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Performances
References
The
dance and I
If
you are one of these people who are crazy about dancing, you certainly
know what I mean when I say that I have always been dancing. Besides
the usual classes in ballroom dancing and some Rock'n'Roll I didn't
have any formal dance education in my youth - but whenever there
was an opportunity to get up and dance, I took it!
Finally
in 1990 I met Raqs Sharqi (Oriental Dance
/ Belly Dance) - and I was hooked. I had my basic education
with
Layaly
in Zurich, further
teachers include Karin Azaria Siegrist, Nelly Mazloum, Mo Gedawwi,
Raqia Hassan, Lilo von Hugo, Tania Cook and many others.
Today
I mostly educate myself by studying the famous dancers of the
Middle East. My dance style
is a mixture of Egyptian and Lebanese influences.
Since
over 12 years I also perform regularly at various occasions for
an enthusiastic audience - be it at small private parties or big
company events, in restaurants or on theater stages.
I
teach workshops
as well as private lessons.
More than any other Oriental dancer in Switzerland I am also regularly
invited to perform and teach at various international dance festivals.
For example Germany (Orienta, World of Orient, Bazar Oriental and
Orient Magazin Festival), Vienna (Bauchtanzfestival), London (Fantasia),
Oslo (Magedansfestival), Stockholm (Layali Festival), Monréal (Ciçek Pasaj) and
Richmond (Rakkasah). I have travelled to the USA twice to teach
workshops all over California and in Hawai'i and I performed in
two of the prestigious IAMED shows in Los Angeles.
In
2005 I have also published a one-of-its-kind instructional
video for Lebanese dance style that has received a
lot of praise from the dance community, including an award by the Aswan Society.
Besides
this I am also a founding member of the Tribal Style group WeiberWirbel.
8
years ago I started to study Bharata Natyam (classical
Indian dance) which fascinates me for its power, precision and expression.
My teacher is Barbara
Dejung.
Because
I like to watch Indian films I have developped a passion for Bollywood
Dance (Indian film dance) . As the first Swiss I have brought
this style to the stages here and teach it to an ever growing community
of fans. I also learn Bhangra, the North Indian
folk dance, with DaVid
and teach workshops for it. Read more on the website Dance
Like An Indian!
If
I want to dance just for fun, I go for Tango, Merengue and Salsa
- or whatever
comes my way.
By
the way: MEISSOUN is my Arabic name. It means something like "She
with the Grace and the Walk of a Gazelle"...!
Performances
I
offer professional, entertaining Raqs Sharqi and Bollywood Dance
performances that are suitable for all audiences. If your interested
in hiring me, I
would be very pleased!
If
you would like to see, what I look like in my costumes, please visit
my gallery where I strike my
poses for you! You will find the dates of my next public performances
in the agenda.
A Raqs Sharqi show is usually 10 - 20 min. long, a Bollywood show
6 - 12 min. My fee varies according to the occasion and duration
of my performances. Besides classical oriental dance with veil or
cymbals I also perform Arab folklore, dance of the Gulf countries
and fantasy styles like sword / tambourine dance or Oriental Tribal
Style (with my group).
I
usually play my music from CDs but have contacts to live musicians
as well.
References
Restaurants
- Sultan
(Tunisian), Zürich / 2010
- Taverna
Yol (Turkish), Stuttgart (D) / 2010
- Malabar
Lounge (Asian), Cham / 2005 - 2010
- Living
Room, Honolulu (USA) / 2009
- Indigo
- Bhangra Bash, Honolulu (USA) / 2009
- Dune
(Oriental), 2008
- Dimitris
(Greek), Tijuana (Mexico) / 2007
- Cesar's
(Lebanese), San Diego (USA) / 2007
- Marbella
(Oriental), Honolulu (USA) / 2005
- Diwan
(Turkish), Zürich / 2004 - 2005
- Arabesque
(Lebanese), Zürich / 2004 - 2005
- Caspian
(Persian), Zürich / 2003 - 2004
- Zelg
(Oriental), Zürich / 2003
- Mo
(Egyptian), Zürich / 2002 - 2003
- Latin
(Oriental), Zürich / 2002 - 2003
- Jawhara
(Moroccan), Zürich / 2000 - 2003
- Hafez
(Persian), Zürich / 2002
- Aladin
(Oriental), Zürich / 1999
- Rhyschwalbe
(Moroccan), Basel / 1998
- Airgate-Revan
(Turkish), Zürich / 1994 - 1997
- Mühlehalden
(Moroccan), Nassenwil / 1994 - 1996
- Persepolis
(Persian), Zürich / 1995 - 1996
- various
others
Public
Events
- Züspa
consumer goods fair, Zürich, 2008/2009
- Night
+ Fun, Bergrestaurant Stätz, Lenzerheide
- Hair
show, Hairstyling Pierre, Pfäffikon + Amriswil
- Party,
Club Paradise, Zürich
- Airport
party, Altenrhein
- Oriental
night, Disco Ugly, Richterswil
- Culture
days, Mathilde Escher Heim, Zürich
- ETH-Polyball
1997, Zürich
- Oriental
dance show 1999, GZ Heuried, Zürich
- Disco
Orientale, Bern, 1999 - 2005
- Oriental
evening, Schlosshotel Val Sinestra
- Town
jubilee, 700 years Greifensee
- Various
occasions in hotels Ascot, Sheraton + Renaissance, Zürich
Festivals
- Yearly
show
"Expedition", 2000 - 2010, ZeoT + Volkshaus,
Zürich
- Orient-LE,
Stuttgart/D, 2010
- ISIS
Show, Münsingen, 2007 / 2009
- Jewel
of Yorkshire, Saltaire/UK, 2009
- Le
Dansoir, Paris, 2009
- Puja
Show, WCC Paliku Theatre, Kaneohe/USA, 2009
- Live
on the Lawn, Hawaii State Museum, Honolulu/USA, 2009
- Hafla,
Honolulu/USA, 2007
- ORISwiss,
Grenchen, 2006 / 2007
- "Bellydance
Live!", Ford Amphitheatre, Hollywood/USA, 2005
- "Let's
dance!", Silver Lake/Los Angeles/USA, 2005
- Hafla,
Placerville/USA, 2005
- Rakkasah
Festival, Richmond/USA, 2005
- Oriental dance show, Salzhaus, Brugg, 2005
- Orienta
Festival, Frankfurt, 2000 / 2004
- 1001
Natt - Magedans Festival, Oslo, 2004
- Oriental dance show, Fabriggli, Buchs, 2004
- Ciçek
Pasaj, Montréal, 2004
- Orient
Magazin Festival, Augsburg, 2003
- Bazar
Oriental, Berlin, 2003
- Österreichisches
Bauchtanzfestival, Wien, 2002
- World
Of Orient, Hannover 2002
- Fantasia
Festival, London, 2002
- Oriental dance show 2001, Kulturzentrum Dynamo, Zürich
- Oriental dance show 1999, GZ Heuried, Zürich
Private
Events
- Birthdays
- Weddings
- Exhibitions
- Corporate
events (banks, computer companies, fashion houses and many others)
All
over Switzerland and International
I
perform
Bharata Natyam solo as well as with my class. Solo performances
include:
- ISIS
Show, Münsingen
- Puja
Show, WCC Paliku Theatre, Kaneohe/USA
- Salangai
Puja, Zürich
- Museum
Rietberg, Zürich
- Grieder
Modeschau, Zürich
- Tamilischer
Musik- und Tanzabend, Schützenhaus Albisgütli, Zürich
My Bollywood
Dance activities are so many that I have created
a separate website for them.
Offers
Of
course I would be pleased to dance for you. Please use my contact
form.
I will
get in touch with you as soon as possible.
In
the Media
| About
the dance |
About
the website |
| Züri
Tip, 15. 3. 1996 "Orientalische Raffinesse"
(extract from an article about restaurant Persepolis)
"...Seemingly coming from a completely different world,
bellydancer is floating over the carpet, rolling her hips...
"Very good", praises an Iranian carpet importer at my table
the art of the Swiss dancer MEISSOUN..."
"...Looking
at this old and artful manner of moving erotically withough
showing everything in an exhibitionist way, one starts to
reflect about the obvious differences between go-go cheapness
and true refinement..."
|
Zahira,
2/99
(Finnish magazine for Oriental dance)
"Comparision of the two dances" in finnish tanslation |
| Papyrus,
Dez. 99, Vol. 3, Nr. 1
(French magazine, Québec, Kanada)
General review and recommendation of this website |
| Orienta
Club-Nachrichten, IV/99
(Magazin des Orienta Clubs, Frankfurt)
"Impressions of Orienta 99" with my pictures |
| Halima
Fachzeitschrift, April 2001
(About the ORIENTA 2000, Gala show)
"MEISSOUN
was hilarious: a perfecct parody of a houswife who practices
oriental dance while doing her housework. With a lot of expression
and convincing mimic she offered with dedication and fun all
the variations of the dance with her iron: cane, veil and
sword dance as well as classical elements. The many great
gags are hard to describe, one has to see them!"
(Remark:
This dance scene can be seen on the show video of Orienta) |
PCtip,
5/00
Swiss websites in the World Wide Web
"The passion of the dancer can really be felt when clicking
through this site"
|
| PCtip,
4/01
www.meissoun.ch is placed no. 14 (of 250) in a readers' contest. |
| Halima
Fachzeitschrift, April 2001
(About the World of Orient 2002, Gala show)
"When
we saw MEISSOUN with her ironing persiflage we already saw
her talent. She now prooved it in her "Nostalgia"
dance about dancers from the 60ies to 80ies. She adapted the
style very well and presented it artistically." |
Congratulations!!......Your
site definitely qualifies for the "Critical Mass Award".
A very nice site, excellent design, beautiful original graphics
& artwork, and your content is informative, entertaining,
presented well and easy to access.
A worthy enterprise and a positive contribution to the Web.
Thanks for helping make the Web a more interesting, useful and
attractive place to visit. |
|
Article
and interview in Chorikà (Germany) August/01
Interview
in Halima Fachzeitschrift (Germany) January/02
Interview
in Hieroglyphe (France) June/02
Interview
in Papyrus (Canada), 2004 |
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