The First International Belly Dance Congress – part 4: belly dance workshop with Raqia Hassan

The workshop I had been looking forward the most, was the workshop with legendary Egyptian teacher and belly dancer Raqia Hassan. Raqia Hassan has taught many belly dancers in her life, including some of the biggest belly dance stars, such as Randa Kamel, Dandash, Dina and Soraya. Raqia Hassan also organises the Ahlan wa Sahlan Fesitval in Cairo, Egypt, which is famous world wide.

I had heard so much about Raqia Hassan and I wanted to see by myself. Normally, in order to learn from Raqia Hassan, you would have to travel to Egypt, so the International Belly Dance Congress was a unique opportunity to learn from this great teacher, while staying in the UK.

Raqia Hassan’s teaching style was exactly as I expected. You can tell that Raqia owns belly dance; she knows everything, every step and move, from the inside and has a complete understanding of Egyptian dance. Raqia Hassan manages to communicate all this very well, and to explain all the moves and the spirit of belly dance with extreme clarity. I would love to go to Egypt and study with her for a while. Read more about Belly Dance events and about belly dancing with a stick.