Meet Our Guest Teachers

As a part of our dance philosophy, we believe that each student should discover variety of styles and approaches, and we are happy to bring guest teachers to our online space. In addition to this, Iana keeps studying and improving her skills herself, and often she shares her training process with members of the club!

Veronika Shulkevich

Veronika is an internationally acknowledged dancer, invited teacher at Ahlan Wa Sahlan and Cairo Mirage festivals, the founder of Dance School VEROSHDANCE in Odessa/Ukraine, a certified teacher of the International Association of Eastern Dance (IAED), as well as winner of multiple national and international competitions.

Iana took classes with her as a part of my her own training and growth, but afterwards Veronika kindly agreed to record and share part of that training with the members of the Iana Dance Club. That's how the whole intensive on Saidi Tahtib was developed.

Raquy Danziger

Raquy Danziger is a world-famous Middle Eastern musician, teacher and composer based in Istanbul. She has released thirteen albums, five darbuka method books, and two volumes of her original compositions. Raquy specializes in the split hand technique, which is a fast and elaborate Turkish drumming style. She has also performed in Egypt as a soloist with The Egyptian "King of Tabla" - Said El Artist, and his drumming orchestra in the great concert halls of Egypt. She has appeared at Lincoln Center, at CRR concert hall in Istanbul, and in many festivals.

During her stay in Istanbul Iana had a pleasure on collaborating with Raquy and exploring variety of her music compositions. As a result a very special intensive Dancing to Turkish 9s was created.

Guest Teacher Raquy Danziger at the Iana Dance Club

Alex Delora

Alex Delora's dance achievements are beyond incredible: over 10 years of dance career, more than 40 countries visited with tours and workshops, 1000's of happy students all around the world, and her own dance studio in Kruvuj Rig, as well as collection of dance wear and accessories!

That was for the first time when Iana shared a part of her own training process. She spent spring of 2021 in the small Ukrainian city of Krivyj Rig, where Alex is from, and visited a bunch of private and group classes with her. The focus of their work during private sessions was chest isolation. At some point of that training Iana asked Alex to record one of their individual classes with an overview of the material in English so she could share it with the participants of the club. Later it was developed it in a full-length intensive Chest Isolations.

Julia Farid

World-famous oriental dance artist, instructor and choreographer from Ukraine. Organizer of Isadora Cup Festival, "Dream & Dance" Intensive Course, founder of Isadora Dance Academy. By virtue of her excellent teachings skills, deep knowledge of oriental dance and bright performances Julia Farid has become an internationally renowned artist and has been invited to teach to more than 30 countries. Annually she gives workshops and performs at 20−30 bellydance events worldwide.

Julia was our first invited guest teacher specifically for the Iana Dance Club. She shared her knowledge about the Golden Era style dance by creating three tutorials gathered later in the special intensive Golden Era Style. Additionally, Julia recorded a breakdown of her choreography Raqsat Kahramana currently available in our library of choreographies.

Guest Teacher Julia Farid at the Iana Dance Club

Pedro Bonatto

Pedro Bonatto is an internationally acclaimed photographer and drummer. He works in fine art and fashion photography, with works published in Elle Arabia, Fashion Canada and a number of magazines and books. As a drummer, Pedro focuses on Middle Eastern music and its relationship to cultures from aroundd the world. He is also the creator of the world music and dance group The Blue Dot Ensemble.

Pedro is not just a guest teacher, he is actually a co-creator of the Iana Dance Club, working daily on improving this platform and delivering the best content to our members. He also curates a separate section of the website: Music Corner.

As a guest musician he appeared in such intensives as Drum Solo Improvisation, Identifying Rhythms, Isolation Technique, as well as full-length courses Learn How to Belly Dance, Belly Dance Rhythms, and Turkish Romani Dance Technique.

Dr. George Sawa

Historian and musician Dr. George Sawa is the author of multiple books. He has published over 50 articles on Arabic music in journals and encyclopedias, and is frequently invited to give lectures and concerts worldwide. In 2005, he received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Egyptian Ministry of Culture for his research in Arabic music history. His CD, The Art of the Early Egyptian Qanun, Vol. 1, was nominated for a JUNO Award in World Music in 2009. His Egyptian Music Appreciation and Practice for Bellydancers has won international acclaim and is an invaluable companion to bellydancers all over the world, having been translated to multiple languages.

As a part of the Iana Dance Club membership you get access to all Iana's educational materials including her DVD in collaboration with George Sawa, presented here as an intensive The Art of Belly Dance Choreography.