Eshe

Eshe is the director & owner of Mahasti – The Bellydance Emporium.  Born and raised in Hamilton, Eshe has been bellydancing since 2002.  She’s trained extensively in Canada, Japan, Egypt, and Turkey.  And she’s performed in  America, Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia.  From 2008 to 2010, Eshe was the bellydancer for the Korean folk/world music band Orgeltanz.  Orgeltanz and Eshe gigged at some of the country’s biggest music festivals, including the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival and Grand Mint Festival, were featured in the Korean editions of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and appeared on several TV and radio programs.

In early 2010, Eshe was cast in the Korean and Indonesian versions of Bellydance Evolution – a large-scale, international bellydance stage production created by the renowned American bellydancer Jillina.  Eshe also won Asia’s “People’s Choice” award as part of the show.  The same year dance legend Sema Yildiz gave her the name “Yildiz” or  “Star” in Turkish after she performed at the famed Gar Casino in Istanbul. 2010-2015 Eshe ran her own bellydance studio in Seoul called Dream Dance Studio. She appeared regularly at high-profile art festivals such as Korea Experimental Arts Festival, Bucheon International Performance Art Festival, Korea International Performing Arts Festival, as well as night clubs, grand openings, art galleries, traditional markets and  festivals, restaurants, and in cultural outreach programs targeting those in the countryside.  In 2012, her students won the bronze medal for Oriental Ensemble at the Tokyo International Bellydance Competition.

In 2013, Eshe started a new concert series in Seoul called Shake Shop and worked with some of the biggest names in Korea’s indie scene including Galaxy Express (2011 Korean Music Awards “Musician of the Year” winner), Jambinai (2013 Korean Music Awards “Best Crossover Album” winner), and Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio (2014 Korean Music Awards “Rookie of the Year” winner).

In 2015, Eshe returned to Canada and started performing at events such as Supercrawl.  In 2016, she opened Mahasti & formed Raqs Mahasti who won 1st runner up at Star Bellydancer Canada in the troupe category.  She runs a monthly bellydance showcase Glitter at The Casbah the second Saturday of every month and regularly performs at family events such as baptisms, weddings, celebrations of life, grand openings, showers, anniversary, engagement and birthday parties.

In 2017 she was nominated for a 2017 Women of Distinction award by the YWCA in the Arts | Culture | Design category. In 2018 she won a 40 Under 40 Business Achievement Award for her community & charity work.

Faith

Thursdays

7PM Basics (drop in, beginner friendly)

8:05PM Choreography (intermediate, session based)

Faith began teaching and performing bellydance and Bollywood style dance in 2009 & 2010 respectively, and also enjoyed many years as a member of various Ontario-based bellydance troupes (Karma, Bella Luna, the Bellydonnas). Her teaching experience also spans areas such as fitness and chair dance. From 2011-2014, she founded and directed local Bollywood dance troupe NACHEGI.

Faith has had the privilege of studying with many instructors in both Bollywood style dance and bellydance, as well as attending workshops with renowned dancers and choreographers such as Divya Kumar, Jaya Vaswani, Raqia Hassan and Sadie Marquadt. She continues to study a wide variety of dance forms through weekly classes and regular workshops, and is dedicated to presenting a safe, inclusive, and culturally authentic dance experience in each class she teaches—while also making sure there are plenty of smiles and laughs along the way.

In early 2017, she began fusing her deep love of K-Pop music with bellydance. In 2018, she competed in the Hamilton International Bellydance Competition with a bellydance/K-Pop fusion focus and took 1st place in the Fusion category, and was also the recipient of a Judges’ Choice Award. She continues to develop and refine this fusion style with ongoing study.  Find her at “Faith Dance” on Facebook.

Angela Josephine

Wednesdays

6:05PM Basics (drop in, beginner friendly)

7:10PM Intermediate (alternating drills, combinations, choreography)

Angela Josephine is a Modern Fusion Bellydancer living in Hamilton, Ontario.

Angela began taking bellydance classes in 2012 in Halifax under the tutelage of Monique Ryan and Laura Selenzi at Serpentine Studios. Here she studied traditional and fusion bellydance and performed with Mahari Tribal and the Serpentine Studios Student Troupe. She also took Classical Indian Dance classes with Suneetra Karam Singh.

In 2014 Angela moved to Hamilton, Ontario and began studying with renowned Modern Fusion bellydancer Audra Simmons at The Dark Side Studio in Toronto. She performed regularly with the studio’s student troupe and in 2017 she was asked to join Lavish Dance Company, the professional troupe at The Dark Side Studio. With Lavish she has performed in three full length theater shows including The Lavish Project, The Lavish Project 2: Harmony/Discord and Fragment/Repair.

Angela also performs regularly as a soloist in Hamilton at Glitter, a monthly bellydance show hosted by Eshe Yildiz. Other solo performance highlights include performing at The Tribal Massive Showcase in Las Vegas, the April Rose Gala Show in Halifax and the Esmerelda Gala Show in Toronto, Ontario.

Angela has studied with many renowned bellydance teachers and pioneers including Kami Liddle, Zoe Jakes, Jill Parker, April Rose, Sera Solstice, Aziza, Esmerelda Colabone, Sahar Samara and Henna. She takes as many classes as possible in order to enrich her knowledge as a dancer and teacher.

Angela teaches weekly technical and choreographic classes at Mahasti the Bellydance Emporium in Hamilton, Ontario.