Al Wadi Dance Company

“Sawa” means “together” in Arabic, and we believe that dance and music are best experienced in community. These arts have always been intertwined and we hope to continue to foster this tradition. This will be an intimate weekend, limited to 30 dancers at the beautiful Studio Datura. Limited performance spots are available!

Join Heather, Ella, and our musical friends for a weekend of dance and live music immersed under one roof. Jim Grippo & Faisal Zedan join us from the Bay Area to root us in the melody and rhythms of Middle Eastern music. Together we’ll guide you through exercises, exploration, and discussion to feel the music move more freely through you.

🗓️ September 25-27
📍 Studio Datura in Portland, OR
💃🏻
🎶 .moltke
🔗 in profile to register!

Join Khadijah and Al Wadi Dance Company for a jalsat-style hafla: a Khaleeji party! Everyone is welcome, no dance experience required.

💃🏻 Social dancing
🌴 Music from the Khaleej (area surrounding Persian Gulf)
🍰 Refreshments
🪬 Henna by

🗓️ Saturday, May 9 | 7 - 9 PM
📍

Tickets at alwadi-dance.com

Learn Khaleeji with Khadijah May 8-10! Registration is open for individual workshops in Portland, OR.

FRI MAY 8: History and Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Learn about social norms, customs, and traditions in the KSA to put the dance into cultural context.

SAT MAY 9: Khaleeji 1.0. The improvisational, social dance of women for their own celebrations. Costuming, musicality, posture, history, and more!

SAT MAY 9: Khaleeji Social Dance Technique (Naqasi style). Modern and popular styles of music in the Gulf and how to interpret it in social settings. Fashion, make up, mannerisms, & emotions!

SAT MAY 9: Jalsat style hafla — a Khaleeji party! Enjoy social dancing, henna, light refreshments, and beautiful music.

SUN MAY 10: The Afro-Khaleej Dance Experience. The African foundations and influences in Khaleeji ways of life that have gone unrecognized or erased from Khaleeji culture.

SUN MAY 10: The Khaleej to Masriya, Masriya to the Khaleej. The influence of khaeeji music and dance on Egyptian raqs sharqi. How to properly approach Khaleeji music in an Egyptian song.

Lecture and workshops at the beautiful Stufio Datura. Hafla at Nomadic Vintage Rugs.

Register: alwadi-dance.com/workshops

📣 KHADIJAH PDX WORKSHOP SPOTLIGHT: The History & Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 🌴

In this lecture you will get to know the development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA); history of how Saudi Arabia was discovered; what the KSA is known for; and get to know social norms, customs and traditions that have shaped KSA to what it is today. This lecture will lay important groundwork for the dance workshops to follow.

Join us at .style on Friday, May 8!

Ever wonder what we get up to in class? Come see our students perform choreographies they’ve been working on this term! Along with solo performances by our instructors: Heather Louise, Ella Moore, Jason Ramirez, and Shaunti Fera.

Sunday, April 19th @ 3pm
Multnomah Arts Center
$10, kids under 18 are free

Tickets: alwadi-dance.com

We have so much good stuff coming up at Al Wadi Dance Company! You may have seen an invite. Student Showcase, Spring raqs sharqi (belly dance) classes, Khadijah's khaleeji immersive weekend in May.

We also want to remind folks who qualify to take advantage of our Heritage Dancer Scholarship. This 20% discount applies to everything we offer - shows, workshops, classes.

From our website:
Our passion, artistic practices, and life’s work are based on the cultural fruits of the people from Southwest Asia (AKA the Middle East) and North Africa. We are deeply grateful for the legacy of their traditions and their continued innovation. If you have the heritage and lived experience of a culture from the SWANA region, we invite you to make use of our Heritage Dancer Scholarship. Thank you for trusting us with your learning journey!

We hope to see you all somewhere! 🎶

Performing a piece inspired by belly dance legend Souheir Zaki: Ella Moore! ✨

Ella had the good fortune to stumble into a raqs sharqi class during college, and she’s been obsessed ever since. She continued her studies while completing her Bachelor of Arts in Music (Percussion) at the Florida State University. Since moving to Portland in 2017, she has carved out her niche as a raqaasa with an expressive musical style, a sense of humor, and a thumb on the pulse of modern raqs sharqi.

Get your tickets! alwadi-dance.com