About Josefina

Josefina is a professional belly dancer and certified Oriental Dance teacher who has been established for some ten years in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney teaching both classical and folkloric styles of Egyptian belly dancing. She is of Lebanese heritage who was born and bred in Australia. She has taken many trips abroad to both Egypt and Lebanon whereby she has undertaken numerous workshops with World famous dancers and teachers alike. To name just a few: Dina, Lucy, Souheir Zaki, Raquia Hassan, Mahmoud Reda, Ibrahim Akef, Yousry Sherif, Dr Mo Geddawi, Farida Fahmy, Aida Noor, Randa Kamel and Lebanese Amani. Within Australia, Josefina has primarily studied under Amera Eid, Jrisi Jusakos and Terezka Drnzik. Yasmina and Caroline Evanoff have also influenced her dance style.
   
Josefina also teaches tribal fusion belly dance which is another style of dance currently sweeping the world. It involves dance genres from the Middle East, India, Africa and Spain. Gypsy dance also influences this dance style.
    
Props are not foreign to Josefina. She has extensive knowledge of cane, sword, shamadan, zills, wings, veil/double veil and the malaya. Students are taught choreographies to enable them to easily adapt these props into their dance repertoire. Josefina also promotes improvisation and encourages that important skill in her classes. She also teaches structured choreography for those students who find it difficult to "dance in the moment". Students are given opportunities to perform at local festivals and events.
    
Josefina conducts day and evening classes which cater to adults, teens, mums and bubs/tiny tots. Women of all shapes and sizes are welcome. Beginners, Beyond Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced classes are offered. She also conducts workshops for interested parties. Click here to take you to the enquiry form.  Her classes are focused on correct technique but essentially in a FUN and nurturing environment. "You don't have to have a svelte body shape to belly dance", is Josefina's motto, as she believes you will learn to love your body if you don’t already! 
    
Belly dance improves muscle tone and fitness and is a great opportunity for people to meet others and strike up some life-long friendships. Throughout the year many social nights are organised for students, their family and friends. Belly dance is definitely a stress release and more importantly, it's a dance of the mind and spirit! The dance promotes self esteem and empowerment. Unlock the secrets of belly dance and discover the Goddess within!  Enrol now and discover the mysticism of belly dance. You won't look back!
    
To date, Josefina’s most accomplished and successful event was “East Meets West” Dance Extravaganza in 2002, a charity event which raised $37,000 profit in aid of the Sydney National Cancer Centre. Avalon Lions Club assisted with the event also. In particular this event was close to Josefina’s heart since she lost her mother to cancer in 1996. Everyone who worked on this event did so in a voluntary capacity and Josefina will eternally be grateful to all those performers and people behind the scenes who made this event possible. People who should be mentioned in particular are Sheree da Costa, David Atkins, Paula Duncan and Nicole Gazal and last but not least, our web designer, Simon Frost. "Thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my heart."