Zaina Zahesha

A career ranging from owning her own dance schools and teaching hundreds of people how to belly dance, to performing for 2 years at the top San Francisco club with 2 shows a night on both Friday and Saturday, (never missing one show) to being brought all over the world to perform (most recently to Guatemala City and the Dominican Republic) has been the achievement of music and dance artist, Zaina Zahesha. A fanatical devotion to her art, dating from the first days of her apprenticeship at the age of 15 with the belly dance troupe El Amarra, has brought her technique to polished perfection, and her musical ability and flair for the theatre have made her a successful choreographer and director of her own award winning dance company, as well as an expert performer and musician.  Zaina credits Shareen El Safy and the dancer Safay (Suhaila Salimpour’s godmother), both dancers who lived and performed in Egypt, as her main belly dance mentors.

Zaina Zahesha’s skill on the “zills” is a reflection of her many years of musical training. She plays flute and clarinet, with her main instrument being Spanish and classical guitar. She began her studies in earnest on deff and riq with well-known and talented Susu Pampanin in 2004 and performs with her on a regular basis.

(Source:  http://zainazahesha.com/About.html)