Jihan Jamal

“Be A Queen, Move Like a Goddess, Dance Like A Diva”

Jihan is a professional and respected artist who has been performing and teaching Near and Middle Eastern dance styles throughout the United States, U. S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Czech Republic, nearing 25 years.  In 2002, Jihan performed for the first time in Cairo, Egypt at Raqia Hassan’s “Ahlan Wa Sahlan” Dance Festival.

Jihan's constant goal as a performer and teacher is to represent the beauty of the Arabic dance culture with dignity, elegance and pride. Jihan's teaching method combines tradition and regional colloquialisms without sacrificing professional form and technique. As a teacher, her objective is to educate the student in the structure of the dances as well as their cultural, regional backgrounds and the social, religious and political history that has impacted and altered the dance throughout the centuries.

She has been an established teaching staff member at West Miami Middle Community School (Miami, FL), for the past four years.  It is at WMMCS that she directs the Bellyrina Oriental Dance Academy (BODA), a student dance company and dance curriculum, and her professional dance troupe, the Jihan Jamal Egyptian Dance Theatre.  It is also at West Miami Middle Community School where Jihan will be conducting her present and future “Unveil the WomanÔ” workshops, for women only.  “Unveil the WomanÔ” – More Than A Dance Experience, is a series of annual workshops of beautiful and feminine dance and creative process. Jihan created this special program to aid the participants in further developing their dance structure and expertise, confidence and self-esteem, by fusing elements of social, secular and spiritual dances of the Near and Middle East and interpretive movement.

From September 1998 to October 2003, Jihan taught weekly classes and monthly master classes at the Ballet Academy of Miami, (Coral Gables/Miami, FL).  Jihan was a resident teacher and choreographer at Miami’s Performing Arts Network, from 1996 to 2000, following the presentation of “Máscara y Espejo” (“The Mask and The Mirror”) - A multi-cultural collaboration with Ilisa Rosal, director of Ballet Flamenco La Rosa and PAN. Jihan’s dance company, the Jihan Jamal Egyptian Dance Theatre, has since remained one of the guest professional dance companies at PAN, and are invited to perform as part of the cultural arts performances community awareness programs, annually.  Jihan’s production, “Dances of the Awalim” has been presented annually at PAN since 1997.  She also taught from 1991 to 1994 at Tamalyn Dallal’s MidEast Dance Exchange in Miami Beach.

Jihan also presently teaches local workshops and master classes at the Middle East Performing Arts Studio (Miami Lakes, FL), and Dancer’s Dream, Inc. (Pembroke Pines, FL), and for the last two summers, at Zambra Studios and Centrum Spiral, both in Prague, Czech Republic. Jihan was guest teacher, this past October 22, 2003, at Florida International University’s credit dance program. (Miami, FL).

Jihan has been a featured dance master and teacher at the famous Middle Eastern Dance Festival, Rakkasah, both east and west locations, sponsored by Shukriya, in 1999 (CA) and 2001 (NJ).  She has taught master classes series at the annual Florida Dance Festival, sponsored by the Florida Dance Association, in 1994 (Tampa) and 1999 Miami. Jihan has appeared as special guest artist and teacher at Raks Al Dunya Festival, in Gainesville, Florida, sponsored by Global Dance Arts and Zarifa Sa'id. Her many performances, both solo and with her group JJEDT, are on “Jihan’s Gems”, a video produced by Zarifa Sa’id, compiling four year’s worth of performances at Raks Al Dunya.  Jihan has also been featured in many video productions, including Tamalyn Dallal’s  “Emerald Dreams”, sponsored by the MidEast Dance Exchange, (Miami Beach, FL), Festival on the Nile, by Beledi productions (Orlando, FL), Kahreen and Kira (Kismet Dancers of Miami) Productions, Bahia’s H.O.T. Seminars, (Austin, TX), Ruby Jazayre’s Productions (South Bend, IN), to name a few.

Jihan has also been sponsored to teach and do dance presentations as part of the educational curricula by The State of Florida's Department of State, Florida Arts Council Division of Cultural Affairs, Tallahassee and P.A.C.E. (Performing Arts for Community Education).

Jihan has a passion for the traditional and authentic regional music and dances of Egypt as well as its classical and contemporary dance forms. Her dance style is greatly influenced by internationally acclaimed master dancer and choreographer Dahlena (Chicago/LA.) and by Egyptian world-renowned master dancer and choreographer, Mahmoud Reda (whom she considers the Egyptian equivalent to George Ballanchine). Her dance training has also been greatly impacted by her other mentors, Raqia Hassan (Cairo), Mohammed "Momo" Kadous (Berlin/Cairo), the late American-Lebanese Middle Eastern dance enigma, Ibrahim "Bobby" Farrah (NYC), Yousry Sharif (NYC/Cairo), Morocco (NYC), the late Amir (Boston) and Evelyn "Azeeza" Hamsey (Montreal/Miami). Azeeza began teaching and coaching Jihan in 1980, and still remains Jihan's dance consultant and best critic. Jihan also consults and rehearses rhythmic patterns with Tunisian percussionist, Fathi Bilalgia, with whom she has performed with (dancer & drummer) since 1984. Jihan's ethnic dance expertise also includes line dances from Lebanon and Syria, AKA "Dabke", and women's dances from the Khaleej (Arabic Gulf) areas. Her formal dance education also includes the Northern African disciplines of Tunisian folk dance and Moroccan Sheikhat dance, Leila Haddad (Tunis/Paris). Jihan studied ballet, briefly, as a child and again in resent years, with Carlos Danaan (Miami), Jazz with Nancy Walker (Miami) and Antolino Alvarez (Miami/NYC) and classical Spanish dance with Carmen de Cordova (Madrid/Miami).   On occasion, she has sought out the talents of Mariano Parra (NYC/Miami) and Tony Catanzaro (Miami) for private coaching, prior to her performances.  Jihan is a committed teacher and dance master, and thus continues her dance training with Azeeza and other top professionals in her field.

Jihan has been a board member of the Arab-American Cultural Center, from 1984 to 1989 and remains a present member. She was granted a radio broadcast license and hosted "The Arabic Music Hour" from 1984 to 1985 on Miami's public broadcasting station WDNA 88.9 FM. Her TV appearances include WPBS Ch2 in a documentary on Middle Eastern Dance with Martha (Marelli) Albrecht (1981), Ch7 on "PM" (1981), WLRN Ch17 on the Iris Acher Show (1992), "Hola America" (Univision, Ch23, & it's sister stations nationwide and in South America). She has also appearances in local TV programs in Corpus Christi, Texas and San Francisco, California. She has appeared on WLRN Ch17 & Ch39 (cable tap), as supportive member and active teacher of Performing Arts Network (aired Dec. 27, 1998, Jan. 2, 1999, and more recent dates), during the series "PAN, Now".   Her most resent TV appearance has been in July 2003 on Miami’s cable tap show, “Journeys in World Dances”, sponsored by the Kismet Dancers of Miami.

Jihan Jamal is the owner and director of ADORA World Dance Productions in Miami, Florida and is the writer and editor of the Grapevine Dance and Music Newsletter, which is currently distributed only electronically.  For updated information on performances, class schedules and dance news, please visit her web site at http://www.jihanjamal.com/.