Our Featured Sponsor of the Month: Sharifa Asmar!

Sharifa met Oriental dance in college and since then she has danced through three continents, several islands, a variety of venues, extended engagements in NY/NJ metro area, the Carolinas and Central Florida ~ usually into the wee hours of the morning.

Sharifa dances with playful and effortless musicality, elegant technique and real passion! And her students say she teaches the same way! Her connection to the dance and music is such that audience members often address her in their native Arabic. While best known for her classic Egyptian style, her repertoire also includes Lebanese, Turkish, and Classic American.

A dynamic “teacher’s teacher”, Sharifa is committed to a strong foundation of Oriental dance technique for all levels - beginner through professional. Many ‘already dancers’ transiting through Fayetteville / Ft. Bragg aren't in the right place long enough to learn all they should know for their current level – so filling their skill gaps keeps Sharifa’s skills fresh and sharp.

Sharifa’s own studies are ongoing with the finest the Oriental dance world has to offer.  Sharifa scored a few firsts for the NC Bellydance community when she performed twice for NC Dance Alliance Annual Showcase, and with her Qarisma Dance Co. at the inaugural Charlotte Dance Festival.
Ongoing projects include Oriental dance communities past and present, a narrative of 20th C Oriental dance and teaching dance online.

Sharifa is a history / political science professor in her “spare time”.

[Little known fact ] Sharifa’s very first performance was a Persian wedding and arranged by her first teacher - no preset music or choreo – leaving a special place in her heart for family celebrations and dancing by the “seat of your harems.” Couldn't have been that bad - they asked for Sharifa for their next event.

Here's what Sharifa had to say about NCBellydance.org:

 NCBD is the go-to resource for anything bellydance in NC! It’s a great student-teacher connector and regional calendar!
I have so many students and clients call because they saw me on NCbellydance.org! Thanks for all your hard work and we'll keep that support coming... 

Thank you, Sharifa!

Our Featured Sponsor of the Month: Twisted Dance Studios!

Conveniently located at 313 South Greene Street in Greensboro NC, Twisted Dance Studios features a large variety of world dance and fitness classes, including belly dance, African style dance, hooping, martial arts, self defense, Tai Chai, and Yoga.

Every year, they sponsor a gala world dance benefit show for the Triad Health Project.  This year's Project Shimmy benefit show will take place on Saturday, September 8 at the Gail Brower Huggins Performance Center in Greensboro College and will include a variety of world dance styles and performers from all over the state of NC.

In 2012, They were voted "Best Bellydancing" by the readers of Yes! Weekly.

Twisted Dance Studios partnered with Three Graces Entertainment in April 2012 to present a fundraising workshop and hafla for NCBellydance.org.   I can't thank them enough for their hard work on this fundraiser, and for all their support throughout the years!

For more information, visit their website at http://www.twisteddance.com.

Our Featured Sponsor of the Month: Gypsy!

"GYPSY" (Paula Stump) is originally from Lexington, NC and now resides in Winston-Salem, where she is the owner of PR Stump & Stuff, Inc., a promotional products advertising firm. 

She is a former model and actress and after playing the role of Gypsy Rose Lee in the Little Theater's 1978 production "Gypsy", she borrowed her stage name "Gypsy". 

Gypsy has been a student of Middle Eastern dance for 25 years and has taught the dance for 23 years. She has appeared twice with the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra at their "Sunday at the Pops" concert and at "Music at Sunset" where she performed to Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah. 

Her studies have taken her to San Francisco, Atlanta, New York, Seattle, and finally Egypt and Turkey, where she has received training from internationally acclaimed master teachers such as Delilah, Suhaila Salimpour, Nadia Hamdy and famous Egyptian choreographer, Mahmoud Reda.  

For more information, visit her website: www.shimmies-r-us.com.

Here is what she had to say about NCBellydance.org:

NCBellydance.org…the premier online resource for everything having anything to do with belly dancing in North Carolina!  If you don’t believe it, just Google any combination of “belly dance in North Carolina”, and see for yourself.  Haala’s tireless dedication and continuous hard work for the past ten years has certainly paid off, by positioning the site at the top of the search engine results.  Quite often I have been contacted about classes and/or performances, and when I inquire as to how the caller found me, I am told they saw my information/listing at ncbellydance.org!  Thanks to one of the most selfless, generous and supportive, kind-hearted and lovely people I have ever had the good fortune to find myself in the company of.

Thank you, Gypsy!   I appreciate your support!

Our Featured Sponsor of the Month: Amara!

Woodland Willow Photography

Amara  began bellydancing in 2002 as a way to get back in shape after having her son. She is a busy mom of 3, and finds that bellydancing gives her freedom of expression and enjoys dancing while her husband plays for her.
 

She is known for her expressive style and using the music to tell a story through her dance. She enjoys dancing to all types of music but prefers dancing improvised to live music. You can often see her performing with her husband Andrew, who is a member of the Lost Nomads, a local Middle Eastern band.  

Her style is American Orientale and she often dances with Wings of Isis, sword, and veil, and more recently- fire.

She is a professional portrait and wedding photographer and visual artist and finds that creativity helps inspire her dancing. 

 Here's what Amara had to say about NCBellydance.org:

 'I am so glad to have NCbellydance.org in our community. It is my go-to when I am looking for fun events or workshops around NC and find it is such a valuable resource to all dancers.'

We are glad to have you in the community too, Amara!

For information on bellydance or photography, check out her websites at: www.electricshimmy.com and www.woodlandwillow.com.

Our Featured Sponsor of the Month: Mena!

Mena has been dancing since 2005 and started teaching in the fall of 2009. 

Although she doesn't like labels, she does consider herself a fusion dancer, being exposed to many different types of dance and fusing them all together into her own belly dance style. 

Teaching has been a huge, but rewarding challenge.  Her group of students, the Gypsy Belles, includes ladies from all over NW North Carolina and SW Virginia.  They are such an inpsiration.  Her classes are Wednesdays in Elkin, NC and Thursdays in Galax, VA. 

Although she teaches a great group, Mena will always consider herself a student.  She has been fortunate to study with some true masters; Professor Hassan & Kyrria Mazzin from Egypt; Leyla Amir from Las Vegas, Caroline Afifi and our own Luci Jennings from Winston-Salem. 

Her greatest mentor and friend has been Samra from Winston-Salem, whose influence is without description. 

Along with teaching, Mena manages to perform as often as possible.  She has performed everywhere from huge stages with a jumbotron to small retirement homes.  

Here's what she had to say about NCBellydance.org;

NCBellydance.org has a great resourse in finding various workshops throughout NC and beyond.  Last year, when my family and I went to Atlanta for baseball, I checked the website for workshops and viola, there was a workshop listing for Mahmoud Reda, another master, the same weekend I was in Atlanta.  It worked out perfectly.  I'm also able to get lots of info about Shimmy for a Cause this June where myself and the Gypsy Belles will be performing. 

For more information about Mena, visit http://www.menadancer.com

Our Featured Sponsor of the Month: Three Graces Entertainment!

Three Graces Entertainment brings the beauty of authentic island dances to luaus, festivals, and more.

Under the direction of Teresa Dickerson (Saphira) and Beverly Whitt (Kharma), Three Graces Entertainment strives to promote diversity, cultural dance, and positive body image. Both are troupe directors, troupe students and teachers within the company that holds classes ranging from Bollywood and Raks Sharki to Polynesian and Tribal Fusion.

From a new student's first hip drop to the seasoned dancer's undulation, all dancers are encouraged to step out of their comfort zone and realize their full potential. Three Graces Entertainment performs in North Carolina and beyond and currently holds classes in Winston-Salem and Boone with plans to expand in the future.

Saphira performed at the NC Bellydance fundraiser this past November to thank Haala for all that she does for the NC dance community. NCBellydance.org is certainly a valuable resource for students and performers alike!

Three Graces Entertainment and Twisted Dance will be co-hosting "Our Big Fat Spring Hafla", a benefit hafla for NCBellydance.org, on April 28 in Winston-Salem NC.

For more information on Three Graces Entertainment, visit http://www.threegracesentertainment.com

Our Featured Sponsor of the Month: Deirdre!

"Deirdre was first enthralled by a belly dancer at Disney's Epcot Center when she was a mere thirteen and although it took her fifteen years to get around to lessons, she's been a passionate student of the dance ever since. She's an American Cabaret dancer who takes a little from the best of Turkish, Egyptian and Tribal Fusion, her elegant style alternates with a playfulness that's appealing to many audiences.

With Deirdre, there's a natural fluidity to her movements that makes you wonder how much is planned and how much is improvisation. After a while you don't care and just get lost in her evocative dance." --Jamie Anderson

Deirdre was our instructor for the 2010 Annual Fundraiser, and she had this to say about NCBellydance.org:

"Haala's hard work has created a go-to source for events, performers and instructors - I love that even events in other states list on NCBDs calendar, and it's my first resource for local belly dance!

It was a privilege to contribute to keeping NC BellyDance funded by teaching at the 2010 NC Bellydance Fundraiser, and a pleasure to work with such wonderful ladies!"

Thank you, Deirdre - it has been a pleasure to work with you too!

For more information about Deirdre, visit http://www.veilandcoin.com.