Meleah has been a professional make-up artist, performer and instructor for over 20 years. She works on location, doing make up for photo shoots, video, weddings, and post surgery clients. She has her own line of cosmetics formulated for the dancer and teaches classes for dancers and professional men and women. She also enjoys doing individual consultations, where she can design make-up for each person's special needs.
She has produced an instructional video "Face It, Stage Make-Up for Belly Dancers".

Class Description
Face It: A Make-Up Workshop With Meleah
Learn the tricks and techniques of a professional make-up artist. This “hands on” workshop will teach the proper application methods for stage make-up. Learn how to make eyes “pop”, luscious lips, and create a dramatic presence. Learn how to make make-up last for hours. We will also cover how to prepare the skin for the best possible results with proper skin care. We will discuss skin type, bone structure and placement.
Bring with you a mirror, tissues, your make up, your questions and problems.

Dance

Meleah has been performing and teaching dance for over 15 years. She has appeared on TV and in a variety of night clubs. She holds regular classes and teaches internationally. Her classes are based on proper dance technique with a strong emphasis on fun. Meleah believes that the best way to learn is through humor and a precise breakdown of steps. Her classes are lighthearted, encouraging, and everyone gets attention. She likes to interact personally with her students to assure the proper interpretation. Whether it be Oriental dance, Makeup, or Afro-Belly, Meleah's classes are exciting, fun, and informative.

To learn more about Meleah, visit www.meleah.com.

I have been dancing oriental dance since 1991 and immediately fell in love with it. It felt so right and gave me a good feeling. I have no idea what I was taught during the first year, I only remember that it felt good.

Four years later I was asked to give lessons and I very reluctantly agreed. I had never thought of myself as a teacher of anything. However, the more I taught the more I learned about teaching and the more I liked it. Gradually it became a full time job that I now enjoy very much. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to make a career out of a hobby.

I have been studying with the best teachers that oriental dance has to offer, and among my favourites are Mahmoud Reda, Yousry Sharif, Raqia Hassan and Beata and Horacio Cifuentes.
Having had many different teachers has given me a wide perspective of different oriental dance styles and techniques. It has also given me a good understanding of the necessity of a good basis. Variety gives the opportunity to learn more and find your own character as a dancer.

I have been to Egypt eight times now and shall return there later this year. When dancing and teaching an ethnic dance it is essential to know and understand the culture it comes from. You have to be a constant student and educate yourself more and more about the dance and its origins. Apart from Egypt, I have studied dance in France and Tunisia - and of course Finland. In Paris I studied mainly with Leila Haddad, who introduced me to North African folkloric dances. Among those Tunisian dance, proud, energetic and powerful, is my favourite.

An Oriental Dance Teacher

I teach oriental dance technique and choreography for all levels. In my repertoire are Egyptian folkloric dances from Nubia and Alexandria as well as saidi, ghawazy, Fellahin and Haggala. I also teach Khaleegy and North African dances. As props in my choreographies I use stick, zills (my current favourite!), melaya and veil. I have regular classes in the Helsinki area and teach workshops in other cities of Finland as well as abroad. I teach in English, Swedish and French. I'm working on my German as we speak!

A Solo Performer

When I first started dancing I had no intention of ever performing but we all know how that goes… I have now performed quite a bit both nationally and internationally on various stages. In Finland most oriental dance festivals have invited me to perform and I have also performed in Egypt, Germany, France, Sweden, Cyprus and China. Some of the most exciting performances for me have been in a Chinese village an hour away from Peking where people came walking a long way to the local school yard carrying their own chairs, or a beautiful open air amphitheatre in Cyprus, Hotel Mena House in Cairo, private parties in Paris and the Finnish television.

A Group Dancer

I have been a member of Masrah Association and its dance group Masrah Dance Company for over ten years now. We have mounted on stage several full-length dance soirées which are stories told through the language of oriental dance. The latest work of Masrah Dance Company - the Hafla Masreya - was a co-production with Mahmoud Reda and gave me the wonderful opportunity to dance and perform together with the male dancers of Mahmoud Reda Troupe. That performance was accompanied by wonderful Egyptian musicians of El Nugum Orchestra, who are known for their work with such dancers as Yasmina and Leila in Cairo. It was all in all a great experience.

An Innovative Choreographer

Apart from being a dancer and a dance teacher I am also a choreographer. I choreograph for myself as well as for my students and also make group arrangements of the choreographies. As much as I love dancing great works of other teachers, dancing something that you have created yourself is even more challenging and satisfying and allows you to bring out your very own character.

Producer and Publicist

As with most other dancers, my the extra-curricular activities tend to be dance-related. In the year 2000 I was a co-producer of the first Yalla! International Oriental Dance Festival in Helsinki and also acted as its publicist. I have continued to do public relations work for the festivals of 2002 and 2004 and it is nice to see that gradually the media awareness of oriental dance is getting more serious and real.

I feel alive when I dance. I love it.