Gala Performance
Saturday May 5, 2012
We are so thrilled to present such an amazing and ecclectic line up of featured Gala Performers at the third International Bellydance Conference of Canada! The Gala Performance will be held at the Lithuanian House at 8:00pm in Toronto. We can't wait to see you there!
Purchase your Tickets online here
Welcoming your IBCC 2012 Featured Gala Performers:
Zahra Zohair
California, U.S.A.
Master teacher, performer, and choreographer, Zahra is world renowned for her knowledge, authenticity, and dedication to the art of Middle Eastern dance. Raised in oriental dance from a young age, Zahra is known for her musicality, flawless technique, and elegant style. She has trained and influenced many of today’s international, Bellydance stars! Zahra has performed and taught workshops worldwide. Zahra also teaches regular weekly classes in her studio, DanceGardenLA, in Los Angeles, CA.
Sahra Saaeda
California, U.S.A.
Sahra has performed and taught Egyptian style Orientale and Folkloric dance on five continents.
Originally from the Los Angeles, California area, Sahra lived, danced, and researched in Egypt from 1989 to 1995. Since then she has been touring the world teaching and performing Egyptian Orientale and Folkloric dance.
The "Sahra Show" performed over 1600 performances in Cairo, Egypt alone. The ensemble included Sahra, Egyptian musicians, singers, folkloric dancers and authentic Saidi musicians and dancers. Sahra is currently director of Ya Amar! Middle Eastern Dance Company (California, USA) and is a contributing choreographer to many European dance companies.
She is also president of Layali Yasmine Productions, an independent recording and distribution label for Egyptian music, Middle Eastern dance performance and instructional videos.
she has academic degrees in both Dance and Cultural Anthropology, and a MA in Dance Ethnology from UCLA.
Sahra regularly gives lecture/demonstrations on Egyptian dance, costumes, customs, ritual and folklore to doctorate-level symposiums, university ethnic dance festivals, museums, and dance ethnology forums. Sahra has many publications, TV and video credits worldwide.
April Rose
California, U.S.A.
Beginning at 12 years old, April Rose has been studying bellydance for 10 years. Her first few years of training in Raks Sharki Egyptian Cabaret led her to Tribal Style and Fusion Bellydance, which she now teaches in the Los Angeles area and Austin, TX.
After 5 years of dancing with UNMATA, the Sacramento-based dance company lead by Amy Sigil, April now tours internationally with the Bellydance Superstars. She also creates clever, dynamic, and technically complex group choreographies for her dance company, The Nautch Project.
With a bachelor’s degree in Dance from UCLA's department of World Arts and Cultures, April Rose has studied choreographic method as well as a variety of dance forms (including: ballet, modern, West African, jazz, hip hop, Bedhayo Javanese court dance, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, & Khathak classical Indian dances). Studying the role of dance in the production of culture, April Rose is currently working on her Masters degree in Culture and Performance at UCLA.
As a fusion dancer in grad school April Rose is excited by the task of balancing her love for bellydance technique, the ideology of the Tribal Style dance community, and a concern for the ethics of intercultural performance. April Rose's passion for the Tribal bellydance community is fueled by her love of Improvisational Tribal Style bellydance, believing that ITS Bellydance connects local communities to one another across the globe, through dance and exploration.
Tamalyn Dallal
Florida, U.S.A.
Having started her study of Middle Eastern dance in 1976, Tamalyn Dallal has enjoyed a prolific career. She has taught and performed in 38 countries. In 1990, she founded the non profit arts organization "Mid Eastern Dance Exchange" in Miami Beach, through which she mentored thousands of dancers around the world. Through sixteen years of directing the organization, Ms. Dallal produced numerous stage productions and dance festivals, including the famed Orientalia Festival of Ethnic Dance in Miami Beach for fourteen years.
She authored three books, They Told Me I Couldn't, about living and dancing in Colombia in the 1980's, and the instructional book Belly Dancing for Fitness. In September, 2005, Ms. Dallal moved to Seattle, Washington, and began her latest endeavor, "40 Days and 1001 Nights", in which she lived in five Muslim countries for 40 days each (Indonesia, Egypt, Zanzibar, Jordan, and China's western most province, the predominately Muslim Xinjiang Autonomous Region.)
Meanwhile, Ms. Dallal continues to teach Middle Eastern dance workshops, perform, and do speaking engagements around the globe.
Performance Description: "Scheherezade L'Andalous" from the cd "Made in Zanzibar" by the 107 year old band Ikhwan Safaa Musical Club.
Ranya Renee Dance Company
New York, U.S.A.
RANYA RENÉE, of New York City, began her performing career in theater, and has been dancing since 1990. Specializing in holistic Egyptian-style dance and performance coaching, Ranya tours internationally, and has created popular instructional DVDs. She is the co-director of the New York Theatrical Bellydance Conference. Ranya’s company has presented theatrical and folkloric work at the IBCC in 2009 and 2010, and at numerous events in the Northeast US. Ranya received a 2009 New York State grant to support her “Palace Footprints” project, of original work in the Andalusi-muwashahat tradition, based on her studies with Mahmoud Reda. Company members performing: Joanie, Leela, Sabbi, Nisreen.
Performance Description:
Yasmina Ramzy
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Yasmina Ramzy is a visionary and a choreographer committed to the presentation of Bellydance as high art. Since 1981, the first 15 years of her career was spent performing throughout the Middle East, often for royalty and heads of state, Yasmina Ramzy then founded the critically acclaimed Arabesque Dance Company and Orchestra, Arabesque Academy and the International Bellydance Conference of Canada (IBCC). She received her key training from leading masters in Egypt and Syria including Aida Nour of the Reda Troupe and Mohammed Khalil, director of the National Folklore Troupe of Egypt. Her unique and highly creative choreographies have won numerous awards and commissioned by many dance ensembles internationally including the Bellydance Superstars. Today, she regularly performs and teaches in over 60 cities on 5 continents. She had produced nine performance and seven instructional DVDs as well as seven CDs. Yasmina writes the “Ask Yasmina” column in the world’s largest Bellydance magazine. As a mentor to many, she is well known for revealing the authentic, organic structure of Mid East dance and its relationship to Arab music.
Kranti
Lebanon/Canada
KRANTI began dancing back early in the 1980s, where he was a member of his village dance folklore group. As part of several professional dance theatre groups, he toured and performed in many Arabic and Middle East festivals. He then joined, trained and performed with the Arab world's finest theatre company, CARACALLA dance group. KRANTI fuses Middle Eastern Folk Dance Style with Modern and Martial Arts techniques, carefully without dropping the value and the beauty of each. Dancing for KRANTI is a state of meditation where he disappears and nothing is there except the dance.
Sashar Zarif
Azerbaijan/Canada
Sashar Zarif is an internationally renowned multi-disciplinary artist, educator, and researcher in the field of dance ethnology and ethno musicology. A faculty member at York University Dance Department and Research Associate at York Centre for Asian Reseach, his areas of interest are identity, globalization and cross-cultural collaborations.
His research, artistic practice and education activities are based on the Sufi-Shamanic arts of Central and Western Asia including Azerbaijan, Iran in the west to Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Western Mongolia in the East. His area of practice includes both traditional and contemporary forms. Zarif has collaborated with such renowned artists as Alim Quasimov ( also a soloist of Yo-Yo MA’s Silk Road Ensemble) and
Rizwan- Muazzam Qawwali. He performs nationally and internationally with his company, Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre, and is the recipient of many awards and nominations including Azerbaijan State Artists for the people Award, Chalmers Fellowship and Dora Mavor. Zarif sits on the board of director of Dance Ontario and World Dance Alliance – Americas.
Arabesque Earthshakers
Ontario, Canada
Arabesque Earthshakers is an ensemble of women with more of everything, who celebrate the joy of voluptuousness. "Earth Shaker" is the name of one of the most defining blues albums by a lady of the name Koko Taylor who uses the term in her song "I'm a Woman". This powerhouse ensemble is full of robust bodies with major personality and attitude.
Directed by Yasmina Ramzy
Performances Include: International Bellydance Conference of Canada, Rivoli Dances, Robert Gill Theatre, University of Toronto Festival of Dance, Fifi Abdo Show, Canadian National Exhibition, Dance Ontario Dance Expeditions, 25th Latin American Festival and Arabesque Galas.
Habeeba Hobeika Egyptian Dance Company
Egypt/Canada
The Habeeba Hobeika Egyptian Folklore Dance Company (founded in 1990) provides colourful and lively entertainment for all occations. Our spectacular shows take you on a journey to the mysterious ancient Egyptian temples, to the modern streets of Cairo, from the grandeur of the royal palaces to exotic Nile villages.
Egyptian born Habeeba Hobeika is the Choreographer and Artistic Director of the Habeeba Hobeika Egyptian Dance Ensemble, and Director of Habeeba's Dance Studio.
An accomplished soloist herself, Habeeba is a much celebrated Egyptian dancer and choreographer throughout North America and the Middle East. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, Habeeba Hobeika spent much of her childhood traveling throughout Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
Her experiences have given her a lifelong appreciation of Middle Eastern culture and dance, and have instilled in her a deep pride in her heritage. It has led to a desire to perfect the art of Raks Sharki (belly dancing) and Egyptian Folklore dance and bring it to the stage for the world to appreciate.
Performance Description: Luxor Baladna
An interpretation of the folkdance “Luxor” featured in Mr. Reda’s video of the Reda Troupe Performance at the Balloon Theater in Cairo. The song is one of the most famous pieces of music used by the Reda Troupe. It was originally choreographed by Mr. Reda to represent a horse-drawn carriage ride through the main street of Luxor for the movie “Love at the Temple of Karnak
Arabesque Dance Company & Orchestra
Ontario, Canada
Arabesque Dance Company & Orchestra is Canada's leading Middle Eastern dance and music ensemble and unique in the world. The company consists of 17 male and female dance artists trained in 14 different styles of Middle Eastern dance led by Yasmina Ramzy and 9 acoustic musicians led by Bassam Bishara and Suleiman Warwar.
The company tours internationally and has staged 6 major full-scale productions featuring both traditional and ground breaking choreographies and musical compositions. It performs in such theatres as the Hummingbird Centre for the Arts, Premiere Dance Theatre and Madison Square Gardens. Arabesque has performed alongside such artists as Alabina, National Ballet of Canada, Bijan Mortazavi, Amr Diab, The Rolling Stones, Rageb Alema and Ben Harper to name a few. Having received numerous awards for artistic excellence, the innovative choreographies and rich acoustic music has the ability to move an audience to tears or on their feet dancing with joy. The company has garnered rave reviews for its high standard of art in all mainstream media. Sold out audiences are always enriched when making the emotional connection with the timeless and profound Arabic art which is Arabesque Dance Company & Orchestra.