Belly Dance Life

Originally from Argentina, master teacher, artistic director and dancer Oscar Flores began his artistic career very early. His training is very varied, including ballet, flamenco, oriental dance, theater and musical studies. From 1995 till today, he has been working in the world of theater, dance and fashion. In 2001, he founded his first dance school, where he worked for 3 years before moving to Buenos Aires and continuing his studies with renown masters such as Amir Thaleb and Saida. In 2010, he founded his dance company where he worked until 2016, when he moved to China to become a part of the Bellydance China project. Over the years, he has worked in the most important international festivals in the world as a dancer, teacher and competition judge; he has also participated as a guest and performer in several television programs in Latin America, Mexico, USA, Canada, Europe, China, Egypt, Turkey.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Dealing with health issues, and navigating the stress of a busy artistic life

- How to refill joy and enthusiasm towards your art

- The importance of proper rest and play time

- What role social media plays in the life of a professional dancer today

- How COVID-19 is influencing Oscar’s life and the belly dance field in general

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Previous interview with Oscar Flores: Ep 25. Oscar Flores: I Needed an Opportunity to Live My Dream

Find Oscar Flores on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. His website: http://www.oscarbellydance.com.ar

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their BDExperience program at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Mohanned Hawaz is a dancer from Iraq currently living in Sweden. He has trained both ballet and Iraqi folklore since childhood and was a member of the Iraqi International Dance Company. Mohanned has played an excellent role in bringing Iraqi folkloric arts and dance to European and international audiences. He is determined to bring Iraqi style dances and culture to the international dance community and, more importantly, to preserve the work of the Iraqi National Troupe and its founders, Hannah Abdullah and Fouad Thanoon. The troupe Enkidu, an all-female, 12-person dance troupe, was founded by him in 2010 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Mohanned’s childhood dream of becoming a professional dancer

- Today’s reality of Iraqi dance cultures, and limited opportunities to study from the source

- Various rhythms of Iraqi dance styles

- Iraqi National Troupe: before and now

- Most common mistakes that we see at belly dance competitions

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Follow Mohanned Hawaz on FB, and Instagram. Also, check videos kindly provided by Mohanned to compliment this interview HERE.

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their BDExperience program at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

It’s a mini-episode with Iana!

Today the world is changing so rapidly. Let’s talk about the current events and their impact (immediate and in a long term) on belly dance industry.

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Find Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Jessaiah Zure began bellydancing in 1997, studying primarily with Katarina Burda, and later with Jamila Salimpour. In 2004 she began her 10-year journey of living and studying on and off in Istanbul, where she studied Turkish Roman Dance primarily with Reyhan Tusuz. Jessaiah was Reyhan’s second ever “student”. As the years progressed, she met more people and danced and studied with many more dancers, including professionals, women in the kitchen, Anadolu Atesi dancers and more. The locals in Istanbul were amazed at Jessaiah’s natural familiarity with the music and dance. While she was there, Jessaiah was a featured dancer at many local events, weddings, shows, as well as written about in newspapers and asked to be in movies as a dancer.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Studying folklore as a part of belly dance classes

- How do we define ‘traditional’

- Jessaiah’s learning experience of Turkish Romani dance without knowing the language, and having an audience observing her at each class

- We all start as beginners

- The importance of individuality in dance.

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Follow Jessaiah Zure on FB, and Instagram. Also, check her Fb group The Rhythm & Belly Revival (International Dance Collective).

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their BDExperience program at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Pedro Bonatto is an internationally acclaimed photographer and drummer. Born in Brazil, Pedro works in fine art and fashion photography, with works published in Elle Arabia, Fashion Canada and a number of magazines and books. His fine art project, The Orientalist, features dancers and musicians in scenes inspired by Orientalist paintings, photographed in 6 countries in 3 continents. Pedro's unique style is applied to his belly dance photography, having photographed a number of stars including Aida Bogomolova, Khaled Mahmoud, Marta Korsun, Julia Farid and many others. Pedro is also a drummer focusing on Middle Eastern music and the leader of the world music and dance ensemble Blue Dot.

In this episode you will learn about:

- How Pedro got involved in Arabic drumming, and how he started working with dancers

- What is the difference between playing for a dancer and accompanying a singer with a band

- Pedro’s most memorable shoot from the Orientalist series, in the ‘’ghost’’ city with a broken car, no Internet connection, and upcoming flight in a few hours

- Life of a belly dancer’s husband: behind-the-scene reality of glittering shows

- Some ideas on how to deal with partners who do not support your belly dance passion.

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Follow Pedro Bonatto on FB, Instagram, and YouTube, his website with useful tips for preparing for shoots, and his podcasts.

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their BDEmpower program at www.BellydanceEvolution.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Some of the best moments from our previous episodes! Today we are talking about such an important topic as health: health and dance in general, and health as a dancer’s health specifically. Learn from Cassandra Fox, Jillina Carlano, Alla Kushnir and Aradia of Las Vegas.

Show Notes to this episode:

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 101. Aradia of Las Vegas: How to Succeed as a Full-Time Performer

Thank you for supporting the Belly Dance Life Podcast via our Iana Dance Club page!

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their shows at www.BellydanceEvolution.com or audition for the cast at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

After extensive training in gymnastics and ballet, at age 19 Eva Cernik was first introduced to belly dance by Anahid Sofian in New York. Eva worked as an Oriental dancer in London, Paris, Istanbul, and Cairo, and in-troupe in Baghdad and Spain. She also traveled in Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Morocco and 14 other countries. Returning to Egypt 26 times, Eva developed a friendship with families in Upper Egypt, and studied with Khairiya Maazin, and So'ad Maazin. She also returned to Turkey 11 times, to really grasp the very strong contrast of the Turkish and Romani styles to the Egyptian and American styles. In 2008, Eva was presented by Denver Lyric Opera Guild in a performance of Strauss' "Dance of the Seven Veils" from his opera "Salome”. She also spent 14 years fully immersed in Sufi dance practices.

In this episode you will learn about:

- How Eva got involved into belly dance thinking that it was an Armenian folk dance class

- Performing with injured knee

- Studying Ghawazi dances from Khariya Maazin

- Interviewing the legendary Samia Gamal

- Where did the misconception of using big skirts in Turkish Romani Dance come from.

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Follow Eva Cernik on FB, Instagram, and YouTube.

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their programs at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Having performed in over 21 countries, Amaya was the first to introduce the passion of Flamenco with the sensuality of Arabic Dance through her interpretation of the song "Amayagueña", composed especially for her by top composer Ibrahim El Samahy. Her fusion work in the early 1990s sparked many dancers to follow on her path. She credits her mentor and dance partner, the late Roman Balladine, for opening many dance doors around the world for her (Europe, Australia, New Zealand…). Amaya ran away and joined the circus! Her circus work in Salome Traumtheater and Circus Conelli in Germany and Switzerland were milestones in her dance career. In 1978 she got 1st Place Winner of Egypt Dance Competition in Sheraton Hotel (Cairo), and later she received the Giza Award for her documentary, “Gypsy Fire, Part One” 1988. She also got the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award, Santa Fe, 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award, National Isis Foundation, Dallas, and many other acknowledgements.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Different stages of Amaya’s career, and working together with a male dancer

- How to stop feeding negativity, and deal effectively with gossip and conflicts in your dance circle

- Common threads in personality of all successful dancers

- Amaya’s documentaries about the history of belly dance in the USA: why? how? who?

- Why Amaya truly deserves her title of Wise Woman.

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Follow Amaya on FB, Instagram, and YouTube. More information about her documentaries and retreat at her website.

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their programs at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

After relocating from the UK to the USA, Sara Al-Hadithi got involved in the Middle-Eastern dance world and discovered an interest in Iraqi dance that has swept through the bellydance community. As an Iraqi, this area of performance was very surprising and personal to her, not just as a performer, but also as the daughter of one of Iraq's most well-known and respected vocalist and authority on Iraqi folklore. After partnering with dancer Uza of NYC, the collaboration of the Court of Morjana was born, the first English-language website dedicated to all subjects relating to Iraqi dance. Also, Sara has founded Autism Care Los Angeles (ACLA) to address the difficulty and frustration many families experience when seeking caregivers for family members living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

In this episode you will learn about:

- Being the daughter of a well-known artist, and experiencing resistance from society and family towards her own artistic dreams

- The female role in Iraqi culture and society, and why Sara was surprised to discover dancers interest in Iraqi dance

- Navigating life, motherhood, autism diagnosis and an artist’s path

- Finding support in the belly dance community

- Why Sara refused to actively teach dance classes, and how she found a way to contribute to dance education in the most authentic way for her

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Follow Sara Al-Hadithi on FB, Instagram, and YouTube.

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their programs at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

I’ll be honest: it was very tempting to title this episode as “From Egyptian Traditional Style to Burlesque Dancer”, but our conversation with Katalin Schäfer was much wider than just these two dancer styles on an incredible artistic arc that will definitely challenge your understanding of the art.

Katalin is an accomplished international performer, choreographer, instructor, and costume designer from Hungary. In 2004, together with three other master teachers, she established a dance company called Art of Orient, and soon after she established her own dance company with Arab boys and Hungarian girls. In the same year, she had come second at the Ahlan Wa Sahlan World Competition in Egypt, but later a meaningful artistic journey has begun that has effected her life on both professional and spiritual levels. Her wide range of interests has motivated her to create a very unique, personal style that she would call (if definition is necessary at all) Oriental Jazz.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Falling in love with Egyptian traditional raqs sharki and folklore, and later transitioning into fusion and burlesque dance

- The importance of feeling your body and hearing your soul’s calling

- How Katalin describes her own dance style

- Dealing with stigmas and judgements about being a belly dancer and a burlesque dancer

- Pregnancy and motherhood while being an active dancer

Show Notes to this episode:

Thank you for your support via Iana Dance Club: www.ianadanceCLUB.com.

Follow Katalin Schäfer on FB, Instagram, YouTube, and website. Check her costume designer HERE.

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, Youtube, website .

Bellydance Evolution and information about their programs at www.JoinBDE.com.

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast