Teachers

Asharah
Asharah is best known for her dramatic fusion of tribal and cabaret styles, but also has extensive experience in Turkish, Egyptian, and American bellydance. She is currently a faculty member of two of Washington DC's finest dance studios: Saffron Dance and Joy of Motion Dance Center. She recently released her first instructional DVD, Modern Tribal Bellydance with Asharah and is featured on the groundbreaking DVD Gothic Bellydance: The Darker Side of Fusion, both produced by World Dance New York . As a student of Middle Eastern history, she believes that every belly dancer must know the history and culture of this dance, whether she is performing it in its traditional forms or fusing it with others.
Email: Asharah@asharah.com Web: www.asharah.com  


Autumn Ward
Autumn is a  New York City-based performing artist specializing in “belly” dance. Creating, teaching, and performing traditional dances from the Middle East as well as innovative artistic work. Having trained early in ballet and gymnastics, she is known for graceful carriage, fluid precision, musicality, and unusual flexibility. Her formal training includes numerous Arabic, Turkish, and Iranian classical, social, and folk styles; Uzbek and other Central Asian dance; Georgian, Armenian, and other Caucasus-region dance; flamenco; kathak and other Indian dance; and intensive study in Middle Eastern dance and dance education with Michelle Forner from 1997-1999. Autumn was a principal dancer of Washington, DC's Silk Road Dance Company (directed by Laurel Gray) from 2000-2002, and danced with Mosaic Dance Theater (a New York City company featuring the choreography of Samara) from 2004-2006.

e-mail: Autumn@AutumnWard.com      Web: www.autumnward.com      Phone: 917-686-1622


Isabella Salimpour-Khoury
Isabella nine years old and third generation belly dancer. She is the daughter of legendary Suhaila Salimpour and granddaughter of pioneer, Jamila Salimpour.  Isabella has accompanied her mother around the world performing and assisting in workshops and currently teaches the "belly dance for kids" classes at the Salimpour School of Dance.

Email: TheRealSuhaila.com      Web: info@therealsuhaila.com     


Jamilla al Wahid
Jamilla Al Wahid was born in Ely, England and moved to Sacramento California when she was young. Her mother Fatima Al Wahid introduced her to Middle Eastern Dancing by taking classes from a local teacher. Watching her mom and the other students in class, Jamilla soon grew interested in the art form. Teaching her first workshop at sixteen, Jamilla was in a league of her own. Jamilla’s creative style of teaching has dancers and sponsors interest in having as well as attending her dynamic workshops.   Jamilla continues to travel around the world performing and teaching.  Jamilla has put out a performance video by the help of her family; that contains hot drum solos, folkloric, modern, and classical Egyptian pieces. This performance video has Middle Eastern Dance at it’s best leaving you captivated as well as entertained.

Email: jamilla@email.com       Web: www.fatimasbazaar.com      Phone: 323-931-6781


Kaeshi
Kaeshi Chai is a co-founder and artistic director of the Bellyqueen Dance Theater company. She also co-founded the healing dance community, PURE (Public Urban Ritual Experiment) www.puredance.org. Kaeshi has performed and taught all over the world including the US, Canada, Europe Mexico, Bali, Trinidad and Asia. In 2004, Kaeshi was the dance captain for the Bellydance Superstars. In her spare time, she studies Mandarin, enjoys travelling, and drinking Soy Chai Lattes.

Email: kaeshi@bellyqueen.com      Web: www.BellyQueen.com      Phone: 310-597-3261


Pete List
Pete List is a NYC based composer, multi-instrumentalist and human beatboxer who has performed for audiences from New York to Cairo with various diverse music, dance and theater projects in styles ranging from Hip-Hop and rock to folk and Middle Eastern music.� Pete often performs as a solo act creating and layering live loops of beatbox, guitar and vocal textures to build hypnotic songs with the intensity and power of a full band.� He is mostly known in the bellydance community for his work with the East Coast Tribal ensemble Djinn, and he recently completed a solo CD of music for the tribal bellydance duo Kassar entitled "Songs for Kassar". Close your eyes and listen you'll never believe his mouth is not a drum kit.

Email: pete@petelist.com      Web: Petelist.com     


Rashid
Rashid has been dancing professionally for over thirty years. He has taught, lectured and performed throughout the western hemisphere.  He has directed, choreographed and performed with several companies including, Bal Anat, The Rasheeds, the SF Egyptian Dance Company and Amwaj Fokloric Company(director, Samra Zuhur).  The phenomenon of interest in the western world for Middle Eastern dance continues to inspire Rashid’s artistic exploration of it’s evolution outside the cultures of the Middle East .  His own bi-cultural background has given him a sensitivity to changes and nuances in music, dance and attitude which have influenced this art form.  He has only begun to share his knowledge and love of the dance.  Rashid has been a contributing artist to the Salimpour School for over 30 years.  He is presently an artistic consultant, designer, teacher, choreographer and performer with Salimpour School of Dance. He is featured on Suhaila Salimpour’s Sheherezade and Solo Show DVDs.  Rashid is currently a teacher, choreographer, artistic consultant and performer with the Salimpour School of Dance. 
Email: info@therealsuhaila.com      Web: TheRealSuhaila.com


Sera
Sera is a performer/choreographer/instructor of Bellydance from  NYC who teaches and performs internationally. The director of two dance  troupes, Solstice, and the Solstice Project, Sera has created a  best-selling bellydance video:  East Coast Tribal, produced by World  Dance New York: Presenting bellydance as funky, fierce, and fresh,  arising from music/dance influences of the East Coast (which may or may  not coincide with what is happening out west). Sera works in  collaboration with musicians of Freek Factory, a collective of cutting edge artists who fuel her choreographies. Sera is a core-collaborator and performer with the live band, The Rhythm Shamans, where she uses dance as a form of communication and empowerment. In 2005, she was  invited to India to teach dance as a means of healing to young women who had been rescued from sexual abuse. This experience opened Sera to further discovery of dance as a medium for communication. Sera's primary interest is in creating substantive choreography set to current, intelligent electronic music. Sera is a former core member of 3 nationally respected Troupes: Bellyqueen, Raqs Sahara, and The Silk Road Dance Company.

Email: sera@seradance.com      Web: www.seradance.com     


Suhaila Salimpour
Suhaila Salimpour is the world's most sought-after performer, teacher, and choreographer of belly dance. A second-generation belly dancer, Suhaila has developed a format combining her heritage with classical dance training. After being the first Belly Dancer featured by Arab American Television, Suhaila toured the Middle East and Europe. She returned to the US to open her school - offering the first Certification program available in Belly Dance. Suhaila Productions creates instructional and performance DVDs for all dance levels, CDs for percussion artists and printed dance manuals. Suhaila has orchestrated Middle Eastern dance musicals and is director of both the Suhaila Dance Company and Bal Anat.

Email: suhaila@therealsuhaila.com      Web: www.TheRealSuhaila.com      Phone: 510-527-2400