Occupation: Project management engineering firm
Country: Canada
Started Learning Belly Dance: 23 years ago (with a couple of breaks)
Joined the Iana Dance Club: April 2021
Belly Dance Transformations
‘’I used to think that belly dance was silly, but 20 years later belly dance is a huge part of my life.’’
‘’Dance provides a nice contrast [to my profession] where I can express my femininity, creativity. It also allows me to move, to connect with people all around the world.’’
During her 22 years of belly dance exploration, Aleesa has made a couple of breaks from dancing to question the authenticity of her love to dance, but every time she came back to it.
"For me belly dance is as much about community, as about dance and music itself."
Dance has been an integral part of my life for many years. As a child, I took ballet and folk dance classes and came back to dance while in university.
My first experience with Middle Eastern dance happened when my friend invited me to a hafla. I was drawn in by the music, the movement, and the costumes. While these elements of the dance still hold significant appeal to me, I find that the dance community and life-long learning are additional and important benefits of dance.
I have been privileged to train with many fantastic dance teachers, including Yasmina Ramzy, Mayada, Rahel, Hanan Sultan, Roula Said, Anuka, Zahira, and of course, Iana. I have also explored other dance styles like Brazilian samba and cheerleading. I am a founding member of Mirage Bellydance, and a member of the Helwa Dancers troupe.
In the past few years, I have also started studying Persian dance. I highly recommend Iana's course!
Reasons she chose to join the Iana Dance Club:
"Since the beginning of the pandemic, I was struggling with motivating myself for a continuous practice. The format of 20-minute technique drills was exactly what I was looking for, because sometimes I would not have energy for a full 1-1,5 hour class, but I still wanted something that could help me to drill the technique. And also, I wanted something that I could do in a small space.
Club helped me with a decision fatigue."