newspapers and magazines in France. Then I had many
interviews in national TV programs in France, and was
invited even to participate in debates. For the first time ever,
the Institute of the Arab World in Paris invited me to give a
lecture on Oriental dance. Thus, I understood that, in France,
in order to impose your culture, your art, you must convince
the people with your ideas. As the years passed by, I finally
became recognized for my work in Oriental dance, and
theaters opened their doors to my work as a choreographer
and a soloist.”
Leila recounts experiences of her many performances
in theaters all over the world and among them, the famous
Théatre du Rond Poind des Champs Elysées in Paris
that programmed a new piece of work: “Aquarelles” – a
90 minute piece with a solo performed with 9 Arabic
musicians. Over the years, Leila has produced 14 pieces
of choreography as a soloist and with her Leila Haddad
dance company.
Some years ago Leila was sponsored by the World
Music Institute in New York to tour some cities in the
United States – she performed in amazingly beautiful and
huge theaters around the country. Leila says, “They booked
her 90 minute solo performance called ‘In the Trail of the
Ghawazee’ with the famous ‘Musicians of the Nile.’ ” On
this dance tour in the USA, she performed, among many
others, in the Royce Hall Theater of UCLA (Los Angeles),
and the Skirball Theater (New York).
Every dancer and dance
instructor has a guiding light
that focuses their work. Tell
us about your mentors and
the focus of your dancing and
instruction.
Leila tells us the story of
her discovery about Oriental
Dance
instruction.
Leila
recounts, “When I started
teaching Oriental Dance in
Paris, I thought, being very
naive and genuine, that I was
the only one teaching that
Performing in Le Théatre Antique de
Nimes (South of France)
with the Musicians of the Nile
14
The Belly Dance Chronicles
October 2015
discipline in the world. I was not familiar with anything
in the world of Raqs Sharqi in America (which started
in America in the 1960s) as it was in the time before the
internet! I had an Italian student living in Amsterdam who
would come once a week to study with me, as there were
no Oriental dance classes in Holland. One day, she comes
to class very excited and tells me: “You know there is a very
famous American dancer who will be teaching Raqs Sharqi
in Stuttgart, Germany.” Leila said, “I have to go learn from
him because I had never heard of him. I was curious, my
God, an American man teaching Oriental dance. So I asked
for his name and she tells me: His name is “Bert Balladine”.
I quickly decided to go to Stuttgart to study with him for the
weekend. Well, to make a long story short, I went there and
I met the marvelous Bert Balladine and from that time on
we became very good friends. Bert told me about America
and the dance community there. Bert proposed that I go to
America and teach during the summer - that he will help
me meet with dancers there.”
Leila recalls, “I wrote to Morocco in New York City who
immediately accepted my query and invited me to teach in
her studio and stay with her. She was amazing!!! So I had
two wonderful mentors: Bert Balladine on the West Coast
and Morocco on the East Coast. I spent an entire summer,
teaching in many cities, with the invaluable help of Bert and
Morocco. While in New York, Morocco invited me to stay
with her in her house for as long as I needed. The same offer
from Bert when I was in San Francisco. And, it is thanks