nile Maxim cruise when she is in Egypt. Her own orchestra consists of 28 musicians. She also travels extensively around the world teaching at festivals, and organizes her own winter course and summer dance festival “Raqs Of Course” in Cairo.

Sylvia Yssei began her dance training in 2000 with Jazz, and throughout the years she included Flamenco, Spanish, Classical and Contemporary dances in her training. Later she discovered bellydance, and eventually Tribal Fusion dance and Ori Tahiti (Tahitian dance). Both became a powerful means of expression for her in a complementary, but at the same time very different ways. Along with her dance explorations, she studied Psychology at the University of Barcelona, which has definitely helped her to learn the basics of Pedagogy and the dynamics of learning, as well as to understand her students in an active and holistic way.