Dancer Origin Stories – Shahrzad
This installment of Dancer Origin Stories features the positively magical Shahrzad.
Since childhood Shahrzad has been immersed in the dances of the Middle East and North Africa. Now based in Cairo, Egypt, she travels around the world to teach and perform.
The first time I encountered her was in 2014, when her performance at the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive inspired an immediate standing ovation.
About a year later, I was planning a visit to Cairo and heard that she was there. She was kind enough to arrange a private lesson for my group. Her teaching skills were deeply impressive and I have been a huge fan every since, hosting her for two intensives at my studio in Portland, Maine, visiting her in Cairo a handful of times, and, since her online studio has been ramping up in recent years, thrilled to take a number of her live online classes and workshops—including ones that she has been organizing with Egyptian artists.
Let’s learn about Shahrzad’s origin story.
Q. What is your first memory of dance?
Now that I think about it, I can't really remember a time when I wasn’t singing and dancing, I can’t even pinpoint a certain moment because it was always there.
Q. Was social dance or music a part of your life growing up? If so, how?
My parents were always playing music, all kinds of music from around the world, so I was really interested in music from a very young age and loved moving to it.
Q. How did you first encounter belly dance?
I saw Neena and Veena belly dance videos advertised on TV!
Q. What phase of life were you in when you took your very first dance class?
I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. I had recently started homeschooling and my parents were very open to letting me explore my interests, so when I saw belly dancing and started asking for classes my mom found them for me pretty quickly. She ended up taking them with me for several years.
Q. What led to you becoming serious about your dance studies?
My mom will be the first to tell you that I decided I wanted to be a professional dancer almost immediately after starting classes. I was so young, I’m not sure what exactly it was that drove my ambitions, but once I started, my obsession with dance really took over my life and I was willing to train and practice as much as it took to get me where I wanted to be.
During my teenage years I tried all different kinds of dance but once I started to learn about Egyptian dance and folklore, I was hooked.
I have always been a history nerd so learning about the cultures, traditions, and history surrounding Egyptian (and general North African) dance styles I became really fascinated. The fact that there was a seemingly endless amount of things to learn really drew me in.
Even now after 20+ years of dance I feel like I’m just scratching the surface–and I love it!
Q. How do other dance forms you have studied inform your primary style?
I have dabbled in lots of dance styles! I’m always training in different Middle Eastern and North African folkloric styles to add to my repertoire but have also studied ballet and Indian folk dances. Ballet has helped a lot in recent years specifically, not that I want to appear balletic on stage necessarily but the strength and balance has helped me so much with both performing and teaching turns and footwork which are areas I see lacking proper education in the belly dance world.
Q. Tell me about one of your most influential teachers.
I have trained with so many amazing ladies, but there are four in particular that I feel had the most influence on me and all in very special ways.
The first is Habiba of Philadelphia. She was one of my very first teachers and was the first person to introduce me to Egyptian style dance and folklore, she solidified my interest in style and really started me on a great path.
Habiba sent me to Nourhan Sharif whose rhythm training classes had a huge influence on me, having those classes gave me a great sense of musicality.
Nourhan sent me to Faten Salama, a former member of the national folkloric troupe of Egypt. Faten gave me a huge amount of folkloric and oriental training. Having all of that folklore early on was a blessing and shaped my style a lot. Faten is the teacher i spent the most hours studying with.
All three of these teachers encouraged me to study with Madame Raqia Hassan when she came to teach classes in the United States. Her technique, musicality, and choreography was so beautiful to me and although it was difficult at first it just seemed to fit my body and felt so natural.
I feel really lucky for the teachers that I have and really respect the fact that they all knew what to give me and also who else to send me to so I would have really well rounded training. I continue to explore and train with new teachers all the time both in and out of the belly dance world.
Q. Share the memory of learning a movement that came easily to you…
Most hip movements were fairly easy for me to pick up when I started dancing. I was really flexible, especially in my hips and back, so I think that helped a lot. I started dance at a time in my life when I was very shy and had low self confidence. I just remember feeling so great coming out of class every week feeling like I was actually good at something.
Q. And a movement that you had to work hard to master.
There is one shimmy that I learned first at age 17 and I swear I am STILL trying to master it!
It is a shimmy from Soraia Zaied where you lock your legs together and move both of your knees at the same time instead of alternating… it’s hard to explain. At least I feel like I can do it now but it might take a few more years to really do it vibration speed like she does.
Most hip technique has been relatively easy for me to learn so I really love when I find something I can't do, it gives me something to work towards.
Q. Tell me about one “ah hah” moment that you recall, whether technical, emotional, or conceptual.
This is kind of random but I recently had an “ah hah” moment when I was in the states and dropped into a yoga class.
We did a little shake out at the end of class and the teacher said something to the effect of, “If you watch animals you will see that when they feel stiff or feel tension they have no problem just stretching and shaking it all off. As humans we hold so much tension and emotion in our bodies and never give ourselves the chance to let it out.”
It got me thinking about why I dance. When I’m on stage or in class I feel euphoric and the less I dance the more stress creeps into my body and mind. Nothing feels better to me than shimmying for hours on end and I feel like now I finally know why that is!
Q. What dance skills translate to your everyday life?
Oooo, I’m not even sure how to answer this. I’m a full time dancer so my dance life and everyday life are the same. Everything in my life at this point circles back to dance in some way so it's hard to feel any kind of separation between ‘work’ and everyday life.
Any small amount of time that I’m not doing dance related things I’m usually just curled up at home in bed or on the couch, haha!
But I guess relating to what I said before, dance is really a huge stress reliever for me, the more I’m moving my body the better I feel mentally and physically.
Q. What else would you like to add, if anything?
Lately I’ve been having some weird ‘How the hell did I get here?!’ moments so it was nice to think back on where I came from and how my dance career started.
About Shahrzad
Shahrzad is a professional dance instructor and performer specializing in Raqs Sharqi as well as folk and social dance styles from around North Africa and the Middle East. In 2015 Shahrzad moved to Egypt to live and work full time and has since made a career as a performer appearing in top night clubs as well as film and media. To supplement her 20+ years of dance training Shahrzad also holds several fitness certifications including becoming a PMA certified Pilates instructor in 2013. She currently resides in Cairo, Egypt where she performs and teaches regular classes in person and online, produces music, and runs immersive cultural tours. She regularly travels to teach and perform at studios and festivals around the globe.
Check out her website for online classes and courses, music, and information on her international tours and educational programs in Egypt!
https://www.shahrzadstudios.com
