Iris Raqs Belly Dance

Adira Elham is a belly dance artist, instructor and creator of The “Original” Dangerous Curves. She has studied Lebanese Cabaret for over ten year with instructor and mentor Aziza Ammar in Detroit, Michigan. Adira is known for her gracefulness and her ability to light up the stage with joy!

She believes that all women are beautiful and can experience a fulfilling joy in belly dance; she was inspired to use her knowledge of teaching to begin bringing that love for dance to her own community. She has taught at Youthville in Detroit, Michigan helping to raise awareness of health and culture to the cities youth. She has also done private events, parties, lessons and teach her students Middle Eastern Folklore dance (Saidi dance) each year exposing them to the richness within the Middle Eastern Culture.

Adira currently lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida in which she continues to train and increasing her knowledge of Middle Easter dance and continue her life quest to grow as a dancer, instructor and event promoter. She trains at Hip Expression Dance Studio as well as has studied with International Instructors such as: Ranya Renee, Ahmed Hussien and Raqia Hassan just to name a few

Her academic accomplishment also warrant mentioning: She has a master degree in Education Curriculum from Eastern Michigan University. Her talent as an educator to help enrich others with the knowledge and skill of belly dance was an idea that helped give birth to Dangerous Curves Belly dance Convention.

It is Adira’s goal to teach and encourage all women especially plus size dance how to dance and express themselves thru dance.

Feel free to shorten and or highlight one or two things...... I am dedicating my performance to Shelly and Sonny two of the strongest women that I know. You are both loved, inspirations and bless you both.

A Few of Adira Elham Course Descriptions

Fancy Feet:

Have you ever wondered how dancers seem to just glide across the floor so effortlessly? Well in this workshop you will learn several tools that well help you become more graceful in your traveling transitions. Learning traveling steps that will increase your fluidity while giving you the ability to change directions more readily while transiting from a static position to another or to a still pose or frame. Many of the techniques and moves are inspired by the Lebanese Golden Era Belly Dancer Aziza Ammar from Michigan, with interpretations by Adira Elham.

Soulful Shabbi Urban Remix:

Shabbi Belly Dance is a flirty, playful, and confident style of dance. The word shabby” Of the people”, is a dance of the working class in Egypt. This workshop will include traditional shabby moves with a Detroit Homegirl type of flare! This remix of a workshop is high energy full of authentic Detroit music and moves that you might make you want to participate in our show what you learned Diva Soul Train Review! Soul and sassiness all in one....the only requirement is that you come with some sass in your spirit!

Graceful Creepiness:

This is for the Gothic Princess in you! You’ll explore Gothic Belly Dance with Adira learning its origin and some of the misconceptions of it. We will explore several elements of the dance including facial expressions, body angling, arm movements and music choices. If that isn’t enough for your creepy goddess she has a chorography class in which you will be invited to perform at one of her upcoming local events! Creepiness has never been so beautiful!

Prelude to belly dance:

If you have been dying to learn belly dance but never actually pursued it, this is your chance. Adira has created a class for beginners that provides the basics for ALL styles of belly dance. As an elementary school teacher, she knows the importance of a strong foundation! In this class you will learn what she calls the Basic 12. These are moves that all belly dancers should know. She will also teach getting over stage fear, building self-esteem in dance and how to have fun while learning technique. This class is for those who have never taken classes before or new students with 2 years or less experience. At the end of her class she loves to review what you learned in her Diva Soul Train Review! Each participant will receive notes and a youtube video link to practice too!

Balidi: The Saucy Grandma Baledi is a folkloric dance that predates Raq Sharki, Cabaret and American Tribal styles of belly dance. It is arguably the foundation of modern belly dance. It is one of the most authentic forms of belly dance. This workshop focuses on sensual, romantic and soulful moves. We will explore the moves through lose chorography to "Sehr Oyounik (The Magic in Your Eyes)" by Various Artists

Soulful Veils:

Veil work can be both subtle, light and airy or strong, dark and romantic. In this workshop Adira will lead you through varies scenarios that will lead you into various veiling techniques that will allow the veil to not only be an extension of you but also and expression of your inner most emotions. This workshop isn’t about veil tricks and tips, its about finding your inner most emotions and challenging them through your veil.

Dangerous Curves Belly Dance stands out for many reasons. First, it was created to give voice through dance to all dancers. No matter what shape or size, age, gender or color you are welcomed into our dance family. Secondly our conventions are specialized for dancers needs. We look at hiring instructors not based on fame, but content. Based on our mission. Our instructors work to help all dancers become better dancers by looking at individual needs. With our smaller classes that is easier to do than having 50 students crowded in one room we max our workshops at 12-15. Another reason we stand out is because this is not a typical for profit company. We work to support our event, nothing more. That leads to our histroy. This company was started by Jeanine Wilson, aka Adira Elham on the bases that all dancers should be treated fairly. Many plus sized dancers had come to her about having an event of their own and this sparked the dangerous curves movement. Another reason we stand out is because Adira, a teacher with a masters degree using researched techniques and methods to create curriculum to enhance dancers learning.

I enjoy watching people grow. I enjoy seeing them happy ad confident once they've learned something new. Teaching is my passion and has been for 20 years.