Spotlight Dancer/Troupe
Amira

If you were to look for Amira, you’d probably find her teaching Bellydance class. Or perhaps she’d be taking a class. Then again, she might be teaching a workshop, or performing, or in her studio preparing her next classes, or maybe she’d be camped out in front of the TV, learning all she can from the many bellydance videos, big bowl of salad in one hand, remote in the other…  Or, she just might be on another airplane taking her to her next workshop, performance venue, or back to Egypt for more study. And if none of the above, you just might find her in one of her other classes studying Yoga, Ballet, or the Arabic language.

Amira lives, breathes, absorbs & projects all things Bellydance, every hour, every day. Her sincere hope is that when she reaches 90 years old, she is still learning, still teaching.

Amira is originally from the tiny Nordic country of Estonia, where she grew up in the forests and on her parent’s farm, living a simple but healthy life that many of us missed out on. Dance classes were not something that could be found anywhere nearby, so naturally the old B movies from India, her mirror and her imagination became her first teachers and dance partners. All through childhood she was as active as could be; she studied piano, guitar and saxophone, languages, took art classes, acted in school plays, and wrote poetry and plays for her school-theatre team. She’s had a love for the stage from the very beginning, but only when Estonia broke off from the Soviet Union did she first have the opportunity to see and become exposed to the Flamenco dance teachers and classes in the bigger cities.

After graduating Medical school, and after having started what grew into an extremely successful cosmetics business, Amira suddenly one day decided to give it all up in search of new horizons. Making this life change, she abruptly found herself living in, of all places, Las Vegas. In pursuing her Flamenco interests, it was not long before she was introduced to bellydance, and immediately fell head over heels in love with it. She has not stopped dancing since, the medical diploma sitting quietly in a drawer somewhere.

Amira arrived in Las Vegas, NV in January of 1999. Since that time she has studied with just about every well known teacher in the USA, and has been to Egypt for studies there as well. She has become one of the most requested dancers in Las Vegas and performs at some of the most prestigious venues through the US and Cairo. She is very proud to have been honored with personal compliments from masters like Faten Salama and Aziza.

Every spring she faithfully travels back to her homeland of Estonia to share her knowledge to a quickly growing interest group there. She holds workshops throughout the country, where they are always sold to capacity.

If she were to become well known for anything, Amira hopes that it would be for her loving and caring approach to women’s issues, her warm personality, and her unique teaching style.

The Arab community has referred to her as “a true Arabic dancer”, and comment that she is able to capture the very essence of a Middle Eastern dancer – the feel for the music. Amira’s expressions, her interpretation of music and body language captures and mesmerizes everyone around her. She is repeatedly approached by Arabs speaking Arabic, assuming she speaks the language! She takes this as a great compliment, and runs home to further study the language so as to someday add it to her list of languages.

Last year, Amira released her first instructional DVD entitled “Bellydance 101”. Featuring the beautiful music of widely acclaimed global recording artists Phil Thornton and Hossam Ramzy, this DVD has already earned widespread accolades for Amira's clear and supportive teaching style, her attention to solid technique, as well as for its exceptional production quality. With its success in the U.K., in cooperation with the publishing house of New World Music Ltd., the release of Amira’s Bellydance Music Compilation CD is slated for the spring of 2006. This will feature even more selections from Phil Thornton and Hossam Ramzy. Read the DVD review by Yasmina of Joy of Belly Dancing.  

Being 5’10” and multilingual Amira has been chosen as bellydance model and spokesperson for one of the biggest dance retail companies in US “Eurotard”. Amira also sails, skydives, drives fast, and lives with her husband, 30 chickens & two cats in sunny Las Vegas.

Don’t miss out on Amira’s super cute designs of women’s (I love bellydance) and men’s (I love bellydancers) tanks and T-shirts. Find out more at her website.

Written by Mark Dennis

To contact Amira:
Website: http://www.amirasbelly.com
Email: Amira@amirasbelly.com

photos of Amira by Mark Dennis and Ron Dorson

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