Directory
Dancers
The professional people layer of Raqs Atlas — performers, instructors, choreographers, schools and the legends who shaped the art form.
174 profiles · showing 97–120
Instructors
Dancer · India
Meher Malik
Meher Malik is one of the artists most responsible for bringing belly dance into mainstream public awareness in India. She spent much of her childhood in the Middle East and later returned to India, where she eventually chose dance over a conventional design…
Augsburg · Germany
Melli Sarina
Melli Sarina is a German fusion dancer whose wider movement experience spans more than two decades. She began dance as a child and discovered Tribal Fusion as a teenager after encountering the work of artists such as Sharon Kihara. Her subsequent training…
Budapest · Hungary
Mercedes Nieto
Mercedes Nieto began studying Oriental dance in Hungary in 1997 after earlier experience with jazz ballet and flamenco. Her artistic focus gradually became strongly connected with Egyptian Raqs Sharqi and Arabic music. She founded the Nymph Oriental Dance…
Los Angeles · United States
Mésmera
Mésmera has spent approximately five decades working professionally in belly dance, theatrical movement and related performance arts. Her career developed during a period when American belly dance was still heavily connected with live Middle Eastern music and…
Berlin · Egypt
Mo Geddawi
Dr. Mo Geddawi developed his dance career in Egypt during the formative years of the Reda Troupe. He became connected with the company during its early history and gained extensive experience in Egyptian staged folklore. After relocating to Germany in the…
Dancer · Egypt
Mohamed Kazafy
Mohamed Kazafy is one of the major Egyptian master teachers specialising in theatrical folklore and the Reda tradition. His professional background includes extensive work with the Reda Troupe in Egypt and on international tours. Over several decades he…
New York City · Egypt
Mohamed Shahin
Mohamed Shahin was born and raised in Cairo and discovered Egyptian dance as a teenager. He later moved to the United States and developed a full-time international teaching and performing career. His repertoire includes Raqs Sharqi alongside a broad range of…
Dancer · Iraq
Mohanned Hawaz
Mohanned Hawaz was born in Mosul and began performing at local festivals at approximately seven years old. By fifteen he had joined the Iraqi Artists Union of Nineveh and received formal training in dance, stage presentation and costuming. His teachers…
Legend · Egypt
Mona El Said
Mona El Said became one of the major Egyptian Raqs Sharqi stars of the 1970s and 1980s. She began dancing professionally while still very young after leaving Suez for Cairo. Her career eventually took her to prestigious venues in Egypt, Lebanon and Europe…
Dancer · United States
Moria Chappell
Moria Chappell began her belly-dance career in Atlanta in 2001 and later moved to San Francisco for intensive training. She studied within the Salimpour environment and joined Bellydance Superstars in 2005. Chappell eventually became an artistic director for…
Cairo · France
Morjana
Morjana is a French professional dancer who established her artistic life in Egypt and built a multidisciplinary career around dance and music. She works as a performer, choreographer, instructor and researcher while also playing darbuka and participating in…
New York · Romania
Morocco / Carolina Varga Dinicu
Carolina Varga Dinicu, universally known in the dance community as Morocco or Aunt Rocky, began working professionally as an Oriental dancer in New York in 1960. She became one of the earliest American dancers to approach Middle Eastern and North African…
Barcelona · Brazil
Munique Neith
Munique Neith is a Brazilian dancer of Arab descent who established a major professional career in Barcelona. She founded large Oriental dance schools and has trained substantial numbers of dancers and teachers. Her international career includes performances…
Dancer · Mexico
Nabila Aswan
Nabila Aswan is a Mexican dancer who began studying Arab dance at approximately thirteen years old. Before relocating to Egypt she was active as a teacher and event organiser in Mexico. Around 2020 she moved to Egypt and began building a professional career…
Toronto · Egypt
Nada El Masriya
Nada El Masriya grew up in Cairo immersed in Egyptian music, dance and everyday cultural traditions. Her formal dance training began in school folklore activities and later continued through the prestigious Reda Troupe School. At Cairo University she studied…
Legend · Egypt
Nadia Gamal
Nadia Gamal was born in Alexandria and became one of the most important dancers connecting the Egyptian and Lebanese performance worlds. Her mother introduced her to dance and performance at an early age. She developed a highly theatrical vocabulary enriched…
Dancer · Japan
Nadia Sueoka
Nadia Sueoka is a Japanese dancer who established her professional career in Singapore in 2005. She has trained extensively in Egypt and Türkiye and has travelled to more than thirty countries for dance. Her work includes Oriental dance, folklore…
Lebanon and Cairo · Egypt
Nelly Fouad
Nelly Fouad was born in Alexandria and entered professional dance unusually young, joining an Awalim troupe while still in school. She initially developed her reputation in Lebanon before returning to Egypt and becoming part of Cairo's professional Raqs…
Legend · Egypt
Nelly Mazloum
Nelly Mazloum was an unusually versatile Egyptian dancer, choreographer, actress and teacher. A child performer, she later became associated with ballet and appeared as a prima ballerina at Cairo's Royal Opera. She also worked extensively with Egyptian dance…
Legend · Turkey
Nergis Mogol
Nergis Mogol belongs to an early generation of professional Turkish Oriental dancers whose careers predate the television stars of the 1970s and 1980s. She began appearing on stage extremely young and later became known in Turkey and other Middle Eastern…
Dancer · Spain
Nesma
Nesma is a Spanish dancer and choreographer who established a major part of her early professional career in Cairo. Between 1993 and 1998 she performed thousands of professional shows in Egypt, gaining direct experience within the Cairo entertainment…
Istanbul · Turkey
Nesrin Topkapı
Nesrin Topkapı became one of the most culturally significant Turkish Oriental dancers of the television era. She began professional work abroad before returning to Turkey and building a major career. Topkapı became famous as the first belly dancer to perform…
Cairo · Russia
Nour
Nour is a Russian-born dancer who became one of the most important foreign performers to establish a long-term professional career in Egypt. She began choreographic training at around eight years old and was exposed to several Soviet and Central Asian stage…
Kyiv · Ukraine
Olena Sinelnikova
Olena Sinelnikova is a Ukrainian dancer, choreographer and educator with a substantial competition and teaching career. She founded the Isfahan Dance School and created the Isfahan Bellydance Festival. Her own competitive achievements include major results at…