About Zaina Zahesha
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 Zehesha began her dance and musical training at the age of 8. Five years of ballet gave her the
foundation that she built her other dance forms on. Planning a career in modern dance, and training with
protégées of the famous Martha Graham, Zaina Zahesha went to a café one night and saw belly dance for
the first time. Before the first number was finished, she had changed her career plan and decided to focus
her studies on belly dance. In 1997, while continuing her belly dance career, Zaina Zahesha began
training in the East Indian classical dance form of Kahtak. After 7 years of intense training with teachers
Cliff and Betty Jones, she was invited to join a Kahtak dance company and performed with them over the
next 3 years. 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.
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 Zehesha began her dance and musical training at the age of 8. Five years of ballet gave her the
foundation that she built her other dance forms on. Planning a career in modern dance, and training with
protégées of the famous Martha Graham, Zaina Zahesha went to a café one night and saw belly dance for
the first time. Before the first number was finished, she had changed her career plan and decided to focus
her studies on belly dance. In 1997, while continuing her belly dance career, Zaina Zahesha began
training in the East Indian classical dance form of Kahtak. After 7 years of intense training with teachers
Cliff and Betty Jones, she was invited to join a Kahtak dance company and performed with them over the
next 3 years. 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.
