Directory
Dancers
The professional people layer of Raqs Atlas — performers, instructors, choreographers, schools and the legends who shaped the art form.
205 profiles · showing 169–192
All Dancers
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…
Legend · Egypt
Soheir Magdy
Soheir Magdy was an Egyptian dancer and actress whose screen career was concentrated mainly in the 1960s. She performed during a period of transition between the classic Golden Era aesthetic and later nightclub-oriented Raqs Sharqi. Her appearances document…
Legend · Egypt
Soheir Zaki
Soheir Zaki became famous for her subtle, elegant and deeply musical interpretation of Egyptian dance. She is widely credited as the first major Oriental dancer to perform to the music of Umm Kulthum, including the celebrated song “Enta Omri.” Rather than…
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…
Legend · Egypt
Suzi Khairy
Suzi Khairy belonged to the post-Golden-Era generation of Egyptian dancers who worked across cinema and live entertainment. Born in Alexandria, she became known as both a dancer and actress. Her career reflects the changing visual style of Raqs Sharqi during…
Legend · Egypt
Tahia Carioca
Tahia Carioca was celebrated for her grounded musicality, controlled movement and unmistakably Egyptian stage presence. She rose to fame after joining Badia Masabni’s troupe and became one of the defining dancers of the 1940s and 1950s. After retiring from…
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…
Istanbul · Turkey
Tanyeli
Tanyeli was a prominent Turkish Oriental dancer and television personality whose career made her widely recognisable in Turkey. Born in İzmir, she became part of the highly visible generation of dancers associated with television and popular entertainment in…
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…
Istanbul · Turkey
Tülay Karaca
Tülay Karaca became one of the best-known Turkish Oryantal dancers of the 1980s and 1990s. She developed a reputation for powerful stage presence and especially sophisticated finger-cymbal technique. Television performances made her familiar to Turkish…
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…