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 orch ..read more

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 ..read more

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 teacher ..read more

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, h ..read more

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 ..read more

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 Austr ..read more

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 ..read more

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 supe ..read more

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 sensuou ..read more

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 20 ..read more