| Meet Nicola |
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How I came to Hipness |
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Loves: music, music, music; movies; kids; organic gardening; artisanal bread; snorkelling; knitting; travelling. Appreciates: divergent opinions; really smart people; really funny people; cheeky kids; a great gin and tonic; well spun alpaca wool. Dislikes: fakers; laziness. |
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email invite |
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| Hip Travels |
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Favorites |
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Hawai'i, South Dakota, New Mexico, England. Must get to Egypt and the African Rift Valley. Norway calls, so does Italy. |
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the sound of pennies dropping into a piggy bank, dragons, mangoes, the colour purple, Buffy the Vampire Slayer |
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| Dancer |
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Dance style(s): Egyptian raks sharqi (bellydance) & folkloric
Dynamic, magnetic, powerful, engaging, joyful, and musical, Nicola has been widely praised for living in the moment of the dance. Her talents as a performer have taken her from stage to movie screen, festival to restaurant, party to gala and back again since 1999.
Nicola's choreographic skills are evident in her troupe, Spice Road Belly Dance, featuring a mix of amateur and professional dancers. She has also previously co-directed the troupes Gamaal Rawhany and Ahlan Dance Company.
Nicola has been an active member of Dance Manitoba and has participated in a number of its festivals, as a soloist and with her troupes, and has earned bronze, silver and gold medals.
Nicola began her training locally with Shayera, then sought workshop instruction with many of the world's best dancers, including Dina of Cairo, Hadia, Cassandra, Sahra, Denise Enan, Jalilah Zamora, Nourhan and Yousry Sharif, Yasmina Ramzy, Roula Said, Jasmin Jahal, Suzy, Jamilee Abir, Ariellah, Sarita, Suzanna del Vecchio, Delilah, Scherazade of Germany, Nath Keo, and more. She draws on an extensive background in music, sports, and anthropology to enrich her teaching and her dancing. Her collaborations with local dancers Shayera, Za'ina and Jamilla Badawia (now in Vancouver) have been fruitful and fun.
Nicola has been in high demand as a stage and cabaret dancer and for hire privately for parties, weddings, and stagettes. Nicola is available for all kinds of parties, events, and productions. The "real deal", she serves up real, live bellydance with style and grace. |
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| Teacher |
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Nicola is also renowned as a teacher with finely tuned skills as a dance educator, able to truly teach and not just demonstrate. She has lead the charge for better performance and teaching standards in her hometown, and has most recently been hosting events featuring major name dancers such as Hadia, Sahra Saeeda, and Cassandra.
Her use of good humour, lucid explanation, clear demonstration and break-down of technique as well as creative approaches to understanding Arabic music and rhythms and the use of improv make her sought after by aspiring performers as well as students who want to understand bellydance, not just mimic.
Nicola has Levels 1 and 2 (of 3) from Hadia's Teacher Training courses, and Journey Through Egypt Level 1 (of 5) with Sahra. Most recently she is working on her Manitoba Fitness Council Fitness Leader certification.
Modest and approachable, her classes offer a fun, safe, effective, inspiring, and invigorating alternative to other dance and fitness genres. Her enjoys making you laugh as much as making you sweat.
Nicola is one of the few local teachers qualified and certified to teach children's workshops and classes, having earned a B.Ed. in 2001. She offers adult private and group classes at a number of locations, as well as workshop instruction.
Nicola offers weekly classes in Winnipeg that run September through June, with a season-end recital. Summer classes focus on speciality topics and/or fitness. |
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