Every month we will be spotlighting a dancer in Westchester county. This month, our spotlight turns to Nahara!
Passionate, sensual, and earthy, Nahara weaves baladi feeling with Egyptian oriental technique. She came to this dance with a long history of other genres of dance: Disco, ballroom, jazz, ballet, and Sub-Saharan African but after one belly dance class in 1990 she left all those behind. By 1992 she was teaching and founded the Cornell University Belly Dance troupe Teszia.
In 2001 she spent a month in Cairo learning about the culture, dances, and performing on a Cairo 5 star stage. She would later return again to Cairo in 2008 to continue her studies and attend the famous Ahlan Wa Sahlan festival. In 2003 and 2005 Nahara hosted a three day conference on North African Dance featuring several world renowned teachers and performers such as Aisha Ali, Sahra Saeeda, Morocco, Faten Salema, and Amel Tafsout.
Currently Nahara teaches Egyptian oriental (raqs sharqi) and all of its associated props, as well as Baladi, Tunisian Sha’abi, and Moroccan Shikhat at Josie’s International school of Dance. Nahara’s passion is hosting shows and workshops in order to bring this dance to more people and inspire the ones who already know it to learn something new. She will be hosting Spring Shimmie this spring 2014 and soon will be starting a monthly drum and dance circle at Josie’s studio.
Nahara enjoys supporting the local belly dance community as a whole and inviting all local dancers/teachers to participate in her events. She truly lives by her own quote “Without dance I cannot feel my soul, hear my heart, or see my dreams”
For more information, you can contact Nahara through Facebook or visit: www.naharadance.com
If you are a teacher, performer, or student in Westchester county and would like to be featured in our monthly series, please email Oracle at delphidme@gmail.com.
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