Belly Dance Life

We haven’t had many of best of compilation episodes this year so far, so it’s time to fix it! Let’s talk about the nutrition.. You will hear from Cassandra Fox, Jillina Carlano, Alla Kushnir, and Mercedes Nieto.

Show Notes to this episode:

Full interviews with our guests:

Ep 15. Cassandra Fox: Healthy Does Not Have a Face

Ep 31. Jillina Carlano: How Food Can Influence Your Dance

Ep 40. Alla Kushnir: Not Only Luck Makes You Number 1

Ep 163. Mercedes Nieto: Finding Home Inside Your Body

Join SharQui - The Bellydance Workout at sharqui.com/online

You can find details about Joana Saahirah online school and available courses at www.joanasaahirah.com

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Silvia Brazzoli is a professional dancer, instructor, yoga teacher, painter, and pizza lover based in Italy. She found her biggest love for oriental dance at the age of 18. Since then she has been dancing and teaching professionally all around the world. The growth of a dancer is a never-ending journey and Silvia is constantly researching, traveling and training in oriental dance and other dance styles, influencing the development of her own style.

In this episode you will learn about:

- How dance and yoga can compliment each other

- Silvia’s transition into a professional dance life

- Sharing knowledge as a teacher

- Teaching ongoing classes vs one-time workshops

- How to be yourself through dance

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Silvia Brazzoli and her events on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and website.

Join SharQui - The Bellydance Workout at sharqui.com/online

You can find details about Joana Saahirah online school and available courses at www.joanasaahirah.com

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Native Egyptian Nada El Masriya grew up belly dancing fully immersed within the rich cultural and historical environment of metropolitan Cairo. Her first formal dance training began early, with her high school’s folkloric troupe. At Cairo University, Nada earned a degree in Egyptian Law, minored in the History of Egyptian Culture and Dance Traditions. At early age Nada began her intensive training and performance with the prestigious Reda Troupe School. In 2002 she emigrated to Canada inspired by a passionate desire to accurately preserve and pass on her rich historic native Egyptian culture.

In this episode you will learn about:

- The benefits of cutting back and prioritizing your projects

- How to approach your hesitation to raise prices

- Mindset trick of stop being afraid of competitions

- Why smaller niche can bring bigger income

- Nada’s two big festivals in Egypt and Canada

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Nada El Masriya and her events on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and website.

Previous interview with Nada:

Ep 28. Nada El Masriya: How Studying Folklore Can Make You a Better Belly Dancer

You can find details about Joana Saahirah online school and available courses at www.joanasaahirah.com

Join SharQui - The Bellydance Workout at sharqui.com/online

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Oleksandra Kovalova is a professional dancer, teacher, choreographer, and certified judge. She is a director of oriental dance school Amberly based in Zhytomyr (Ukraine), and an organizer of the big international festival Yalla Bina. Oleksandra is a winner of Nile Group competition, as well as a mentor for her award-winning students. After living and teaching classes in Germany during past year, she is currently back to Ukraine, and just managed to run a very success edition of her dance festival, gathering dancers from all over Ukraine.

In this episode you will learn about:

- How war in Ukraine influenced Oleksandra’s life and dance activities

- Teaching belly dance classes in Germany

- Why continuing dance activities in Ukraine is so important

- The nuances of festival organization considering the current situation in Ukraine

- How dancers’ approach to belly dance is changing

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Oleksandra Kovalova on Instagram and Facebook.

You can find details about Joana Saahirah online school and available courses at www.joanasaahirah.com

Join SharQui - The Bellydance Workout at sharqui.com/online

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

This episode includes Iana’s lecture that was recorded specifically for her recent Mahraganat intensive at the Iana Dance Club.

Since Mahraganat has a very particular mood, this style may feel uncomfortable for many dancers. Diving into such topic can be a great opportunity to train your acting skills, loosen up emotional boundaries related to shyness, and get out of your comfort zone. In addition, we are gonna work on a very fun and dynamic choreo which will provide you a bit of cardio workout. :)

Check out the full intensive on Mahraganat: https://www.ianadanceclub.com/intensives/mahraganat-(street-shaabi)

Show Notes to this episode:

Join SharQui - The Bellydance Workout at sharqui.com/online

Details and training materials for the BDE castings are available at www.JoinBDE.com

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Yunseo is a young talented belly dancer from South Korea. She is the award recipient of the Midas Goldentouch Bellydance Competition, Reina Oriental Dance Festival, Elkaff Festival, Malaysia World Oriental Dance Art Festival, and many others. Her beautiful unique style blends elements of traditional belly dance mixed with contemporary and other non-belly dance genres.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Belly dance in Korea

- The importance of competitions

- Differences between competitions in Korea and Europe

- Overcoming failure at contests

- Mixing belly dance with other styles

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Yunseo on Instagram and, Facebook.

Join SharQui - The Bellydance Workout at sharqui.com/online

Details and training materials for the BDE castings are available at www.JoinBDE.com

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Anusch Alawerdian is an Armenian oriental dance performer, instructor and choreographer. She has been interested in dance since she was little, taking up several dance courses like ballet, folk dance and jazz. At the age of seventeen Anusch fell in love with the oriental dance style and traveled the world in search of the best dance instructors to teach her the art of bellydance. She opened her own oriental dance school in the Netherlands in 2002. She is now based in the United Arab Emirates and performs all over the world. In 2011 she also established an International dance festival “Summer Bellydance Festival” in Netherlands. Currently, Anush focuses all her energy on teaching activities and developing her project “Bellydance Abu Dhabi”.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Having 250 students once she started teaching in the Netherlands

- Organizing a festival while living in a different country

- Teaching belly dance classes in Abu Dhabi

- Receiving UAE golden visa for artists

- Becoming a local influencer

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Anusch Alawerdian on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. Her classes in Abu Dhabi HERE.

Join SharQui - The Bellydance Workout at sharqui.com/online

Details and training materials for the BDE castings are available at www.JoinBDE.com

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Linda Hathor began her studies in belly dance in 1998, in Paraná (Brazil), and since then, she has dedicated herself professionally to this art as a dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of the Hathor Group of Oriental Dances. In 2003, she received her professional registration by the Union of Artists of Paraná . For several consecutive years she remained among the first places in the National Mercado Persa Competition, the most important oriental dance competition in Brazil. She also became the professional Brazilian champion of Belly Dance in the 2011 contest. Gathering her knowledge in the area of Performing Arts with oriental dance, she developed her own methodology to work with expression and emotion through dance. Linda was invited by Dunia and Hossam Ramzy to join their tour in Brazil in 2003.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Choosing Performing Arts over a Dance degree

- Linda’s special methodology for teaching emotional expression in dance

- Traps of artistic ego

- The popularity of belly dance in Brazil prior to O’Clone TV series

- How Linda started her festival before she even established her dance school

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Linda Hathor on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. International Festival Hathor: website.

Details and training materials for the BDE castings are available at www.JoinBDE.com

Check out the next SharQui Instructor Academy beginning April 3rd. Apply at sharqui.com/teach

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

This is a continuation of our special series ‘Student Voices’ where I share my conversations with the members of the Iana Dance Club about life, dance and training. Some of participants are belly dance beginners, some are professionals, but all of us have one thing in common: we all remain being students of dance. :)

Today you will hear three interviews at once! Enjoy these inspiring conversations with Fiona, Soukaina and Emily where they share their belly dance transformations with us.

Show Notes to this episode:

More interviews from our special series “Student Voices” are available HERE.

Details and training materials for the BDE castings are available at www.JoinBDE.com

Check out the next SharQui Instructor Academy beginning April 3rd. Apply at sharqui.com/teach

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Meher Malik is a famous belly dancer from Delhi, India, although she grew up in the Middle East, where she lived for 17 years. She moved to India in 2006 after finishing her schooling and went on to study fashion design at NIFT, Delhi. A few months into the course, Meher realized it was dance that was her true calling. She received huge recognition after her performances on India's Got Talent. In July 2011, Meher Malik and her students were selected on Hrithik Roshan's Just Dance Reality Show aired on Star Plus. Meher is also a director of Banjara School of Dance in New Delhi, an India’s Premier belly dance school.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Drastic shift in Meher’s artistic focus over the last 5 years

- Spirituality and sexuality of belly dance

- Motherhood

- Using dance to process deep traumas

- Meher’s teaching approach and current programs

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Meher Malik on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. Banjara School of Dance: website.

Previous episode with Meher Malik: Ep 27. Meher Malik: Fusion, Confusion and Female Objectification

Check out the next SharQui Instructor Academy beginning April 3rd. Apply at sharqui.com/teach

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club.

Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast