Barakaat Middle Eastern Dance Company was founded in 2010 under the artistic leadership of Shems. Current members include Ouranitsa, Ghadir, Mariza, Isabel, Tydirah and Shems. We share a love of bellydance because it expresses a wide range of emotions in a way that words often can’t, allowing the dancer’s body to speak to the audience on a deeper level. This dance is a joyful expression of what makes us women: the power, the strength, the grace and beauty, the flirtation, the sensuality, and a playful sense of fun! Bellydance also encourages not only a healthy body, but a healthy body image. The incredible diversity of the bellydance community reminds us that beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and shades.
We are overjoyed to be dancing together. The artistic challenge of dancing in a company has helped all of Barakaat’s members to grow individually and contribute to the shared personality of the group. We motivate each other to pursue technical and artistic excellence and take on increasingly ambitious projects. The key to success is the friendship and shared passion that we enjoy – a continuation of the traditions of the Middle East, where dancing brings women, friends and families together to celebrate life.
Barakaat was founded upon a deep love and admiration for the traditional dance and music of the Middle East and the innovations that have grown from those roots. We strive to bring artistic, dynamic and professional representations of this art form to our corner of the world.
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Shems is a professional belly dancer and belly dance instructor based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the acting artistic director of Barakaat. Originally from Utah, Shems has been involved in Oriental dance since 1996. During that time she has performed in a wide variety of venues locally and nationally, collaborated with talented musicians and artists and teaches weekly classes in Baltimore, MD and workshops around the area. Shems’s dance style is influenced both by Arabic, Turkish and American Vintage Oriental approaches to belly dance. Shems continually expands her dance knowledge with classes and workshops with incredible dancers from all over the world. Shems is the founding director of Barakaat and is excited to be a part of a creative collaboration that brings together a variety of talents that honor the traditions of Oriental dance while also pushing forward into new creative territory.
Other influences on Shems’s approach to Oriental dance include her training and background in music and visual art. Shems started learning violin when she was 2 years old, switched to classical guitar as a teen and currently uses her musical talents in refining her finger cymbals and tabla playing. Shems also has her BFA from Utah State University and a Post-Bac in Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and she works in a variety of creative media including video, installation, performance and painting. To learn more about Shems please visit shemsdance.com. |
| Based in Columbia, MD, Ghadir is a professional bellydancer whose hips shimmy with the spirit of the dance. She has been dancing for over a decade, studying with such world renown teachers as Artemis Mourat, Mohammed Shahin, Nourhan Sharif and Suhaila Salimpour. Admired for her dramatic style, grace and ease, Ghadir has been performing in the Baltimore/Washington DC area for the past 3 years.
For more information about Ghadir, please go to ghadirdance.com. |
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Isabelhas enjoyed dancing, movement and costuming since childhood, and was introduced to belly dance in 2004 in New Orleans, where she began studied American Tribal Style with n.o.madic and cabaret-style belly dance with Layla Isis. Isabel immediately fell in love with the danse orientale for its supple movements and powerful musical interpretation.
Now a resident of Baltimore, Isabel performs with Barakaat Middle Eastern Dance Company, and as a soloist at venues and special events in Maryland, Northern Virginia and the Washington DC Metro Area.Isabel continues to deepen her movement vocabulary and her understanding of Middle Eastern dance and culture. She has studied with such international superstars as Suhaila Salimpour, Nourhan and Yousry Sharif, Karim Nagi, Rachel George, Mohammad El Hosseny, Mohammad Shahin, Rachel Brice, Kaeishi Chai and Megha Gavin among many others. She completed a rigorous teacher training program at Sahara Dance in 2010 and is certified in Levels 1 and 2 of Sahra Saeeda’s Journey through Egypt intensive dance ethnology program. Isabel strives to infuse every performance with skill and emotional depth, to connect with her audience, and to share her love of music, dance and life! For more information, please visit isabelly.com. |
| Mariza stumbled across a bellydance DVD in 2004 and has been dancing ever since. She began studying both Egyptian cabaret with Alexandra Bourque-Snyder and American Tribal Style/Tribal Fusion with Joy Rayman. As president of the Bellydance Club at the University of Virginia, Mariza worked with Alexandra to establish the club’s first student performance troupe which performs at various events around the university and in the local community.
After graduation Mariza moved to Baltimore and began studying with Shems in 2008. She has performed around Baltimore both as a soloist and now as part of Barakaat. She is excited to be part of such a dynamic, skilled and creative group of dancers! Mariza offers classes at the MAC Harbor East in Baltimore. For more information about Mariza, including her class schedule, please visit marizadance.com. |
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Possessing a strong background in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, and Broadway dance, Ouranitsa picked up the art of Middle Eastern dance quickly and fell head over heels in 2005. At that time Ouranitsa began studying both at Friends School’s Middle Eastern Dance Club and Egyptian Sun. She has expanded her study of the artform under Piper (of the Daughters of Rhea), Shems, and Lotus Niraja. In 2010 she joined the professional Barakaat Middle Eastern Dance Company as a founding member.
Professionally, Ouranitsa has performed in and around Baltimore as a featured solo artist and as part of her two troupes. She helps manage both troupes by assisting with the organizational logistics of Egyptian Sun and serving as treasurer for Barakaat. Ouranitsa is also a gifted teacher and choreographer. She is currently the resident instructor for the beginner class of Egyptian Sun and the Towson University Belly Dance Club. A recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, Ouranitsa is known for her high energy, charismatic interpretations of belly dance and her obsessions with Bollywood and the Turkish pop singer Tarkan. Her Egyptian Sun troupemates mark her as the troupe’s resident super spinner and her fellow Barakaat dancers celebrate her as spontaneous singer extraordinaire. Ouranitsa is honored to work with the creative, funny, and inspiring ladies of both troupes. For more information about Ouranitsa, please visit ouranitsa.com. |
| Rotrica has enjoyed dancing and movement most of her life. Introduced to belly dance as a form of fitness in 2005, she fell in love at once with the art form and its cultural origins. Affectionately referring to belly dance as “my addiction,” she has studied with teachers such as Anitah Bah, Azhia, MiaNaja, and members of Sacred Soul Hipz in Washington, D.C. Her addiction also led her to Montreal, Canada the summer of 2011, where she trained under Sharon Kihara and AZIZA as part of the weeklong Aziza DreamCamp Experience.
She has been a member of the local award winning troupes M.O.D.E. and Tribe MiaNaja as well as Troupe Aleemah. Known to have an outgoing and playful dance style, Rotrica dances as part of troupes and a soloist in Maryland and surrounding areas. She is co-organizer of the breast cancer fundraising Hafla “Raq da Tatas” and calls herself an “eternal student” of this dance. |
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Tydirah is an award winning performer, All Seasons Hafla Organizer, choreographer, and life-time student of Middle Eastern Dance.
Winning People’s Choice in the Rising Star category of 2009′s Northeast Bellydance Competition, the very first competition entered, I’m proud to be a Middle Eastern Dance Artist! Having trained under Basema, Lotus Niraja, MiaNaja, and currently Shems, I feel as though I’ve been exposed to the beauty, culture, and authentic interpretation of the artform. I love all styles of bellydance. Currently, I perform Raks Sharqi, Folkloric and Fusion styles. I also have experience with veils, fan veils, zills, assaya, sword, isis wings, and candles.I aspire to be a positive force within the bellydance community. I want to be an exceptional example, like those I admire, and hope to be looked upon the same. |