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Meet
some of our current members:
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Jaleila, Katiyja, Diana ~ Founding Mothers
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Jaleila saw
her first Middle Eastern style dancers in
several
movies popular at the time when she was 11 or 12 years old. She loved
the
music and the mystique suggested by the dancers. When she saw
“Scheherazade”
her interest solidified.
Jaleila took her first classes through the YWCA in San Bruno,
California in 1973 studying with Nakish, a very energetic and dramatic
dancer. After arriving in Juneau in 1974 she was unable to find any
classes until 1976 when Jaleila learned about classes being taught by
Odette Foster and began studying with her.
Jaleila’s first workshop experience was with Jamila &
Suhaila Salimpour at their week long event in San Francisco. While
there she was able to meet the musicians of the Emerald Nights, and was
also privileged to see the wonderful drummer Mary Ellen MacDonald, as
well as Boston’s George Abdo and his orchestra perform live
as part of the workshop.
Jaleila has also attended workshops in Seattle and Yakima, Washington
(where she taught a cane/veil workshop) and she has danced and taken
workshops at “Rakassah” in Richmond, California
where she had the opportunity to study with many nationally and
internationally known dancers.
As one the founding members of The Daughters of the New Moon Jaleila
has loved the camaraderie and fun she’s experienced over the
years. It’s been challenging, too! Katijya and Diana loved
to change her position in
a group routine right before we went on stage!
One benefit of
performing Jaleila didn’t expect… once petrified
of public speaking she can
now do so with little or no nervousness!
Katiyja
saw her first Middle Eastern style dancer at
Zorba the Greek’s in
Sacramento, CA and knew she had to learn this dance. She first began
taking classing in 1976 through Juneau Community Schools with Dorie
Swanson
and later with Odette Foster. She expanded her studies to Jamila
Suhaila
Salimpour’s week long workshop in San Francisco where classes
were also
taught by Aida.
Later Katiyja studied with Badawia, Amir, Delilah, Dahlena, Bert
Baladine, Beatta Zadow, Samisha, and Morocco, as well as many others
and had the chance to meet the musicians of Emerald Nights as well as
see
George Abdo’s orchestra perform live. Katiyja took private
lessons from
Jodette in Sacramento, who turned out to be the instructor of that
first
dancer she had seen years before!
Katiyja has performed nationally and internationally: throughout
Southeast Alaska, Seattle, Portland, Yakima, San Francisco, Boise,
Whitehorse, the Caribbean, London. She has performed at Rakassah, at
Fantasia, on
cruise ships and the Alaska ferries, in gymnasiums, bowling alleys,
private
clubs and lodges, saloons, private homes, gardens, beaches, hotels,
civic
centers, and in the Office of the Governor of the State of Alaska!
Katiyja began teaching for Juneau Community Schools in 1981 with Diana
Ground. In 1999 she added a small dance studio to her home where she
continues to teach and the troupe meets to rehearse. As CEO
of The Daughters of the New Moon she encourages and assists troupe
members in seeking a wide variety of instructors and says, “I
encourage my dancers to recognize their own beauty and talent, make
lasting friendships and
expand their horizons through this dance.”
Diana began her career as a belly dancer,
teacher, and troupe co-leader when
she was quite
young. When Diana was about 7 or 8 she and her sister took a
“Ballet-Tap-Acrobatics” class. For the
annual recital, the class did the Oriental Dance number from the
Nutcracker Suite. They had satin harem pants and vests, a
little cap with a chiffon veil, and they even had cardboard finger
cymbals
painted silver. They were probably as awful as any first year
children’s
dance class, but Diana loved her outfit and thought the whole event was
wonderful. Unfortunately, she and her sister
couldn’t continue with ballet classes so Diana’s
budding career was stalled for a time. In junior high school
she was involved in a teenage folk dance group and continued with it
through high school.
When Diana moved to Juneau in 1972 there was no Juneau Folk Ensemble or
any bellydancing. Then, in the late 70’s,
Community Schools offered a beginning bellydance class so she signed
up. After the first class, she went out, bought one of the
two bellydance records in town, and purchased fabric for her first set
of harem pants. She was hooked!!!
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Latifa ~ Troupe President
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Latifa began with square
dancing in Juneau, Alaska in 1985 and later took up round dancing, then
western dancing and line dancing. One style led to another and before
you
know it, here comes Middle Eastern dancing.
With encouragement from her step-daughter Kalirah, Latifa began taking
lessons in Middle Eastern dance with Katiyja and Diana in May 2002,
later
continuing with her first workshop with Amaya that was sponsored by
Daughters
of the New Moon. When first taking lessons, performing with the troupe
was
not even a consideration for Latifa. But the dance is addictive and by
June
2003 she was performing with the troupe at every available opportunity.
She is working on the next generation of bellydancers with 2 of her
granddaughters that want to practice with her every time they come to
visit. Of course,
they love to "make outfits" from grandma's scraps and use her zills.
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Rhiannon
~ Troupe Treasurer, Instructor
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Rhiannon
became interested in bellydancing in Juneau in the early
90’s, when she and her sister would watch Daughters of the
New Moon rehearse in the commons at community schools right before
their square dancing class, dreaming of the day that they could be part
of the bellydance group too.
Ten years later Rhiannon got her chance, when she heard from an old
friend (also a former member of the square dance group) that she could
take bellydance classes from those same women she used to watch. And
the rest, as they say, is history. Rhiannon took her first class in the
fall of 2002, her first
workshop after two weeks of classes, and began dancing with the troupe
the
following summer.
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Kalirah
~ Instructor
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Kalirah began dancing early in life
with lessons in various styles of ballroom, country, and folk dancing;
which would stand her in good stead when she began to
bellydance. In 1999, she was finally able to fulfill a longtime
wish and took her first bellydance
lessons through Daughters of the New Moon. Kalirah quickly
adapted
to the dance and came to love the movements and musical
interpretation inspired by Middle Eastern rhythms and dance.
With the Daughters of the New Moon Kalirah has been able to realize her
desire to teach and takes great pride in introducing her students to
her
chosen art form.
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Cinefra Bahouti
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Cinefra was
introduced to Middle Eastern dance in 1992 by Judy Kennedy,
one of
the members of Daughters of the New Moon, while they were performing a
gold rush saloon show. Realizing that ballet would become too
strenuous at a certain age, Cinefra took private lessons for
a couple of months, then joined the group for classes and
started
performances in 1994.
Dance has always been a great joy in Cinefra's life and she hopes to
continue with this particular form for the rest of her life.
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Kalila
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Kalila began
studying Middle Eastern dance in
2001 by taking courses offered through Daughters of the New Moon and
taught by Katiyja and Diana. In 2005 she began dancing
regularly with the troupe.
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Rahil
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Rahil was
introduced
to Middle Eastern dance in her hometown community schools program in
Chugiak, Alaska. She started lessons in earnest in
1988 while attending Michigan State University and has danced with
various troupes since then.
Rahil has been a member of the Habibi Dancers in Michigan, the Beledi
Dancers in Brisbane, Australia, Haffi Hareem in Anchorage, and is now
fortunate to be a part of Daughters of the New
Moon. Primary influences are Artemis (Turkish
style), Rahya Hassan (Egyptian), Morroccan Shikat,
and Cassandra Shore (Egyptian Saidi).
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Tara
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Tara took her
first belly
dance class as a way to firm up after the birth of her eldest child
(he’s now in his 30s) but didn’t get serious until
her best friend convinced her to join her in dance lessons, taught by
Katiyja & Diana of the Daughters of the New Moon, in
1993. She continues to dance because, once the drums beat and
the zills ring, some part of her always feels the need to
move. And what better, socially acceptable outlet could there
be for this compulsion than to share it with her
sisters-in-dance?
Tara credits dancing with giving her
lifelong comrades, self esteem, and a reason to collect far more fabric
and costumes than any decent person should own. |
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Zahra
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Zahra first
starting dancing in of all places, the fishing village
of Pelican. This was many moons ago, self teaching herself, along with
two other women. As life does, there was a large gap of time where she
wasn’t able to dance. Zahra returned to dance in 2002 by
taking the Amaya workshop sponsored by the Daughters of the New Moon.
There were too many gaps in her dance knowledge to do anything else but
start over at the beginning by taking lessons offered through the
Daughters of the New Moon. Zahra was invited to join the troupe in
January of 2006 and has been dancing with them ever since. |
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