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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Nisaa (Heather D. Ward) is a Middle Eastern dance instructor, performer, and researcher based in St. Louis, Missouri. Nisaa’s mission is to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of the complexity, diversity, and beauty of Middle Eastern dance forms. As a researcher, Nisaa focuses on the history of Egyptian dance and its professional practitioners. Her investigations into the transition from awalim and ghawazi dance styles to classical raqs sharqi at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries led to the publication of her first book, Egyptian Belly Dance in Transition: The Raqs Sharqi Revolution, 1890-1930, in 2018.

In this episode you will learn about:

• Sensuality, sexuality and eroticism in belly dance

• How Nisaa got involved into researching belly dance

• What is the difference between awalim and ghawazee

• Did Badia Masabni invent raqs sharki?

• The term ‘raqs sharqi’

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Hayam Sokar is a midlife transformational coach, born and based in Egypt. She is a certified Neuro Linguistic Practitioner accreted from the American Board, and certified practitioner of Accessing Personal Genius from ISNS, as well as PEAT Processor. She helps women to find clarity in life, go through midlife crisis, re-evaluate who they are and who they want to become, and discover truths about themselves with the goal of becoming happier and build a more positive life. She actively incorporates dance classes into her coaching process.

In this episode you will learn about:

• Love-hate relationships with belly dance in Egypt

• What is a midlife crisis

• Signs of a middle age crisis

• How exactly belly dance benefit women who experience midlife crisis

• Hayam’s coaching process

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This is a new solo episode with Iana!

Last months I had my ever first Vipassana course, and I’d like to share some lessons that I had to remind myself during that 10-day meditation course. They perfectly apply to the process of dance training too, so I hope you will enjoy and use them in your own practice.

Show Notes to this episode:

Follow Iana on Instagram, FB, and Youtube . Check out her online classes and intensives at the Iana Dance Club. Artist Date show is available to watch/listen to HERE.

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

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

Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast

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Nataliya Goncharova has a university degree in Education, and is experienced in working with kids. Her students are champions of Ukraine, winners of the Belly Dance World Cup and many other prestigious awards. Nataliya co-organized the Dance with Stars Ukraine project, providing free online classes for Ukrainian belly dance students (many of whom are children), while also gathers donations from non-Ukrainian participants for families who escaped temporarily occupied territories during the war in Ukraine.

In this episode you will learn about:

• Current realities of dance life in Ukraine

• Dance With Stars Ukraine project

• Nuances of teaching children

• Main mistakes in flexibility training

• Benefits of doing a belly vacuum practice

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Morocco (Carolina Varga Dinicu) is a member of the Congress on Research in Dance (C.O.R.D.), the Society of Dance History Scholars (S.D.H.S.), the International Council on Dance – UNESCO (C.I.D.) and the International Council on Health, Physical Education Sport & Dance – UNESCO (ICHPER-SD). Morocco was awarded two grants by the State Council on the Arts for her choreography in 1972 and 1981, 3 NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Community Service Grants, 3 Summer Program Grants, a Materials for the Arts Grant and an Arts Exposure Grant.

Since 1964, Morocco has written for several publications in her field and been reprinted in dance, medical and feminist publications internationally. A true pioneer in the field, she taught a 3-credit course in Middle Eastern Dance and Culture at the State University of New York (Purchase, NY) in the mid 1970s.

In this episode you will learn about:

• How Morocco came to a dance audition not knowing it was a belly dance show

• The story of her stage name

• How ancients the belly dance is

• Researching deeper and reviewing mistakes in your own work

• Teaching Oriental Dance at university

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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. Pedro is also a drummer focusing on Middle Eastern music and the leader of the world music and dance band Blue Dot.

Iana Komarnytska is a professional dancer, teacher, choreographer, and passionate content creator helping dancers navigate their dance lives. She is a graduate from the professional dance program at York University (Canada), host of the Belly Dance Life podcast, creator of the educational online platform the Iana Dance Club, author of numerous articles, and winner of Star Bellydancer Canada 2014 among other international competitions. 

In this episode you will learn about:

• Stereotypes surrounding belly dance

• Typical struggles that dancers may face in dating life

• Difference between abuse and ignorance

• A fear of sensuality aspects of belly dance

• Some ideas on how to explain your dance passion to your partner

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This is a new solo episode with Iana!

Sharing 10 practical tips that I use to memorize choreographies faster. These tips will be especially useful during workshop settings, when you need to learn a dance piece within very limited amount of time.

Show Notes to this episode:

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

Check out Stackable Drills for your daily practice at www.stackabledrills.com.

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

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Oreet has over 25 years of experience in fitness and dance. She grew up with Yemeni folk and Oriental dance and has a degree in Contemporary Dance from SUNY College at Brockport. SharQuí has been featured on NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN, among other outlets. Some of Oreet’s bellydance awards are: Bellydancer of the Year, and Middle Eastern Dance Champion of North America. She’s led packed classes worldwide and has worked with thousands of men and women to realize their fitness potential.

In this episode you will learn about:

• Building business systems for your teaching activities

• The importance of confidence for a dance teacher

• How to check if you are ready to teach

• Tips for promoting your classes

• Nurturing your newsletter list

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Diana Garnik is the director of DiDance Studio in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine. She was winner of the AlHayat Festival, recipient of the 3rd place at Raqs of Course Festival by Randa Kamel, and many other competitions. Diana is famous for her dynamic modern Iraqi performances, just as much as her love for Khalidji, shaabi, tabla solo, mejance, classical and lyrical songs. You may really enjoy having your next show choreographed by Diana.

In this episode you will learn about:

• How stress influences creativity

• Overcoming creative blocks

• Creating choreos for yourself vs for others

• Preparing workshop choreographies

• Starting teaching activities at 12 years-old

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Born in Cartagena, Colombia, Horacio Cifuentes started dancing at the age of five. He first studied Flamenco at the Academy of Maestro Realito in Seville, Spain. Later he also danced with the Ballet Folclorico Nacional de Colombia. He followed with classical ballet in Poland, and later gained a scholarship to the prestigious American Ballet Theatre School in New York. He eventually joined the San Francisco Ballet where he was featured as a soloist. He discovered oriental dance at Magana Baptiste’s Royal Bellydancing Academy in San Francisco where he also studied yoga with the great master Walt Baptiste. Together with his wife, Beata, Horacio travels the world performing and teaching.

In this episode you will learn about:

• Horacio’s professional ballet journey

• Using yoga to conquer stage nervousness

• Struggles of combining active ballet and belly dance performance careers

• His book “Confessions of a Male Belly Dancer”

• Aging as a dancer

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