A’isha Azar has studied the cultures and dances of the Middle East and North Africa since 1974. She has taught belly dance and folkloric styles since 1976. A’isha has studied with some of the most accomplished dancers and other natives of the Middle East, as well as many of the finest western artists. Over the course of her career, she has covered the spectrum of dance venues from fairs to nightclubs to dance festivals, to concerts and parties.
She was a member of Shajar Arush Dancers from 1974 to 1976. From 1976 until 1982 she danced with Oum Rabia Dance Troupe, dancing belly dance and folkloric styles. She was House Dancer at Azar’s Restaurant in Spokane for twelve years, from 1991 to 2003, and a frequent performer at various clubs in the Seattle area. She has taught and performed in various venues across the United States and in Canada. She founded Baharat Dance Company in 2004 and was artistic director until 2014. Currently she is one of their choreographers as well as the announcer for the company. She very occasionally performs folkloric dance or will dance briefly at a hafla (party).
A’isha has studied with a very large number of dancers, and native Middle Easterners/North Africans over the years. Several of them have stood out as strong, vital influences on her dancing. She has a host of Arab friends from different countries who have contributed very generously to her knowledge of culture and dance, giving her deeper insight into the dances of the Middle East.
A’isha gave her first class at the YWCA in Spokane, Washington, and has been teaching ever since. She has developed a methodology for teaching belly dance, based on 10 fundamentals, and moving through variations, layering and phrasing in order to teach movement concepts in a cohesive and comprehensive manner, to make it easy for students to understand. She teaches that dance is more than movement and must incorporate musicality, essence, and cultural spirit in order to BE the dance. Her system allows the student to learn more easily from any instructor that they might want to study with, because the fundamental movements remain the same no matter what they are called. Many of her students have gone on to dance professionally and some also teach. A’isha teaches workshops and classes offering instruction in Egyptian belly dance and folk dance from several regions of the Middle East and North Africa. She is known for her expertise in the dances of Egypt, the Arab Gulf and Saudi Arabia. A’isha introduced Raqs Nejdi Hadith into the United States with the knowledge and assistance of her friend Leila, who is a Saudi native. A’isha teaches several of the folk dances of Egypt along with other dances of North Africa, Lebanese and Palestinian Debke and also Turkish Roman dance.
A’isha retired from the performing stage in 2014 after a 40 year career. She continues to teach classes and workshops and has students come to her from all over the United States. Since she started teaching online in 2020, she has been pleased to have students from other parts of the world join her A’isha Azar Dance Project classes. She continues to travel to teach workshops and has classes online where students from abroad study with her.
She states, “A dancer’s job is to be the physical and spiritual manifestation of and visual compliment to the music. Music has many different layers, and so must the dancer in order to become the music. These layers consist only partly of what is happening physically. There must also be many levels of emotional and spiritual response. We manifest the abstract concepts in the music. There is a rhyme and reason to the dance, and it is best perceived by stepping outside the boundaries of western thinking in order to experience it most fully, on all levels.”
A’isha Azar Dance Project 