EVOLUTION OF ORIENTAL DANCE IN SLOVENIA
first published in Mosaic Magazine
The beginnings
This is a very short story of the evolution of oriental dance in Slovenia, a small country in SE Europe (Slovenia was a part of Yugoslavia until 1991). The first oriental dance workshop was organised in 1982, led by Kate McGowen, the wife of the director of the American cultural centre in Slovenia. One of the students of this workshop was Jasna Knez, an established and very well known contemporary dancer, who sought her inspiration on her travels to Sudan and Uzbekistan (here she studied Uzbeki, Afghani, Persian, Pakistani and Iraqi dances). Jasna started teaching oriental dance occasionally in the Studio for Free Dance in Ljubljana in 1987. There was another international workshop of oriental dance organised by The Association of cultural organisations of Slovenia (a special institution that held an important role in the times of Yugoslavia and early years of Slovenian independence) in 1989 and it was led by a German lady called Inse Sparrer.
There was more interest in oriental dance from 1992 on and Jasna Knez was the first Slovenian oriental dance teacher. She said that she tried to find her own style based on oriental dance moves, following her inner calling, and aiming to express herself through dance. One of her first students was Eva Stramšek, who was a student at a high school for ballet and contemporary dance where Jasna taught. Eva became her assistant and later a teacher herself, while her sister, Špela Stramšek, also began to dance and teach around that time, the late nineties. Jasna and Eva were both invited to teach other dancers and to give a course for new teachers inside a dance society called INTERES.
A new generation of teachers was born, and one of them was Vesna Jevšenak. At the beginning of the new millenium, she formed her own dance society called Salam Ghazeea and studied dance with Prof. Dr. Hassan Khalil and other Egyptian teachers in Studio Chiftetelli in Vienna. There she met Bahara, experienced dancer and studio owner, with whom she organised the first international education for oriental dance teachers and later for dancers in Slovenia.
Mirjam Mihelčič Korez, also a student of Jasna Knez, was very active in the field of performing in various venues and events. Mirjam was one of the first to perform for the Arabic club of Slovenia. She studied with Suraya Hilal for a while (end of 90’s and the beginning of the new millenium) and also with Maggie Caffrey from JWAAD. She opened her own dance studio in 2004 in Ljubljani. This Živa Centra has become a meeting point for oriental dancers in Slovenia, hosting workshops and dance education.
In October 1999, Suraya Hilal visited Slovenia with her show Spirit of the heart, which was part of the international art festival City of Women. Suraya held her first dance workshop in Slovenia and Eva Stramšek took on her style. Eva followed Suraya intensively for 5 years, became an associated member of her dance society and is still teaching Suraya´s dance technique, Eva´s ex-student, Milojka Božič is the only Slovenian dancer and teacher following the dance line of Suraya and her students/dancers later formed Tanz Raum ((Chevat, C. Heinle, M. El Fajr).
Leila el Rabadi, an Austrian dancer of Syrian descent, started teaching in Slovenia in 1999. She was invited by Mojca Malek, a Slovenian who travelled a great deal through Turkey and Egypt where she first encountered oriental dance. Seeing Leila´s poster in Graz (Austria), Mojca called her, organised her classes in Slovenia, and soon became assistant as they travelled around Slovenia, organising oriental dance workshops and classes. After their paths diverged, Mojca started her solo career as a teacher and proceeded with Oriental dance until 2006.
Festivals
Mojca Rakipov (stage name Nursel), an oriental dancer with Romani roots, organised the first International Oriental Romani festival called Chingene in June 2004 in Ljubljana. This festival hosted many artists from abroad and one of them was a famous Turkish Romani dancer, Sema Yildiz. Mojca describes her as a typically a ‘self-taught’ Romani dancer, who learned at family gatherings and through collaboration with her dance sisters all over the world. Nursel was teaching Turkish, Romani, and Arabic dance from 1998 till 2014. In 2010 she wrote an e-book with the title: Romani dance traditions from India to Europe.
Two years later, in April 2006, there was another festival in Maribor, NE Slovenia, held by Edita Čerče. It was a cycle of world dance tradition and was called The Rhythm Of The Heart. This had four different world dance evenings, the first being dedicated to oriental dance. Besides Edita and her colleague, Lučka Mužerlin (official dancer of Romani music group Langa), there were two special performance guests from Austria: Dalila Rami (born in Morocco) and the very well known established oriental dancer from Vienna, Yalia. Edita Čerče started her oriental dance journey with Leila el Rabadi and continued with various dancers in Frankfurt and Vienna, where she completed her certificated education for oriental dance teacher.
We can call the first ten years of the new millennium The Golden Era of oriental dance in Slovenia. There were numerous events, dance courses and performances in almost every village during that era.
The Turkish restaurant Yildiz Han
If we speak about the history of oriental dance in Slovenia, we have to talk about Yildiz Han, a Turkish restaurant in Ljubljana. Melita Drev Bakirkaya, the owner (2002-2020), told us that they started with the first oriental dance performances for guests on Valentine’s day in 2003. This event was a huge success and they started to get increasing demands from their guests, so they ended up having regular dance performances every day from Tuesday till Saturday each week. The first dancers in Yildiz Han were Fatamorgana group from Špela Stramšek (one of the first oriental dance teachers in Slovenia), Mirjam Mihelčič Korez and Mateja Pevec. Later, other dancers joined the crew: Alja Shaar, Irina Stanković, Sara Vujinovič (married Ikeljic), Hasna, Jamila, and others.
More festivals!
The success of the Yildiz Han restaurant and a huge number of dancers and students all over Slovenia led to the creation of a new international festival. Melita Drev Bakirkaya invited dance journalist Barbra Drnač and dancers Mateja Pevec, Petra Pongrac, and Alja Shaar to organise the first Bazar oriental dance festival: there were to be 5 of these, the last in 2010). The main goal of Bazar was to connect Slovenian dancers, to show the diversity of oriental dance and folk dances from Arab countries and even central Asia. There were various dance workshops with famous teachers from abroad like Sema Yildiz, Sabuha Shahnaz, Leyla Jouvana, and others.
The last year of the Bazar festival was the first year of the new international oriental dance festival called Nawar. It was founded by Mateje Mikulan and her dance college, Hasna. Mateja started with oriental dance in 2002 in Ljubljana and soon began to expand her knowledge. In 2006 she met Shereen at the Riccione international dance festival and since then has been her assistant all over Europe. Mateja also became a very well-known choreographer and dancer herself: her choreographies won some of the best prizes at international festivals abroad.
The main goal of the Nawar festival was to connect the very fragmented Slovenian oriental dance scene and to present Slovenian dancers and teachers to a broader audience at home and abroad. Festival Nawar was active until 2018 and it brought many famous oriental dance names to Slovenia: Mercedes Nieto, Randa Kamel, Azad Khan, Nesma, Maria Aya, Shereen, and others. Nawar was one of the biggest festivals in the area and it represented a kind of springboard for many young dancers.
Arabs and Dabke in Slovenia
Just one year after Slovenia gained its independence in 1992, the Arabs there formed the Arabic Club. The intention was for social and cultural gatherings of Arabs living in Slovenia (small cultural events, Arabic language course, folk dance group Sausan). This idea grew and, in the time of the Slovenian oriental dance Golden Era, the club was organising Arabic Evenings, where people could taste the food, listen to Arabic music and watch oriental dancers. These evenings were very much in demand for the first ten years of the new millenium. Up until now, they’ve hosted almost 50 Arabic evenings .
My dance company, KUOD Bayani, is focused on oriental dance as stage art and also on folkloric styles. For the last 16 years, we have been a partner of the Arabic Club, creating more than 25 Arabic evenings all over Slovenia together. Mirjam M. Korez was the first Slovenian dancer to dance for Arabic Club. On one of her first gigs she inspired Alja Shaar who is the only Slovenian oriental dancer with Arab roots (her father is Arab). She said that the stage was her first teacher, because soon after Mirjam inspired her, she began to dance and perform herself. Alja took many classes with different teachers in Slovenia and abroad
The Arabic Club is based in our capital, Ljubljana, and in the second largest city, Maribor in the north-east, they formed another Arab cultural society in 2009 caled Rozana. Their main intention was to ‘promote intercultural awareness and friendship between Arabic and Slovenian communities’.. Rozana was mainly active between 2009 and 2015. They formed a festival of Arab culture called Shams which travelled all over Slovenia, promoting Arabic culture. They released a few issues of bilingual (Arabic and Slovenian) magazines. Rozana also had a folkloric dabke dance group; Mahmud Alkhatib was their first teacher and choreographer. Later, in 2013 Eva Stramšek joined the group.
In 2015 they invited the Palestinian dance troupe, Al Zeytouna, based in London, to create a theatrical, dabke-based show called Water and Salt. Later, Eva took dabke over and included it in her dance group, Hava. Studio Hava and Al Zeytouna produced other shows in 2016 and 2018 called Project 51, which included contemporary dance (from Eva Stramšek, who has a degree in it) with dabke. Eva continues with dabke in her studio while Rozana is no longer active in it, so their role was taken by Wasim Alkhatib, former Rozana member, who lives in Ljubljana. Wasim formed his folk group called Haifa in 2016 and they perform together in different events in Slovenia and abroad.
1001 Oriental Dance Moves – the first Sovenian book on teaching and learning oriental dance
I (the author of this article), Nataša Kočar, wrote the first Slovenian didactical guide for teaching and learning the basics of oriental dance. I wrote the book in both Slovenian and English languages and it was introduced to the readers of Mosaic magazine in the spring of this year. My oriental dance journey began in 2001 with Mojca Rakipov and later I learned from many different teachers in Slovenia and abroad (Maria Aya, Nesma, Randa Kamel, Khairiya Mazin, Hassan Khalil,…). In 2004, my dance friends formed a dance society called KUOD Bayani. It has become one of the oldest and biggest dance societies in Slovenia. I have created many theatrical dance productions in Slovenia and abroad and helped other organisers too. I have also facilitated many dance trips to Egypt and I will continue to do so.
Bellydance Superstars and Bellydance Evolution in Slovenia!
You may not know that we have Slovenian dancers who made it into the original Bellydance Superstars and later into Bellydance Evolution. One of the best tribal fusion dancers in the world is Slovenian – Manca Pavli. She was the only Slovenian dancer to perform in BDSS. She joined them when they toured England, France, and Morocco in 2009. Manca also hosted one of the biggest icons of tribal dance, Rachel Brice, in Slovenia three times; in 2009, 2011, and 2014. We will speak more about Manca a little later. Two amazing and very talented Slovenian dancers, Nika Mlakar and Ana Perčič both took part in Jillina´s BDE show.
Ksenija Visket from Zahir house brought many BDSS stars to Slovenia (Bellyqueen, Kami Liddle, Petite Jamilla, Bozenka, and Amar Gamal). In 2009 Ksenija met Jillina in New York while attending an intensive weeklong dance seminar with famous Aunt Rocky (Morocco). She invited Jillina´s The dark side of the Crown to Slovenia in 2012, and Alice in Wonderland in 2015. Ksenija had became familiar with oriental dance in 2002. Two years later she started teaching it and in 2008 she opened her own dance studio with a coffee shop called Hiša Zahir (Zahir House). Besides BELLYQUEEN, BDSS and BDE, Ksenija also hosted Susan Frankovich, Morocco, Hossam and Serena Ramzy, Karim Nagi, Sonia Ochoa, Joanna Sarah, and others. In 2019 Ksenija received Jillina´s scholarship artistic development programme and went to California where she attended and performed her solo dance piece.
Best Slovenian dancers who succeeded abroad
One of the first Slovenian dancers, together with Ana Perčič, who joined BDE was Nika Mlakar. She was dancing as a soloist in BDE´s show The dark side of the Crown in Hanover, Germany, in 2012. Nika Mlakar is the most successful Slovenian oriental dancer of all time. Dancing from childhood, her first contact with oriental dance was when she was 11 years old, and it happened as a coincidence when she attended Simona Minisini´s workshop. After the first two years of training, in 2006, Nika won 2nd place at the International Dance Championship in St. Petersburg. This great success was the reason that the Slovenian dance association opened an oriental dance category in the national championship and Nika gained this title every year from the beginning until the end of her ‘competition career’.
In 2007 Nika performed in Ahlan wa Sahlan festival in Egypt as one of the youngest dancers (she couldn´t compete because she was too young). In 2008 she won another gold medal in Moscow in the International World Championship in the teenage category. When Nika turned 15, she started her own dance journey, creating her own style that combined her training in contemporary, hip-hop, ballet, jazz and modern as well as the oriental dance
workshops she attended in Egypt, USA, and Europe. She soon became fascinated with tribal fusion after her experience at Sharon Kihara´s (BDSS) workshop and later she continued her regular tribal education with Manci Pavli. Nika achieved another gold medal in Russia, in 2013 and 2014, when she was the first European (usually it was Russians) to win first place among adult competitors with her own choreography. Nika is the first Oriental dancer ever to achieve 3 world championship titles in her career. She also won first place at the BDSS competition in Blackpool, but she was too young join the BDSS crew.
All these remarkable and outstanding results opened many doors for Nika in Slovenia and abroad. She wants to point out the help of Leyla Jouvana, who invited Nika to her Festival when aged only 16, and this really brought her wider recognition. She began to teach all over the world, especially in Asia and Europe. Apart from being a soloist Nika also performed in a group (Jillina´s BDE, Manca Pavli´s Amaya Dance Company, Irina Stankovic´s Eastern Fairytale). She also worked in theatres in Slovenia and made her own dance shows. She enriched her knowledge with certificates of Sahra Saeeda (L 2), Zoe Jakes (L 1), and Rachel Brice (L 3).
Manca Pavli, the pioneer of tribal style in Slovenia, started oriental dance when she was 17 years old, learning from Andrea Zanardi. Her dance journey continued quite quickly when she joined my dance troupe, KUOD Bayani: we worked together and Manca started teaching. In 2005 she went to Rachel Brice’s workshop after the BDSS show in Vienna, having only seen her through the internet before then. In 2005 Manca started to become a regular student on Rachel´s workshops throughout Europe and became her assistant, accompanying Rachel to Kostarika Dance Retreats five years in a row. Manca also founded her own dance group called Amaya Dance Company, creating 3 stage productions which were successfully presented all across Europe (Orient Under Construction, Bellydance Unveiled, and Bellydance Infusion). She also organises a festival called Tribal Bliss. Manca is certificated in Suhaila Salimpour´s technique (level 2) and in ATS FCBD format, which brought her the status of FCBD Sister Studio.
Sara Vujinović (now Ikeljic) has danced since childhood. She started with oriental dance in 2006 and won the Slovenian National Championship title in 2007. From then on she took various classes and workshops in Slovenia (Alja Shaar, Irina Stanković, Manca Pavli) and abroad (Randa Kamel, Mohamed Kazafy, Khaled Mahmoud, Nour, etc.). Sara also performed in numerous competitions abroad and won some prestigious awards like first place at Heshk Beshk Venice (2010) and first place at Oriental Passion in Athens (2011). One of her favourite memories is performing with a live band in Lord of S restaurant in Vienna (2011 – 2013). She also started teaching in Slovenia and abroad (Germany, Russia, Poland). A few years ago she moved to Iowa, USA, where she started a family. She connected herself with a local oriental dance troupe, Innah Middle Eastern Dance Troupe and became their member.
Ana Perčič, the outstanding young Slovenian dancer, made her debut at BDE in the same year as Nika Mlakar: they were both selected for the BDE The Dark Side Of The Crown in Hanover in 2012 and they both performed there. Ana was also chosen for BDE´s Alice in Wonderland in 2015 for Prague (Czech Republic) and for Maribor (Slovenia). In 2016 she was invited for a three-month tour of BDE in China. Ana started learning oriental dance through YouTube in 2006 when she was only 14 years old and continued with dance studies later with Ksenija Visket in Maribor, where she also studied ATS with Susan Frankovich. She then started to attend workshops all over Europe and participated in Manca Pavli´s Amaya Dance Company.
Ana is the only Slovenian oriental dancer who lives and works in Egypt. She first started as an animator and dancer in Hurgada (2013-2015). Her passion for dancing to live music brought her to Cairo where she has lived and worked since 2016. She performs on boats, weddings, parties; she teaches regular dance classes and she also taught three times in the Nile group festival. Her work also includes modelling and acting.
If we speak about successful Slovenian Oriental dancers we can not skip the famous young twins Aneja and Nastja Črnigoj. They started oriental dance in 2005, at the age of 11, under Simona Minisini (Club Sunshine, Italy). They have conquered many different prestigious titles around Europe, among them 24 times first place (Italy, Slovenia, Greece, Ukraine)!
MANY SUCCESSFUL STORIES…
There are many more Slovenian dancers and dance teachers (like Hasna Maja, Zlatka Djamila, Taisha, Andrea Zanardi…) who worked passionately, with lots of love and devotion to this art and I am really sorry that I can not mention all of them. Anyway, I will add a few more, starting with Iris Zavelcina, who ran an oriental dance group called Layli for 15 years and a dance society with the same name. Since 2008 they produced a theatrical dance show every year and their biggest international achievement was winning 1st place as a formation in the world dance contest in Lignano. Iris has been learning oriental dance from many Slovenian (Irina Stanković, Manca Pavli) and many international teachers (her favourite teachers are Jillina Carlano & Mercedes Nieto). We have mentioned Irina Stanković many times in this article as a referenced teacher. She came to Slovenia from Ukraine, where she finished her studies and graduated from Dances of the world. Her first contact with oriental dance was in the nineties in Ukraine, but she totally fell in love with it here in Slovenia and very soon she became one of the most sought after teachers. Between 2008 and 2011 she formed and led one of the most successful oriental dance groups in Slovenia called Eastern Fairy Tail. If we speak about successful oriental dance groups in Slovenia, we have to mention Maja Tul and her Layali group. They were performing at many oriental dance events all over Slovenia. Another talented artist with her unique tribal dance style is Nadia Džamastagič, who made many great and very »out of the box« theatrical dance productions with her dance group Ritual. Ines Kočar, dancer and teacher from Ljubljana, also made many stage dance productions with her friend Alja Shaar and her dancers. Iris, Irina, Maja Tul, Nadia and Ines were all, at some point, members of Amaya Dance Company.
