Wendi Weng is a professional dance performance artist from China. She is the founder of China's "One Thousand and One Nights" Dance Art Center and is currently the Artistic Director of "1001 Experimental Theater". She won the "Asian International Music and Dance Art" Competition and was awarded champion of the Fujian Women's Talent and Emotional Reality Show. She is known for infusing her teaching with spirituality, She traveled to the Middle East, North Africa, and many countries in East Africa. She arrived in the United States in 2015 and immediately dove into the New York creative scene collaborating with many artists at Art exhibits, poetry associations, libraries, Schools, Museum, churches and more. She hopes to establish a bridge between Eastern and Western culture through her work.
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Bente has danced East West and North African/Middle Eastern dance since 1991 and traveled around Africa for more authenticity and a deeper knowledge of the cultures. Living part time in a village near Luxor since 2005, she has focused on Egyptian dance and culture with numerous trips to dance festivals in Cairo. In her Upper Egyptian home, surrounded and inspired by everyday village life, she enjoys dancing with local musicians. Bente has written articles for Danish dancers, translated websites and had the honour and pleasure of translating Farida Fahmy’s thesis and articles.
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Pauline Caux, Quebec, Canada, started her journey in Mid-Eastern and North African dance 24 years ago. Her love of the dance and the music gave her the desire to learn more and more about the dances and the cultures. To be in direct contact with some of those cultures, she has participated in festivals in Morocco, Tunisia, Andalusian Spain, Turkey, and Egypt. She is especially fond of the Egyptian culture and often travel to Egypt to immerse in «the vibe». There she had the chance to meet and spend time with Madame Farida Fahmy. She is very proud today to help share Farida’s memoirs.
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Gerd Mittag (aka Said el Amir) is an integral part of the teaching community; a creative innovator, choreographer and pioneer of pedagogical-didactic training in Middle Eastern Dance in Germany and worldwide since 1987. His creation Jomdance combines years of dance pedagogy with scientific findings from the fields of jazz, oriental and modern dance. He imparts the results for teachers - and those who would like to become teachers – for any kind of dance. A doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy II at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, he is currently writing a dissertation on pedagogy-supporting teaching methods for non-academic dance styles, such as Middle Eastern Dance.

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During high school I won an AFS scholarship for the exchange student Year program in New Zealand. I graduated in “Oriental languages and literature” (Arabic language) at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, Italy. I took a master in “Intercultural studies” at Padova University. I met Oriental dance in 1997 during my three months stay in Yemen, but only in 2000 I started to follow weekly lessons, and never stopped since then. In my teaching I always love to share the cultural and historical background that has formed and informed this dance. Learn, Evolve, Dance is my motto.
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Lamiah was not looking for dance, but dance found her. Her dance journey began in New York City and since then, she has studied and performed internationally. Dance has opened a world of travel, friendships and cultural learning, and she is driven by the desire to give back what the community has given her. To date, she has largely focused on American Cabaret, Oryantal, Raqs Sharqi styles, regional folk dances and Sufi whirling. Audiences note her elegant style and innate ability to emotionally connect to the music. Lamiah is of Japanese origin.
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Karina Chistova an expert on Egyptian folklore from Russia, a cross-cultural psychologist, and the author of Egyptian dance training utilizing dance-movement therapy methods. She has successfully owned online dance school bellydance-online.com for over 10 years and is also a designer of stage costumes. In addition, she is an avid collector of traditional clothing and jewellery from Arab countries.
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Aleksandra Kondić Serbia, owner of dance studio Amani. She is known for her love for oriental dance, especially folk styles, and her drive and desire to study it as much as possible with native dancers. So far she is studying Egyptian, Amazigh, Khaliji, Iraqi, Iranian, Afghan and Turkish folk styles.
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PLESNA DELAVNICA ZAHIR, led by charismatic Ksenija Visket is the largest studio in Maribor. Ksenija was a dancer of modern and contemporary dance at Stil, a famous dance group. She returned 18 years ago to Slovenia’s world of oriental dance and in  2008, opened the oriental oasis HIŠA ZAHIR. She hosts stars of oriental dance, including maestro Hossam Ramzy, Karim Nagi, Jillina with her BDE team and last but not least, legendary researcher and dancer Morocco (Aunt Rocky) her mentor and teacher. Ksenija regularly takes part in festivals, runs courses in her dance studio in Maribor and organizes dance workshops. Her philosophy is: "Life gives you just the right amount of everything you need, so be always grateful!"
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I am from Caracas, Venezuela. I started my training in dance at the age of 7 years old, with jazz, flamenco, Venezuelan folk dance, rumba, ballet, tap, etc. In 1996, I started my Bellydance training at Middle Eastern Dance Exchange in Miami, under the tutelage of internationally renowned Master teachers Tamalyn Dallal, Maria Jammal, Ansuya, Bozenka, Hannah, Jillian, to name a few. I have 28 years experience as a dance teacher and choreographer, also the privilege to bring my ART to 15 countries. Currently I live in Bangalore, India. I am also a full time Spanish lecturer and translator.
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Dear readers! Farida's book is the combined efforts of many people. There are many performers and admirers of oriental dance in Ukraine, hence sharing the history of the Reda Troupe in Ukrainian is interesting for a wide range of Ukrainian readers. Having more than fifteen years of amateur experience in oriental dance, I gladly took on the translation of the memoirs of the legendary Farida Fahmy. This story has opened up completely new facets of the work of the Reda Troupe and the lives of its founders for me. The wisdom that Farida Fahmy shares on the pages of this book has changed my attitude towards my passion—dancing. These memories are inspiring, and as the translator of this book, I invite you to plunge into the life story of a bright personality, a true Daughter of Egypt—Farida Fahmy.
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