Directory
Dancers
The professional people layer of Raqs Atlas — performers, instructors, choreographers, schools and the legends who shaped the art form.
205 profiles · showing 49–72
Performers
Dancer · Ukraine
Diana Gnatchenko
Diana Gnatchenko is a Ukrainian professional Oriental dancer whose career developed within the highly competitive Eastern European dance environment. She achieved numerous competition results before becoming an internationally invited teacher and judge. Her…
Istanbul · Turkey
Didem Kınalı
Didem Kınalı became one of the most internationally recognisable Turkish Oriental dancers of the twenty-first century. She gained major public visibility through recurring appearances on İbrahim Tatlıses's television programme. Her style combines strong…
Cairo · Egypt
Dina Talaat
Dina Talaat is one of the most influential Egyptian dancers of the modern era. After training and performing with the Reda Troupe, she established a solo career and became especially prominent during the 1990s. Her emotional interpretation, unconventional…
Goa · India
Dipika Vijay
Dipika Vijay is an Indian movement artist whose work combines belly dance with a broad range of contemporary and Indian movement influences. Her background includes exposure to forms such as Bhangra, Garba, Bollywood, classical Indian dance, popping, waacking…
Legend · United States
Elena Lentini
Elena Lentini began studying with Ibrahim Farrah in New York in 1968 and became one of the most distinctive artists to emerge from his circle. During the 1970s she performed both in Middle Eastern nightclubs and in prestigious theatrical venues. Her work…
California · United States
Elizabeth Strong
Elizabeth Strong is a San Francisco Bay Area dancer, choreographer and educator whose work frequently centres traditional movement within contemporary performance. She toured with Bellydance Superstars and became a founding member of Bellydance Evolution…
São Paulo · Brazil
Esmeralda Colabone
Esmeralda Colabone is a Brazilian dancer whose professional Oriental career began in the Arab world. In 2002, at nineteen, she joined the Lebanese entertainment company La Maison de L'Artiste and began working professionally in the Middle East. She spent…
Dancer · Lebanon
Estelle Zaghloul Ramia
Estelle Zaghloul Ramia is a Lebanese-born dancer whose international career became particularly significant in Latin America. She lived in Lebanon until her teenage years and carried direct cultural knowledge of Lebanese music and movement into her later…
Colorado · Germany
Eva Cernik
Eva Cernik entered Oriental dance at nineteen after extensive training in gymnastics and ballet. She first studied belly dance with Anahid Sofian in New York and subsequently pursued an unusually international professional career. Eva worked as an Oriental…
Cairo · Egypt
Farida Fahmy
Farida Fahmy was the principal female dancer and co-founder of the Reda Troupe, one of the most influential companies in Egyptian dance history. Her performances helped establish a sophisticated theatrical vocabulary inspired by Egyptian regional and social…
Cairo · Egypt
Fifi Abdou
Fifi Abdou became one of the most recognisable Egyptian dancers of the late twentieth century. Known for her powerful personality, humour, improvisation and strong bint el-balad character, she dominated Cairo’s luxury hotel and nightclub scene for decades…
Legend · Canada
Hadia — Jocelyn Chouinard
Hadia, born Jocelyn Chouinard, was a Canadian performer and educator whose career spanned almost four decades. She began dancing as a teenager and eventually entered professional nightclub performance in Vancouver before expanding her studies internationally…
Legend · Egypt
Hagar Hamdi
Hagar Hamdi was a prominent dancer, singer and actress of Egypt's Golden Era. Born in Tanta, she became particularly visible through films produced during the 1940s. Her dancing reflected the theatrical and cinematic vocabulary of the period while remaining…
Portland · United States
Heather “Henna” Louise
Heather Louise, also known in dance circles as Henna, has built a career shaped by extensive experience with Middle Eastern music and dance across several countries. After years of belly-dance training she relocated to Asia and became active in Tokyo's…
Legend · Egypt
Hekmet Fahmy
Hekmet Fahmy was one of Egypt's major professional dancers before and during the early Golden Era. By the late 1920s she was already associated with Badia Masabni's entertainment world and became a highly sought-after performer. She combined nightclub…
Cairo · Egypt
Hendeya
Hendeya is a contemporary Egyptian performer who has become one of the highly visible dancers of Cairo's current nightlife scene. Her professional image combines recognisably Egyptian movement with the faster, more compact and personality-driven aesthetic…
Legend · Egypt
Hoda Shams El Din
Hoda Shams El Din was an Egyptian dancer and actress of Armenian heritage who became part of the country's Golden Era entertainment scene. She studied at an Armenian school in Cairo before entering the professional performing world. Director Niazi Mustafa…
Dancer · Colombia
Horacio Cifuentes
Horacio Cifuentes began dancing at five and pursued extensive professional training in flamenco and classical ballet. He eventually became a soloist with the San Francisco Ballet, performing in numerous classical and modern works. After discovering Oriental…
Dancer · Ukraine
Iana Komarnytska
Iana Komarnytska is a Ukrainian-born professional dancer, educator and media creator whose career developed substantially in Canada. She completed formal dance studies at York University and spent several years working as a full-time performer in Toronto. Her…
Legend · United States
Ibrahim “Bobby” Farrah
Ibrahim “Bobby” Farrah was one of the most influential figures in the development of Middle Eastern dance in the United States. Based in New York City, he became known not only as a performer but also as a choreographer, master teacher and serious researcher…
Dancer · Brazil
Igor Kischka
Igor Kischka is a Brazilian dancer and choreographer who has specialised in Arab and Oriental dance since 2011. He developed an international career through performances, workshops and festival appearances in more than thirty countries. His teaching places…
Legend · Turkey
İnci Birol
İnci Birol began dancing professionally at an exceptionally young age and performed in Aleppo while still a child. She later toured cities across the Middle East and North Africa before becoming prominent in Turkey. During the 1950s and 1960s she combined…
Legend · United States
Jamila Salimpour
Jamila Salimpour was one of the most important figures in the development of belly dance in the United States. She began teaching in 1949 and created a structured vocabulary for movements that influenced generations of American dancers. In 1968 she founded…
Dancer · Poland
Jasirah
Jasirah began belly dance in 2008 after approximately a decade of previous ballroom-dance experience. She developed rapidly into a professional performer and teacher and began appearing at events outside Poland. Over her career she has worked in more than…