ARABESQUE ACADEMY — Teachers

Shari — Apprentice Dancer

Shari was first inspired to learn the art of Bellydance in 2004, and promptly began taking classes at Arabesque Academy with teachers Yasmina Ramzy, Mary Cabral and Denise Mireau. Since then, she has had the opportunity to explore a wider variety of Middle Eastern Dance styles, and learn from such teachers as Mahmoud Reda, Aida Nour, Sahra Saeeda, and Cassandra Shore. Through her post-graduate work in Sociology and Equity Studies, she developed a deeper appreciation for Bellydance as a valuable expression of femininity, power, and resistance. Shari has been a Teacher and Dance Artist with Arabesque since 2010, and has enjoyed performing regularly at various events around Toronto, including Arabesque's recent productions "Noor", "Jamra" and "Sawha".

Amy — Apprentice Dancer

Amy is a Toronto based bellydancer who was inspired to try a class after being moved by the beauty of the art form. Since then, she has studied with instructors Judy Reynolds, Roula Said and various teachers at the Arabesque Academy - most extensively with Yasmina Ramzy. In addition to her regular training, she has had the opportunity to take workshops with international artists including Dina, Fifi Abdou, Mahmoud Reda and Sahra Saeeda. As a member of the Arabesque Dance Company & Orchestra, Amy has performed in the company productions NOOR, JAMRA, and The Best of Arabesque at the Fleck Dance Theatre. She has also performed with the company at various festivals and events such as Taste of the Danforth and the Canadian National Exhibition. Currently, Amy is a resident instructor at Arabesque Academy and performs Middle Eastern dance as a soloist and with Arabesque throughout the GTA.

Krista — Apprentice Dancer

Krista's love of Bellydance was ignited when watching a street performance at Kensington Market in early 2008. Her Bellydance training began at Om Laila with Roula Said, although she has studied most extensively at Arabesque with senior teachers Melissa Gamal and Sarah Brawley. She has taken many specialty workshops with Yasmina Ramzy, including Al Khaima, the X Factor, and Heavy Hitting Hips. In 2011, she joined Dance Sister Dance, a Toronto based fusion Dance Company that seeks to foster multiculturalism, inspire, and educate audiences. Moreover, she is currently undertaking a PhD in Sociology, and her dissertation is investigating the embodied experience of dance through ethnographic research in Toronto Bellydance studios and interviews with both professional dancers and students. She is thrilled to be teaching at Arabesque Academy and apprenticing with Arabesque Dance Company.

Deborah Shaw — Costume & Arabesque Earthshakers Dancer / Teacher

Deborah has a lifetime love of performing, since childhood she has studied acting, improv, tap, ballet, modern and jazz. In 2005 she started training with Arabesque Dance Academy and began a love of Bellydance and all that it helps you feel and express. Deborah is a very proud dancer with Arabesque Earthshakers and enjoys shaking the world of dance, one shimmy at a time. She is a guest performer and teacher with Arabella Bellydance studio in Thunder Bay and is also the costumier for Yasmina Ramzy and Arabesque Dance Co.

Riviera

Riviera grew up listening to vibrant music from around the world and she has been captivated by Middle Eastern rhythms from a young age. After 2 years of ballet at the Victoria Ballet Academy, she discovered the beauty and freedom of bellydance with Suhaila style instructors Jennifer Zaghloul and Hayley Nuttall of Belly Beautiful. Since then, Riviera has trained extensively with Melissa Gamal, Sarah Brawley and Yasmina Ramzy at Arabesque Academy. She has also taken workshops with Saida in Buenos Aires and with Luna of Cairo in Toronto. A former choreographer for the Only Human Dance Collective, Riviera is currently a dance artist with the Arabesque Student Troupe, appearing at galas and festivals throughout Toronto and the GTA. She is thrilled to be able to share her passion for the art form as a teacher at Arabesque.

Sarah Schwab — Arabesque Earthshakers Dancer/Teacher

Sarah Schwab began a love affair with dance starting with Ballet at the age of 5, with Atelier Ballet. Moving from Ballet to Modern and Jazz as well as Baroque, Sarah got a taste of dance freedom and was hooked. Since starting to Bellydance in 2011, Sarah has studied with Yasmina Ramzy, Melissa Gamal and Sarah Brawley and had the pleasure of taking workshops with Cassandra Shore, Luna of Cairo, Jillina, Sonia, and Petite Jamilla to name a few. Teaching Jazz to adults and Ballet to small children, Sarah found there was so much to be learned from teaching and so Sarah is happy and honoured to be a part of Arabesque Academy and the Arabesque Earthshakers where she's sure that there will be much more to learn from Teachers and Students alike.

Tim Spronk — Lead Dancer

Tim is a dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor. He began training at the Alberta Ballet School and received his Bachelor of Arts at the York University as a Dance Major. Having since joined the Newton Moraes Dance Company, Tim has performed in Montreal, Toronto, Germany, and Brazil. He has danced with the Free Flow Dance Company, William Yong Dance Company, Kaeja d' Dance and is a prominent member of Arabesque Dance Company. Tim is a founding member of The Chimera Project and has appeared in all of it's productions. Tim's choreographic work was performed in fFida 1998 and 1999, ResiDance, and the Launch Pad.

Kevork Guerguerian — Dumbek

Kevork Guerguerian, born in 1965 in sacred Egypt (land of ageless wisdom and mystery) to Armenian parents.

At a very early age, he began to study Latin percussion sounds and African rhythms. He has studied over the past 25 years across Canada with well-known teachers who've inspired him to bring the basic ground skills of musical and rhythmic communication to organizations and communities.

His extensive background in adult education has provided him the necessary tools to design and facilitate learning for corporate events, leadership workshops, professional growth and personal relationships.

Kevork has created a company called Hands of Rhythm and has a passion to share the platform of drum circle facilitation to help others build team capacity and learning and development in their organizations and institutions.

Samira Hafezi — Dumbek

Samira's talent for music was visible at an early age when she began playing songs by ear on an electric keyboard she shared with her older brother. Shortly thereafter her parents enrolled her in piano lessons and she continued studying the piano throughout her teens, along with the violin, which she picked up in school. In 2004 Samira began taking dance classes at Arabesque Academy, and over time her love of music prompted her to begin studying the dumbek with Suleiman Warwar. She's been taking dumbek classes continually since 2006 and is excited about the opportunity to teach. Samira devotes her spare time to photography, working regularly with the wonderful Arabesque Dance Company, as well as other international dancers. Her other hobbies include dance, painting, travelling and kickboxing.

Dr. George Sawa — Qanoon, Naye, Theory, History

George Sawa was born in Alexandria , Egypt in 1947. He studied Classical Arabic music at the Higher Institute of Arabic Music specializing in qanoon, voice and theory. After immigrating to Canada in 1970, he studied ethno-musicology and obtained his doctorate in Historical Arabic Musicology at the University of Toronto. He has taught medieval, modern and religious Middle Eastern Music at York University and the University of Toronto, and is the author of "Music Performance in Early Abbasid Era 750-932AD" published in 1989.

George Sawa has given numerous concerts and lecture demonstrations at universities, museums and art galleries in Europe and North America He has been teaching at Arabesque Academy, School of Middle Eastern Dance and Music Arts since 1995 and regularly teaches alongside Yasmina Ramzy in many dance workshops. He was awarded the 1990 Ontario Folk Arts Recognition Fellowship for his performances and lecture demonstrations on the qanoon. George served as a performer, composer and music coach in R. Murray Schafer's RA in Toronto (1983) and Holland (1985). As well as serving as the Musical Director for the Egyptian exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, George has arranged music for and directed the musicians of the Arabesque Dance Company Orchestra since 1996 where he also plays the qanoon and naye in all of their performances.