Directory
Dancers
The professional people layer of Raqs Atlas — performers, instructors, choreographers, schools and the legends who shaped the art form.
153 profiles · showing 121–144
Choreographers
Buenos Aires · Argentina
Saida / Verónica Helou
Saida, whose name is Verónica Helou, began studying Arab dance with Amir Thaleb in 1991. She spent approximately a decade as a principal dancer in his company and developed into one of Argentina's most visible Oriental performers. Her earlier ballet…
Nice / Côte d’Azur · Tunisia
Sandra Kahloun
Sandra Kahloun was born into a Tunisian family deeply connected with Arabic music and grew up surrounded by classic Arab repertoire. Her father worked with musicians in Paris, while her mother sang music associated with artists such as Umm Kulthum. Sandra…
Dancer · Algeria
Semsemah
Semsemah is an Algerian-born artist whose professional dance career developed largely in France and through international Egyptian-dance networks. Her work is particularly associated with modern Egyptian Raqs Sharqi while maintaining strong attention to the…
Legend · United States
Serena Wilson
Serena Wilson was one of the foundational teachers of American belly dance in New York. She began performing Middle Eastern dance during the 1950s and later created Serena Studios, which became an important centre for training professional and recreational…
Dancer · Turkey
Serkan Tutar
Serkan Tutar is a Turkish-born dancer who developed an extensive international career from his European base. He became known as both a male Oriental performer and an instructor of Turkish dance styles. His professional activities include choreography…
Dancer · Argentina
Shahdana
Shahdana is an Argentinian dancer and musician whose artistic identity is strongly shaped by the relationship between Arabic music and Argentine tango. Before developing her Oriental dance career, she spent many years studying piano, composition and the…
Cairo · United States
Shahrzad
Shahrzad began dance training at a young age in the United States and entered professional Oriental dance while still in her teens. Her interest in Egyptian dance eventually led her to relocate to Egypt in 2015. In Cairo she worked professionally in clubs…
California · United States
Shareen El Safy
Shareen El Safy is one of the most respected American specialists in Egyptian Raqs Sharqi. Her career has combined performance, long-term study, research and direct professional experience in Egypt. During summers between 1988 and 1992 she performed…
Dancer · United States
Sharon Kihara
Sharon Kihara began dance training in childhood and started performing belly dance while still young. She later studied with influential American artists and became part of the early Tribal Fusion environment in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2004 she joined…
Dancer · France
Sharon Mesguich
Sharon Mesguich discovered Oriental dance in 1999 and built her artistic identity around a strong interest in Egyptian style. She studied extensively with major Egyptian teachers and developed an international performing and teaching career. In the early…
Dancer · Italy
Simona Minisini
Simona Minisini is an Italian Oriental dance artist whose career combines performance, pedagogy and academic-style research. She has more than twenty years of professional experience in the field. Her background includes the study of dance history, music…
Los Angeles · United States
Sonia Ochoa
Sonia Ochoa has built a professional dance career spanning more than twenty-five years and multiple movement traditions. She became internationally recognised as a principal dancer and contributing choreographer with Bellydance Superstars between 2002 and…
Cairo · Brazil
Soraia Zaied
Soraia Zaied is a Brazilian dancer who moved to Egypt in 2001 and built one of the most successful Cairo careers achieved by a non-Egyptian performer. Over the following decades she held important contracts at prestigious Cairo hotels including the…
Montreal · Morocco
Soraya — Soraya Art Factory
Soraya is a Moroccan-born dancer and cultural mediator whose professional career developed after her first formal belly-dance training in Morocco in 2007. Her early inspiration came from Egyptian screen icons and classical Oriental dance, but her work…
California · United States
Suhaila Salimpour
Suhaila Salimpour grew up inside the dance system created by her mother, Jamila Salimpour, while also training extensively in Western dance forms. She spent years performing professionally with live Arabic music in the United States and Middle East. In the…
Dancer · Egypt
Suraya Hilal
Suraya Hilal was born in Cairo and later developed an international dance career that became particularly influential in the United Kingdom. Drawing on Egyptian movement culture as well as formal studies in Western dance and other physical disciplines, she…
London · Turkey
Süreya
Süreya is an internationally active Turkish belly dancer, instructor and choreographer based in London. Her training includes Turkish Oriental alongside Egyptian, Lebanese, Iraqi and Gulf dance material. She has performed and competed internationally…
New Orleans · United States
Tamalyn Dallal
Tamalyn Dallal began her Oriental dance career in 1976 and has now worked in the field for approximately five decades. Her career has combined professional performance, teaching, choreography, travel, writing and documentary filmmaking. She has danced and…
Dancer · Egypt
Tito Seif
Tito Seif is one of the most internationally recognised male Egyptian Oriental dancers. He began dancing as a teenager and developed a career spanning Raqs Sharqi, folklore and theatrical Egyptian performance. His work became especially important for…
Florida · United States
Valerick Molinary
Valerick Molinary is a Puerto Rican dancer who developed an international professional career from the United States. His work combines performance and instruction with a strong interest in the realities of building sustainable professional careers in belly…
Minneapolis · United States
Vanessa of Cairo
Vanessa of Cairo is an American performer with a formal BFA background in ballet who later dedicated her career to Egyptian dance. After additional professional study in New York, she moved to Egypt in 2008 and spent years working full-time within the…
Dancer · Ukraine
Verona Kemet — Veronika Kremenskaya
Verona Kemet is a Ukrainian Oriental dancer who has become increasingly visible through international competitions, festivals and teaching engagements. She trained extensively with Egyptian and international master teachers while developing within the…
Dancer · Ukraine
Veronika Shulkevich
Veronika Shulkevich is a Ukrainian dancer and choreographer from Odesa who developed her career through professional training and international competitions. She became a world-level competitor before moving increasingly into teaching and choreography. Her…
Dallas · United States
Victoria Teel
Victoria Teel began studying belly dance in 2006 and developed a professional career unusually quickly. In 2010 she was selected for the reality programme *Project Belly Dance* and finished among its final six contestants. Soon afterward she joined Bellydance…