Belly Dance Life

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.

In this episode you will learn about:

- What is Kundalini energy and where it is stored in our body

- Why it is important to awaken Kundalini in us

- How belly dance is connected to Kundalini energy

- Ways how you can manifest Kundalini energy in you

- How Sylvia became a Kundalini Awakening facilitator, and how it aligns with her dance activities

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Sylvia Yssei on Instagram, FB and her website. In the interview Sylvia refers to Pi Villaraza as a source of information about Kundalini energy and Inner Dancer practice.

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

Izel Kirana started her dance journey almost 15 years ago. Originally from Barcelona, she fell in love with belly dance, tribal fusion style, and eventually Indian culture and art. 5 years ago she embarked on multiple journeys to India in search of its classical dances and folklore, training in Rajasthani folklore dance, Kalbelia dance, Kathak dance and Indian fusion.

In this episode you will learn about:

- How Izel discovered tribal fusion, and eventual Kalbelia dance styles

- Historical influences of Kalbelia dance

- Izel’s experience of visiting India, and taking classes with local teachers

- Fusion between different dance forms

- Supporting the Kalbelia community by running a clothing & jewelry store

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Izel Kirana on Instagram, and her Patreon page .

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

Amanda Rose is an internationally acclaimed instructor and performer based in Barcelona, Spain. In addition to over a decade of teaching experience, and almost 2 decades of experience with Raqs Sharqi, she also has a master's degree in Dance Movement Therapy from La Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Alongside her background in sociology and language studies, Amanda Rose’s academic experiences greatly shape her approach to dance, art, culture, and pedagogy. She has received wide recognition for Amanda Rose Online, one of the first online dance platforms in the Middle Eastern dance community, hosting a variety of online dance opportunities such as online prerecorded series, one on one coaching, competition training, and personal feedback.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Switching focus from technical excellence to emotional expression in dance

- How to find connections between movements and feelings

- Tips for dealing with performance anxiety

- What’s the difference between therapy and therapeutic experience

- Amanda’s research on therapeutic capabilities of belly dance

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Amanda Rose on Instagram, FB, and her website . Check out her research work “Eastern Dance Meets Western World. The Therapeutic Effects of Belly Dance in Western Society”

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

Raphael Cormack has a PhD in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on Egyptian theatre from the University of Edinburgh. He is currently Assistant Professor in Arabic Studies at Durham University. An award-winning editor and translator, Cormack is the editor of The Book of Cairo and the co-editor of The Book of Khartoum. His writing on Arab culture has appeared in the London Review of Books, Prospect and TLS, among others. Raphael Cormack is the author of Midnight in Cairo: The Female Stars of Egypt’s Roaring ’20s, an exploration of Cairo popular culture through personalities such as Rose Al-Youssef, Mounira al-Mahdiyya and Oum Kalthoum.

In this episode you will learn about:

- What’s the importance of 1920s in the Egyptian culture and entertainment industry

- How he chose which exact female stories to highlight, and why Samia Gamal wasn’t featured in his book

- His research methods

- Comparing careers of Mounira al-Mahdiyya and Oum Kalthoum

- What’s Raphael’s current focus on research

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Raphael Cormack on Instagram, FB, and Twitter. Check your local bookstores for his book “Midnight in Cairo: The Female Stars of Egypt’s Roaring ’20s”.

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

Colleena Shakti is an artist of great subtlety and depth. Trained extensively in Odissi classical dance under Smt. Sujata Mohapatra and well-versed in many styles of dance from India and beyond, Colleena lives an artistic path steeped in rich tradition. Yoga, aesthetics and related philosophies are an integral part of her holistic vision of art inspiring her to bridge timeless values with modern expression. She has performed for former president of India (Pratibha Patil), royal families across Rajasthan, Indian Embassy at Cairo, Chidambaram Nataraj temple and arts festivals from Japan to Australia. Colleena is the founder and director of Shakti School of Dance located in the Rang Nath Venu Gopal Temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan India where she also annually produces The Pushkar Temple Dance Festival. Recently she has added a Summer school program and retreat center at Villa Shakti Crete, Greece and launched online curriculum at her virtual school.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Beginning of Colleena’s dance journey, her discovery of belly dance and later Odissi

- Exploration of femininity through different dance styles

- Indian fusion dance

- Colleena’s training years in India

- How you can study with Colleena in person and online

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Colleena Shakti on Instagram, FB, and join her newsletter via website.

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

Julia Farid, a professional oriental dance artist, instructor, and choreographer originally from Ukraine, is renowned for her elegant and feminine dance style. Her contributions extend beyond the stage, as she has organized prestigious events like the Isadora Cup Festival, "Dream & Dance" Intensive Course, and founded Tips4hips online platform. With deep knowledge of oriental dance and captivating performances, she has become an internationally acclaimed artist, annually giving workshops and performing at numerous belly dance events worldwide.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Julia’s pregnancy experience

- How motherhood affected her life and dance career

- Advantages of in-person vs online classes

- Julia’s vision for Tips4Hips

- Constant growth as a dance professional

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Julia Farid on Instagram, FB, and Youtube, and website.

Previous interview with Julia:

Ep 52. Julia Farid: About Artistic Fulfillment, Individual Style and Teacher-Student Relationships

Ep 05. Julia Farid: Challenges of an International Dance Career

Take the Belly Dance Habits Quiz HERE.

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

Bellydance Superstar Boženka is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed dancer performing and teaching worldwide. Boženka hosts The Mediterranean Dance Lab, a dance intensive and cultural retreat on the island of Crete, Greece, where she currently resides. She has recorded several best-selling instructional and performance DVDs and has toured extensively with the celebrated “Bellydance Superstars” as a featured soloist. Through a professional dance career of 26 years, Boženka has been invited to teach and perform in over 50 countries. Boženka instructed and choreographed international superstar Shakira for her “Mongoose” world tour in 2004 and for her 2010 world tour “Shakira”, working with the pop diva side by side to help her hone and polish her innate skills. She performed on stage with world-music artist “Alabina” during her concert tour in Miami Beach in 2005. Boženka has entertained an assortment of celebrities including Sean Connery, Donald Trump, Hugh Hefner, Madonna, Alejandro Sanz and Enrique Iglesias, amongst others.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Boženka’s relationship with her own teacher, and how it influenced her career and teaching approach

- Epic Ahlan Wa Sahlan 2006 competition, and reasons she decided to compete

- Experience of working with Shakira for the last 20 years

- Funny story during a performance for Sean Connery

- The Mediterranean Dance Lab, and how it can help dancers grow

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Boženka on Instagram, FB, or website.

Take the Belly Dance Habits Quiz HERE.

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

Dipika Vijay is an academically trained designer, and a belly dance artist by passion. Her belly dance company is called Badass Belly Dance and her fitness classes fly under the name Firefly Aerial Fitness. She lives in Mumbai but grew up in multiple cities in India and as a result picked up folk dance forms like Bhangra, Garba, Bollywood apart from brief training in classical Indian dance styles such as Bharatnatyam and Odissi. She has a keen interests in popping, waacking, yoga and she recently started learning body control and mobility. Now Dipika practices belly dance not only as a sensuous dance form but as a powerful tool that generates awareness of the body, mind and spirit. She uses movement to create form and form to shape thoughts.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Belly dance in India

- How learning design and geometry can make you a better choreographer

- Improvisation vs choreography

- What is the difference between creativity and art

- Helping students discover their feminine side and sensuality

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Dipika Vijay on Instagram, FB, website, or email her to [email protected]

Take the Belly Dance Habits Quiz HERE.

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

As belly dancers we often use the term “Baladi” in reference to a particular dance style. Also, we sometimes call Masmudi Saghir rhythm as Baladi rhythm, which is common a mistake. But in Egyptian culture the word “Baladi” isn’t the name of a dance. So what is it? Discover in this episode!

Show Notes to this episode:

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Join the Iana Dance Club to participate in the upcoming Baladi intensive.

Take the Belly Dance Habits Quiz HERE.

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

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

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

Hend Elbalouty is choreographer, performer and author. She holds a MA in Performing Arts from Kunsthochschule für Medien, BA in production design from institute of cinema studies in Egypt and 3 years degree in contemporary dance from Cairo Contemporary Dance Center. She works across mediums combining and mixing them in accordance to the project at hand. In the last few years, she collaborated and presented many multidisciplinary art pieces such as “FrauenGold'' Video Exhibition in Hamburg, “The Kitchen” Dance performance, Köln, “Absence” a group exhibition at CoCulture Art space, Berlin. In 2021, she created a performance inspired by the local street dance and music in Egypt (Maharagant) for which she was awarded the “kunstpreis der FREUNDE der KHM”. Hend strives to produce and participate in socially aware dance pieces, constantly exploring the role of Art as a tool to empower the individual and bring out those neglected modes of expression.

In this episode you will learn about:

- Hend’s personal dance journey, and what led to researching Mahraganat

- Professional Mahraganat dancers, and what it means

- The concept of a street as private community space

- Why would dance possibly turn into a fight

- The process of writing and producing the book

Show Notes to this episode:

Find Hend Elbalouty on Instagram and her website. Information about her book “Mahraganat in Egypt: Between Acceptance & Rejection” is available HERE. You can order it online via khanaljanub.com, or khm.de

Take the Belly Dance Habits Quiz HERE.

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