Oriental Dance Festival Show Info

Here is a short presentation of dancers performing during the festival. More dancers will be presented continuously.
All of the dancers teach, so feel free to visit their website by clicking on their picture. Note: not all pictures are clickable.
Some of the dancers will be giving workshops during this weekend. More information will be posted under 'workshops'.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 11TH
BELLEVILLE, VOGTSGATE 64 OSLO
CC: NOK 300, tickets are available through ticketmaster.no.

COMPETITION - DANCER OF THE YEAR
Tonight the show starts off with the only Norwegian bellydance-contest, Dancer of the Year.
Ten dancers are given the opportunity to compete for some great prizes and the title
Dancer of the Year 2011!
Tonights contestants are Anita Kjeverud, Leila Rundkås Vurucu, Miro, Nina Aleksandersen, Ánna-Katri Helander, Rønnaug Paulsen Stokke, Maria Nielsen, Carianne Gregersen and Ingrid Kvam. We have one available spot left!
The winner will perform her winning performance at the Saturday Night Gala Show, february 12th at Cosmopolite.

Lizzie Hagen, Norway
Lizzie started dancing in 1997 and has a solid technique form many years of studying with Lee Figenschow.
She has studied with a number of instructors and was a boardmember of the norwegian oriental dance assossiation, Al Farah for many years. Lizzie has previously worked as an instructor at Studio Orient and is performing as a guestdancer at OODF for the first time this year!

Shireen, Norway
Shireen performes regularly at the popular 'dance-restaurant' Cafe Habibi, whivh is a hotspot for Oriental dance in Oslo. She performs every Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m. Her warm and delicate precense is charecteristic for her dance.
Shireen teaches for Mona Svenneby at Nesodden Ballettschool, where she started teaching in 2004. Everyone present at Oslo Oriental Dance Festival in 2008 remembers Shireen from her unforgettable disconumber!

DaVid of Scandinavia, Norway/USA
DaVid of Scandinavia, originally from Norway, is based in San Diego, California since 2005 where he runs the Ethnic Dance Academy and also administers the academy's educational programs. DaVid tours the world as a guest artist, instructor, choreographer and has choreographed the opening number for the Bellydance Superstars' newest show Bombay Bollywood among other works. He is featured on several internationally distributed DVDs and has authored 3 dance educational publications.

Mari Sletten, Norway
Mari started dancing with Hilde Lund in 2000, and later with Michelle Galdo and Lee Figenschow. She traveled to Cairo and studied with Aida Noor and Medhat Fahmy on many occations.
She has a varied background in dance and studied hula dance at the Polynesian culture centre in Los Angeles and San Fransico. She now has her own dancegroup, The Tita Nah Nahnas, together with oriental dancer Shireen among others.
In 2006 Mari started burlesque performance in Norway and established the troup The Fleshoticas, which in 2008 became a duett together with Lena Ask.
'I like creative, personal expressions and use allot of my personality in my dance. I'm inspired by strength and people who dare to be themselves and include it in their performances.'

Anna Barner Sarp, Denmark
Anne Barner is a wellrenowned oriental dancer in Denmark and a loved performer in Norway. She was the winner of the danish bellydance championship in 1998, 2002 and 2008, aswell as the international Raks Sharqi Contest, Berlin 2004, and winner of this festivals contest 'Dancer of the Year' 2010.
Anna is the author of the book "Mavedans og andre folkedanse fra Egypten" (2007) and editor of the book "Mosaik - Mavedans og passion" (2009). She has produced the instructional-DVD's "Lær mavedans trin for trin" (2007) and "Bellypower"(2009) and is currently releasing the cd ”Musik til mavedans” (2010). Anna is handing the 'Dance of the Year' trophy to this years contest winner on friday night, and is also performing in the same show.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 12TH
COSMOPOLITE, VOGTSGATE 64 OSLO
CC: NOK 300, tickets are available through ticketmaster.no.

NAWAL BENABDALLAH, Paris/Morocco
Nawal is a dancer, choreographer and teacher of Moroccan and oriental dance, she nourishes her love for dance since childhood. Her cultural, national and family inheritance is great, and she is a true artistic link between North Africa and Machreq.
Nawal is deeply inspired by the artistic effervescence of the fifties in Cairo, as well as by the modern development of the oriental dance today and also by the richness of the dance in her own country, Morocco.
Since 1992, Nawal teaches Moroccan and oriental dance in Paris. She also devotes herself to spreading her art through the dance training courses that she leads abroad (Morocco, U.S.A., Europe).
She created the oriental dance association “Les Amis de Nawal” in 1990, and she founded her company “Nawal BENABDALLAH” in 1991. Her meeting with the great Egyptian choreographer and Mahmoud Reda in 1991 was the beginning of a close collaboration between them for 20 years. In 1997 Nawal participated in a number of shows and film shootings together with the Reda Troupe in Cairo.
To create her Moroccan repertoire, Nawal gets inspiration from dances from different Moroccan regions and she lets them develop on stage, thus participating in conserving this rich patrimony. The dancers of the company, belonging to different cultures, and open to other artistic horizon, embrace the oriental universe contributing with their own sensibility to the creations of Nawal.

DIVAS OF BELLYDANCE, Norway
Divas of Bellydance is a Norwegian troup consisting of five of Norways most established professional bellydancers.
The dancers are Majken Wærdahl, Lee Figeschow, Helene Skaugen, Michelle Galdo and Hilde Lund.
The group mostly entertains corporate events and has performed for some of the largest corporations in Norway. Divas of Bellydance has also performed at the Oslo Concert Hall in the event of the peace congress in 2008 and at the first Norwegian 'So You Think You Can Dance' in 2006.
In 2007 they toured Norway with the show 'An Arabian Dream', which sold out in most cities.

Hilde Lund, Norway
Hilde is one of the pioneers in Oriental Dance in Norway, and founder of the first Norwegian school for Oriental Dance, Navlen Dansestudio. With her great repertoire, ranging from cabaret to North African and Egyptian folklore, she is a popular dancer, instructor and choreographer in demand all over the country. Hilde is one of the six dancers in Divas of Bellydance who recently performed during the Peace conference at the Oslo Concert Hall.

Siri Ydstie
Siri is based in Oslo, Norway where she runs Oslo Bellydance Studio. In addition to regular classes in her own dance studios, Siri also teaches weekend workshops in Norway and around the world. She is in charge of the Norwegian teacher training program for bellydance instructors, through the Norwegian Dance Association. She is also a much sought after performer both for private and corporate events, and is a regular performer at the Arabic restaurant Sahara Beduin in downtown Oslo. Siri organizes the annual 1001 Nights – Oslo Bellydance Festival which celebrated its 10 years anniversary in 2010.

Majken Wærdahl, Norway
Majken Wærdahl started dancing Middle Eastern dance in 1996 and has since she started studied with various teachers in Norway and abroad. After her first meeting with two renowned Egyptian teachers, Raqia Hassan and Aida Noor, she realized the importance of learning directly from the source and continued traveling to Cairo on a regular basis.
Majken is the first and only Norwegian dancer with a professional career from Cairo. During 2000-2001 she performed at several of Cairos most prestigious hotels and boat restaurants, such as Ramses Hilton, Mövenpick, Nile Maxime and Pharaon. Based on her experience of 300-400 shows in Cairo and as an active artist in Norway, Majken has developed a distinctive style. In 2004 she initiated the group Divas of Bellydance, the first and only Norwegian group consisting of professional bellydancers exclusively. Majken performed at Oslo Oriental Dance Festival 2006 and 2007, and was one of the judges at the Dancer of the Year contest in 2008. She is also teaching during the festival, check out the workshop schedule!

Michelle Galdo
Michelle is one of Norways leading bellydancers. She is especially known for her gracious flow and detailed hipwork. Michelle took part in creating and performing in the show 'A journey along the Nile', with was groundbraking in oriental dance in Norway.
She was a regular dancer at Habibi from 2000 to 2004, and teaches at Navlen Dansestudio in Oslo sentrum. Michelle is one of the dancers in the troup Divas of Bellydance is performing solo and with the troup on Saturday night.

Helene Skaugen
Helene is one of the leading bellydancers in Norway and runs Studio Orient in downtown Oslo.
She is the organizer of Oslo Oriental Dance Festival and one of the dancers in the troup Divas of Bellydance.
Helene is known from events and media, such as the Norwegian 'So You Think You Can Dance' and 'Dancing With The Stars'.
She has produced the Norwegian instructional DVD, 'Bellydance with Helene', and has two oriental music albums, by Mustapha Dahir orchestra, dedicated to her dance.

Laila Madam Qadam
Laila has a bachelor degree in dance teaching from Bodø College in Norway. She is a certified Simonsonteacher at Dance Space Center (now DNA) in New York.
She studied with Egyptian dancer and Master teacher Yousry Sharif for one year, at the Egyptian Academy of Oriental Dance in New York. At the same time she was a fulltime student at the Dance Space Center on Broadway. Laila followed classes in classical ballet, jazz, contemporary, Simonsontechnique, hip-hop/funk, thai-massage, anatomy, pilates and yoga.
Laila has completed a two year weekend based bellydance program at CATT; Certified Academic Teacher Training in Berlin at the Tanzstudio Cifuentes, and is now an independant oriental dance teacher in Oslo and Lørenskog, Norway.

Friday Night: Contest 'Dancer of the Year 2010', and performances with professional artists. Doors open at 19.00 and the show starts with the contest at 20.00.
Saturday Night: Fashionshow and performances with professional artists, including this years guestperformer - Nawal Benabdallah. Doors open at 20.00 and the show starts at 21.00.
Tickets are available through www.ticketmaster.no