EBONY QUALLS
Ebony has taught and performed in multiple cities throughout Asia, Canada, Europe, South America and the United States. She toured internationally with the world famous Bellydance Superstars and Bellydance Evolution and has performed in and choreographed for Zoe Jake's House of Tarot. She is most honored to be a guest instructor on Rachel Brice's Datura Online, the leading website for belly dance instructional videos. ​
She is the co-creator of the Black Bellydance Bundle, a project that increases diversity and inclusivity in the bellydance community. She has guest performed with Solstice Ensemble, has directed fusion troupes Raquettes ShimmyPop and Raqs Caravan Urban, and is a soloist at a variety of engagements including restaurants, private parties, weddings, festivals, music videos, concerts and numerous theater performances. ​
Ebony's playful spirit flavors both her performances and her approach to teaching belly dance since 2003. A combination of strong technique, musicality, and innovation are the foundations of her colorful dance presence. Ebony teaches and performs both traditional raqs sharqi and her own dynamic fusion belly dance style, which is fueled by her background in both oriental and urban dance genres.
Along with her love of dance, Ebony is in love with teaching. A founding instructor of Sahara Dance - Washington DC's Center for Middle Eastern Dance, her students describe her as "approachable" and her classes as "fun" and "challenging". She teaches weekly classes online in both traditional and urban fusion formats. Newcomers to belly dance are Ebony's favorite students, as they are a major source of inspiration to her. Ebony continues her own regular dance studies and has trained with world-renowned master instructors from traditional raqs sharqi and fusion bellydance circuits.
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New* Ask about dancing with Ebony Qualls in the Oasis Dreams Showcase!
OMARIS
Omaris, "The Dominican Rose" will sweep you away with her Passion, Authentic Spirit, and Magical Technique. She is a Multi Award-Winning dancer, teaches all over the world, and is embraced in her local dance community by beginning to advanced performers alike. With almost two decades of Teaching and Performing, Omaris is loved by studios, students, and audiences. Internationally sought-after, Omaris has taught and performed in the USA, Puerto Rico, Mexico, South Korea, Brazil, Guadeloupe, Serbia, Japan, Italy, The Czech Republic, and of course in her home country, the Dominican Republic.
Omaris holds a BA in Advertising and a Technique Course Certification in Photography. She owns her own clothing line called RedButterfly by Omaris sporting artistic athleisure to empower and inspire women. Many say Omaris is Art in Motion. To watch her dance is not just a passive event; Omaris touches everyone's soul when she performs. A true artist, Omaris evokes from her audience the emotion she wants them to experience: passion, longing, pain, and joy just to name a few.
Omaris possesses a strong technical foundation to back up her artistry. Her classes are extremely popular because she fuses techniques with insights on showmanship that are priceless for any dancer. An often overlooked but extremely important facet of Omaris’ dance is her deep understanding of musicality. Her specialty is expressing the melodic lines in pieces seamlessly and with intense feeling. ​www.omarisdancer.com
BELLADONNA BLADE
Bohemian Belly Dance (2009) is the umbrella name of Belladonna’s belly dance business, production company, and system of modern tribal and fusion belly dance. As a business owner, artist, instructor, and director, Belladonna is driven by her desire to make creative expression easily available to everyone. Her focus is on creating classes, educational programs, music and training that are safe, meaningful, well researched and fun. She uses her dance education and training, as well as her hunger for knowledge and experience in art, design, and energy healing, to make her programs authentic and one of a kind.
The goal of Bohemian Belly Dance is to inspire and cultivate seeds of enlightenment, healing and self-expression, and self-awareness that can grow from the practice of tribal and fusion belly dance. Bohemian Belly Dance aims to provide high-quality instruction and create spaces and opportunities for dancers to find, develop and express their personal truth and creative voice. In true bohemian style, we are not constrained by the social norms, we are driven by creativity, freedom, the beauty in the world, passion and more.
Bohemian Belly Dance believes in fueling the belly dance spark inside of every dancer and aims to share that light with others. We dig deep and experience the full spectrum of human emotions and channel them into dances that are full of life, healing and expression.
Embrace • Freedom • Beauty • Truth • Love
VICTORIA TEEL
Victoria Teel is a world-renowned belly dancer known for her DYMANIC stage presence, UNIQUE fluid style, and her MEZMERIZING fan technique. Victoria is the creator of the Teel Fan Method, her signature style of fan techniques, methodology & choreographies which led her to develop her signature fans, Teel Fans.
She has been invited to over 10 countries to teach and gained an online following over 400k people. She has worked with internationally acclaimed directors & producers, including the Bellydance Superstars & the world’s first belly dance reality show, Project Belly Dance.
Today, Victoria is based in Texas, teaching at her online studio, and currently tours the world teaching master classes.
JACQUES AL ASMAR
Jacques Al-Asmar was born in Accra, Ghana. He was raised in Beirut, Lebanon. For the past twenty-five years, he has lived in the United States. He has studied, performed and taught Internationally. His passion for dance was noticed at an early age. Influenced by the legendary Nadia Gamal, Jacques watched his own body move in the same genre as Nadia Gamal. However, his lack of formal training in dance and cultural barriers held him back from pursuing a much-loved art form.
Jacques' formal training came at a later stage of his career. Thanks to the Legendary Amina of the ASWAN DANCERS, who trained, educated and supported Jacques, He became a dance sensation overnight. Jacques is co-founder of the Arabian Knights band and producer of Salamat Sundays in San Francisco, California.
Come early if you want space near the front. Jacques workshops on CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY fill up quickly. Jacques last few workshops in California have been so popular in , they SOLD out!
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New* Ask about dancing with Jacques Al Asmar in the Friday Oasis Dream Showcase (Shaabi)
SHAIRA AMON
Shaira Amon is an award winning Arabian professional dancer, teacher and instructor accredited by the CIAD (Confederacion Interamericana de la Danza, or Inter-American Dance Confederation) with more than 18 years in the business. Owner and founder of Shaira Amon Dance Studio, she has performed for the Embassy of Lebanon, Egypt, Bahrain and United Arabs Emirates Royal Family. Her breadth of knowledge of multiple Arabic cultural dance forms is amazing.
She has been Featured TV Shows in Lebanon (2011) as a belly dance performer, participated in photo productions by Mike Mercau, worked for the singer Tarek Al Atrash as the model for his musical video clip in Dubai 2013. She was also chosen in 2016 by Martin Prihoda, Vogue Magazine photographer and as a Model in the Burj Arab Dubai beach 7 Stars Hotel.
Shaira Amon was awarded Best Argentine Arabian Dancer by the Argentine Federation of Dance Professionals and the CIAD. She is also a distinguished winner of more than two hundred gold medals and prizes given by the CIAD, among them, Best Dancer and Breakout Dancer in the states of Mendoza and Tucuman.
Some of her successful tours landed in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, areas in the Middle East and Magreb. She has judged international competitions in the following countries: Egypt, Tunicia, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Bangladesh, Maldivas Islands, England, Italy, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Bahrain Kingdom, Abu Dhabi, Dubai.
She was also winner in the 2016 Latina Middle East Beauty Contest in Dubai and awarded as Best Choreographer and Best Instructor by BAILARTE DANCES COMPETITION in Cordoba City.
CASSANDRA SHORE
Cassandra Shore is recognized as one of the world’s foremost performers and choreographers of Middle Eastern dance. With early background in Wigman and Graham styles of modern dance, Cassandra embraced Middle Eastern dance in the early 1970s as a student of San Francisco’s Jamila Salimpour.
From the outset, her artistic intensity, her mastery of the form’s technical complexity, and her lyrical grace and musicality set her apart from other artists. Since then, she has studied and performed with some of the world’s leading Middle Eastern artists, including Mahmoud Reda, Director of Cairo’s Reda Group, and former Egyptian Undersecretary of Culture; and
Mohammed Khalil, Director of the National Folklore Group of Egypt.
She has been honored twice as the only non-Arab dancer to perform at the annual Arabic festival, Maharajan al-Fan, in New York City; and Palestinian oud superstar Simon Shaheen calls her his “choreographer of choice.”
Cassandra’s background in modern dance, with a studies in Jazz and Flamenco, drove her to explore ways to move Middle Eastern dance “beyond the museum,” and to create original, theatrically-inspired choreography that blends traditional and contemporary Middle Eastern forms.
Inspired and encouraged when she saw other Arab artists moving in this direction, Cassandra founded Jawaahir Dance Company in 1989 (JaWAHheer, meaning “jewels”) as a way to showcase this exciting work as a vibrant living art form, steeped in generations of traditional learning, and resonating with new times and new cultural experiences.
VANIA OJEDA
Vania Ojeda is a bellydancer, firedancer, flow artist, makeup artist, teacher, and enthusiastic costume maker from Buenos Aires, Argentina, now based in Tampa, FL.
Trained by Amir Thaleb and Emine di Cosmo, Vania began her professional career in 2014 with Mannaz Tribal and the firedance duo Vania & Cassiopeia, performing at medieval fairs and themed events and plays. She later joined the German team Firedancer, presenting dazzling fireshows aboard cruise ships in India and the Caribbean. In 2018, Vania joined the world music band Jirafas en la India as a dancer and musician, playing Moroccan karkabas and tambura.
Now an established performer in the Tampa Bay area, Vania is a resident dancer at Byblos Tampa, where audiences can enjoy her shows every month. Known for her artistry, she blends bellydance, fire, and flow to create unforgettable performances.
As a costume maker, Vania designs and handcrafts her own costumes and accessories, bringing each story to life on stage. She also creates unique embroidered pieces for dancers, available through her online store.
In 2024, Vania co-founded the Sunshine Bellydance Fest, an annual event celebrating bellydance in the Tampa Bay Area.
AMINA GOODYEAR
Amina Goodyear began her performance career in the mid-60's at the Bagdad Cabaret dancing nightly in San Francisco's North Beach district during that city's golden era of Middle Eastern dance. In that era, dancers worked and supported themselves (and their families) solely by dancing. She founded her dance company, Her troupe, Aswan Dancers (1975) perform at parties, festivals, weddings, and educational venues, and workshops.
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Amina has founded many musical groups, both informal & professional including the Cairo Cats, now a percussion ensemble led by her daughter Susu Pampanin. She also co-founded The Arabian Knights Band, Karnak, Layalli al Sharq, the Four T’s and Caravan Band, and was a founding member of Aswat and Pasha Band. Today she plays with Aswat (20 years), Georges Lammam's Ensemble (15 years) and most recently Beit el Tarab.
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Amina was inducted into the American Academy of Middle Eastern Dance (AAMED) Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement award in New York in 1994. She also received a Humanitarian Award in 2001 from MECDA, a Lifetime Achievement award in 2003 from BDUC in Long Beach and a Lifetime Achievement award in 2015 from Isis and the Belly Dance Chronicles in Texas.
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Amina has produced two DVDs: "Hizz ya Wizz," a historical narrative of the first 20 years of the Aswan Dancers, and "Nadia in America," a concert performance featuring Egyptian dancer and almeh Nadia Hamdi.
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Amina's dance passions are teaching to the music and lyrics (primarily Egyptian) and staying culturally correct. She spends many hours daily listening to and analyzing Middle Eastern music and trends and loves to study how it is forever changing. Amina's almost daily classes have a "club-like" atmosphere and her group of loyal students learn the culture, the rhythms, a working knowledge of Egyptian "song talk," technique and how to apply dance movements to different genres of music.
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New* Amina will be teaching our drumming and rhythms for dancers by a dancer! Bring your drum, rik, zills or tambourine and be ready to play!
SAFFYRE
Saffyre has been a long-time fan of Festival on the Nile International. A few years ago, Saffyre stepped up to become stage manager and lead volunteer for Festival. Last year, she taught her first Sword Zen Warm-Up with the blessing of Belladonna Blade. This year we are happy to announce Saffyre's return as our beloved stage manager, lead volunteer coordinator & warm-up leader!
Join Beach Blades’ Saffyre for a daily warm up at FOTNI 50 to put your best foot forward throughout the day—whatever workshops you will be participating in. Friday we will embrace the Goddess Gaze with facial yoga and intention setting for the weekend; Saturday morning we will experience Sole Serenity with a massage/reflexology session to create balance throughout our bodies starting with our foundation. Sunday morning we will gather for an Oceanic Om and round out the weekend with an overall stretch and engagement of our fascia from our toes to our noses to be able to unlock our potential for a transformative and holistic body rejuvenation!
