BellyUp is proud to have the finest array of on-staff faculty members such as Nourhan Sharif, Egyptian born Faten, BellyUp creator Joharah, Sahar (Zumba, Bellydance, Hawaiian, Tahitian), Veronica (Bellyance, Ballet) and Valizan (American Tribal Style). Both Nourhan Sharif & Faten host regularly training intensives for dancers on a variety of essential topics from Classic Oriental to Egyptian Folklore.
Joharah
BellyUpBellyDance Founder & Instructor
BellyUp Founder, Joharah, is BellyUp's lead teacher of the Egyptian dance program at BellyUp. In addition Joharah travels off-site to train and teach dancers in North America and most recently travelled to Cairo, Egypt to teach a Master class at the famous Nile Group Festival hosted by Egyptian dance superstar Aida Nour. Her classes are fast-paced yet comprehensive with her signature breakdowns of movements and steps that make even the daunting of moves easy to learn. She focuses intensively on musicality and culture no matter what level you are at as she believes Oriental dance is about becoming the music rather than merely dancing over it with a series of moves and steps. Joharah's classes are challenging, disciplined yet joyful and inspiring. She teaches bellydance as a performance art as bellydance is a form of entertainment. Joharah has appeared frequently on City TV's Breakfast Television, CHCH TV and local Cogeco community station. She makes countless public performances at major community festivals, galas and corporate events and fundraisers for her community. She is a regular feature writer for local community papers in addition to Shimmy magazine and has also been featured in Shimmy and Bellydance International Magazine. Her studio was named "Dance Studio of the Year!" receiving two reader's choice platinum awards from the major area newspaper. Joharah has committed herself to the intensive study of Egyptian style dance for many, many years and remains an eternal student of the dance form continually travelling to attend workshops and take private lessons with the world's most respected Master teachers of Oriental dance.
Nourhan Sharif
International Bellydance artist & teacher.
With over 4 decades of training and experience in Egyptian/ Lebanese Cabaret & Folkloric Dance, Nourhan Sharif is a leading American Artist of Middle Eastern dance and music. Her skills are in demand around the world and she has taught and performed on nearly every continent!! Dedicated to the art of Raks Sharqi and to formulating her own expressive style – attributes exemplary of a fine educator and artist – Ms. Sharif has carefully chosen a serious course of study in Egyptian, Lebanese, Greek, Turkish and Flamenco idioms with the most respected Egyptian teachers. Others with whom she has trained with include: Tayyar Akdeniz, Morwenna Assaf, Elena Lentini, Shadia Malouf, Mariano Parra, & Anahid Sofian!
Nourhan Sharif is devoted to teaching Middle Eastern dance as an art form as opposed to a form of exercise! Ms. Sharif is a popular teacher both for her technique and her personable way of communicating with students! Her class design is unusually comprehensive including: technique, musicality, cultural awareness, context, costuming, & stage presence. Knowledgeable and accessible, she is a leading instructor in New York City and has taught on nearly every continent and has performed globally to acclaimed audiences. All Nourhan's endeavors are designed to further, and disseminate, the art of Middle Eastern dance. She believes that Middle Eastern dancers are most successful when they know the cultural foundation of the dance and its music: Audiences respond best to dancers who are aware of Middle Eastern culture, those who are well-versed in the folkloric genres that gave rise to the Oriental style. She strives to impart her knowledge of the culture and folklore to her students, knowing that this awareness gives the dancer longevity and makes him/her stand out! Thus, Dancers currently trained by Nourhan are the best Egyptian Dancers NYC has to offer !
Faten Salama
Study with a Native Egyptian!
Egyptian born Faten's classical Oriental style captures the essence of all we admire in the Egyptian danse Orientale. She embodies the rich essence of Egyptian dance through her vibrant, soulful emotion and the precision rhythm that are at the heart of this art form. Faten adds to this her very own, quintessential feminine grace and passionate love and joy of the dance, making her teaching and performances a very special experience no student of Oriental dance would want to miss. Faten began dancing in Egypt at 11 years of age when she was selected to attend the first ever national folk troupe of Egypt dance school for children. This childhood training led to her dream career as a member of the Egyptian National Folk troupe where she travelled entertaining heads of state, ambassadors, and royalty across the globe. At 22, Faten married Shawki Naim, the top soloist in Egypt and the National Troupe choreographer. Together they formed their own troupe which received an invitation from the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, DC. Faten now resides in Northern Virginia and teaches weekly classes and workshops and travels throughout the country teaching Folklore and Oriental dance.
Valizan
American Tribal Style® Bellydance Teacher
Valizan has been studying Middle Eastern dance for many years. He first attended a Toronto tribal bellydance workshop with Rachel Brice who became an influential force in his bellydance career development. In 2005 he started studying with Yasmina Ramzy of Arabesque Dance Academy in Toronto and at that time he also began teaching a men's bellydance class at her academy. Valizan has studied with FatChanceBellydance for many years and most recently became the first man to finish the FCBD teacher training course which makes him an official FCBD general studio. He began teaching ATS (American Tribal Style) bellydance at BellyUp over four years ago and has developed a successful ATS program with continual beginner, intermediate and advanced levels running four 10 week sessions per year. In addition BellyUp hosted Carolena Nericcio in October 2010 for a weekend long ATS intensive which was overwhelmingly successful. Valizan is the creator and leader of his own performance troupe Shades of Araby. Read more about Valizan at www.valizan.com
Sahar
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Sahar has been intensively training in bellydancing since 2005. She initially studied with Habeeba Hobeika, Badia Star, and Hannan Sultan of Toronto. An interest in tribal fusion led to training with Audra Simmons at the Dark Side Studio. She also learned Polynesian dance through Pacific Magic and dabbled in hip hop and ballroom. In 2007, she was accepted by The Rhythm of the Nile Dance Company under the direction of a native Egyptian, Nada Krysko at Hannan's Studio. There, she specialized in Egyptian Folklore and performed with them for 2 years. She has taken many workshops with famous bellydancers from all over the world and the major masters of Egyptian dance. She visited Egypt and studied with the masters of bellydance at the Nile Festival including Mahmoud Reda, Farida Fahmy, Mona El Said, and Nour. Currently, she has made BellyUpBellyDance Studio in Oakville her home and is part of their professional house dance ensemble Ala Nar. Her strengths are her grace and ability to feel and interpret the music, as well as, her genuine love of this dance and desire to share her knowledge with her students. She has completed Hadia’s Teacher Training in Bellydancing and is also certified as a Sexy Fit Instructor through Laura Furtado. She also became passionate about Latin dancing and obtained her certification in Zumba Level 1 and 2. She has been teaching Zumba for more than 2 years. Presently, she teaches Hawaiian, Zumba, and Bellydance classes at various facilities across Mississauga and Oakville. Her background in nursing ensures that classes are safe and ergonomically correct and she loves to instil a sense of accomplishment for the students in every class, no matter what their skill level.
Veronica
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With a natural grace and poise, Veronica personifies the beauty and fluidity of Oriental dance. Having studied with Joharah since coming to BellyUp in 2008 to begin her study of Middle Eastern dance, Veronica teaches at BellyUp and performs with the studio's house dance ensemble Ala Nar throughout the community. Her passion for dance began, at the age of 3, when she begged to begin ballet classes at the Mount Royal College School of Dance (Royal Academy of Dance examination system). Aside from ballet and bellydancing, Veronica has studied Jazz/Modern, Hawaiian, Hip Hop and ATS (American Tribal Style) with BellyUp's Valizan. Veronica also has a strong instrumental bias as well and has studied both piano and music theory (she also teaches) and is currently learning to play the Egyptian Tabla Drum which is a definite asset when teaching bellydance. Veronica’s ability to break down moves and explain them clearly to students is one of her strengths as a teacher. Veronica is no stranger to performing, having been in ballet recitals since the age of 4 and having performed for 3 consecutive years (1994-1996) in The Oakville School of Dance’s production of The Nutcracker at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, including in a leading role. Veronica has studied with Joharah of BellyUp since her start in Egyptian dance and has also taken workshops with some of the most celebrated teachers/dancers in Egyptian bellydancing including Fifi Abdou, Khaled Mahmoud, Aida Nour, Mona El Said, Mahmoud Reda and others. In November 2010, she travelled to Cairo, Egypt with Joharah to attend the Nile Group Festival where she had the opportunity to study with world-renowned bellydancers. She also acted as Joharah's teaching assistant while she taught a Master Choreography Class at the Cairo Nile Group Festival. When not bellydancing, Veronica is studying to become an Archaeologist.
Hayley
Hayley Chato began her life as a dancer at the age of three when she fell in love with Irish dance, continuing on for 13 years in competition, and later as a teacher. She found Joharah and BellyUp at age 15, saying adieu to her previous dance life and devoting herself to the stunning dance form of bellydance. Hayley, now 19, has had many amazing opportunities while studying with Joharah, including training with professionals such as Faten Salama, Mira Betz, Mohamed el Hosseny, and Khaled Mahmoud right at home at the Oakville studio, to heading to Egypt for her 18th birthday where she learned from masters such as Aida Nour, Mona El Said, Nour, Farida Fahmy, and Mahmoud Reda to name a few! Hayley teaches at BellyUp and performs throughout the community with the studio's house dance ensemble, Ala Nar. In addition to “raqs sharqi,” Hayley is also studying Bollywood dance, which is a very welcome addition to her dance repertoire, as it constantly pushes her boundaries and current ability, something that Hayley strives to do in whatever she is trying. In her spare time, Hayley is a professional henna artist, having practiced the art since the age of 11, reads history books, Shakespeare, having been classically trained as an actress. Hayley uses all of this background in her dance, and sincerely hopes every audience is happy and entertained. When not at the studio, Hayley is most likely at school at Ryerson University, where she is very excited to be studying Fashion Communication.
Shelina
Shelina has been dancing since she was 4 years old. She is trained in a variety of dance styles such as jazz, modern, ballet, Ballroom, Latin, Bollywood, Middle Eastern, West African dance and American Tribal Style®. She has performed and taught Bollywood and Middle Eastern style dance to various ages. Shelina has also been a member of various professional dance troupes and is a current member of Arabesque Earth Shakers (Middle Eastern Dance) and is a founding member of BellyUp's American Tribal Style® Troupe Tribe MayaFire. She is also a certified Fat Chance Belly Dance® American Tribal Style® instructor and a Sister Studio.She's thrilled to be teaching at BellyUp again. Bellydance and Latin dance are like second cousins.
Oronde
Professional Trainer
Oronde attended the University of Waterloo and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Architecture, however, his interest in fitness started at an early age. Born in Brazil and moved to Portugal at the age of six, sports (soccer especially) was always in his blood. Oronde's attention to strength training began when he tore his ACL and suffered cartilage damage in his knee while playing soccer. After he completely rehabilitated from this injury his interest in building his body back, strong and healthy, began. This experience coupled with his involvement in sports lead him to take his passion for fitness and health further. Oronde obtained his certification in 2004 and started his career in personal training. To this day, he enjoys helping others to attain their optimum wellness and achieve their health and fitness goals. He has a strong passion and dedication to those with serious needs such as obesity and those requiring strength and conditioning due to accidents. Join Oronde this summer for our NEW Brazilian Body Blast!
Certifications:
Personal Training Specialist from ACE (American Council of Exercise)
Can-Fit Pro (Canadian Fitness Professionals)
Paul C.H.E.K (Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology)
AAAI-ISMA (International Fitness Instructor Certification)
Certified Tennis Instructor. I.T.F (International Tennis Federation)
Martial Arts Certified.