At the heart of many dance forms is the celebration of the sacred feminine. From Indian temple dances to Bellydance, movement has always been a way for women to connect with their bodies as well as the divine, whilst also offering a way of self-expression that is healing, powerful and beautiful at the same time. Dance and movement to beats and rhythms has always been part of human life. In the womb we hear the heartbeat of our mothers, and once we are born, we’re exposed to other rhythms and beats all around us, because everything has a beat, and energy, and everything around us dances. Moveme ..read more

Dancing can become very addictive and an essential part of your identity, but not every dancer is the same. Read on to find out which dance identity is yours, and how you can use that knowledge to develop your dancing even further. To be fair, no one is rarely 100% one or the other. Often we’re a mix of 2-3 identities, and evolve from one into the next. Nevertheless, the following types are stereotypes of different dance identities, which I have encountered in the nearly three decades that I have been performing and teaching dance. Do you see yourself in any of these? I have included some da ..read more

Being active has long been recognised to lower stress levels, but did you know that dancing can be one of the most effective stress therapies? Alongside my dancing I also work as personal development and transitions coach, and the main reasons people come to me is stress related. When we get stressed we often disconnect from our body and being able to reconnect and feel our body, as well as maintaining a good and regular breathing pattern (all my students know all to well my regular instruction about remembering to breath!), is one of the first vital steps towards a stress free life. So how do ..read more

Every week in class I give my students the option of homework, but I know all to well that most won’t be able to set aside large chunks of time to work on their technique or polish their performance. So how do you manage to get your training fitted in between work, family, friends, housework etc.? My advice is always to structure it to fit into your current everyday life – not your perfect or dream scenario. There isn’t a magic solution that will fit all, and if you try to fit a set amount into your existing schedule, which I bet is already pretty full, you’re likely to fail at the first hurdl ..read more

As I’m writing this my Christmas and New Year plans are still uncertain – but then I guess that was the theme for the year now nearly gone. One thing is for certain, dance is what has kept me going throughout 2020, even if the majority of it has been online. And as things stand at the moment, it will continue to be that way come January. You can see the 2021 class schedule here. But to celebrate the festive season, and to hopefully bring a smile to your face, I wanted to share with you what may have been my last perfomance of the year. Those who could make my End of Year Celebration will reco ..read more

Whether your hips are tight from a lot of dancing, other exercise or even just sitting down, stretching the outer hip can be tricky without adding to much strain on other joints especially the knee. So today I want to share one of my favourite gentle outer hip stretches, which can be a great alternative to the ‘no 4’ or ‘pigeon’ stretch, especially if you want to be more gentle on those knees. But as with all stretches – you need to listen to your body and go with what feels best.   Please remember this stretch is meant to be applied gently, so make sure to take your time getting in and ..read more

What a crazy year 2020 has proven to be! Just as I was hoping to return to teaching physical classes and workshops in some of my regular venues, obstacles seem to come in the way and the return, that I think so many are impatiently waiting for, has been delayed. But life goes on, so despite me waiting for a long time to see if I could actually nail down some definite detail, I have decided to go with the flow and just see how it goes [something we may all have learned to do during this pandemic!]. My future workshops as well as classes will therefore be delivered via Zoom for sure – and face ..read more

I’m very excited to be launching my brand new series of pre-recorded courses on my website. You may know that I’ve previously taught online courses with both pre-recorded and live elements to experienced students, but this is the first time I’ll be opening this up to beginners too – first with a Belly Dance Basics Course and with a follow up [level 2] coming during the Autumn. I’m also currently producing a ‘Shimmies A-Z’ series for more experienced students and after many requests choreography courses will also soon be available. But as there are only a limited number of hours in the day, yo ..read more

I often get asked how you best control a knee or Egyptian Shimmy – and being one of those moves that require strength as well as relaxation to work, the simple question is really: practise. But that doesn’t necessarily mean plough on and do lots of drills, as it’s also very important to take the time to actually know the technique as well as build the strength required to do the move. The shimmy is often a move not broken down in great depth in a class – maybe because it seems ‘too simple’ or because it’s ‘just something you do’. I certainly don’t remember my first teachers spending a lot of ..read more

Fusion music and dance isn’t a new concept. Egyptian star dancer Samia Gamal was heavily influenced by Russian ballet and composer Mohammed Abdul Wahab experimented with western rhythms and orchestrations. But it’s not only the West influencing the East – the exchange has also gone the other way with Shakira dancing to Um Kalthoum and musicians like Sting and Snoop Dogg collaborating with Egyptian artists.  The term ‘fusion’ is used to cover many different aspects of dance and I for one consider myself a fusion dancer as I love to mix my knowledge and experience of Ballroom, Latin and Ja ..read more