MiaNaja al Sephira is an award winning bellydancer who won 1st Runner up in the Jewel of the Nile and ZaBeth's Viva la Diva Bellydance competitions in 2008. She has now served as a judge for the 2009 Viva La Diva competition. She also has taught at the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive and Festival.
She has performed nationally and internationally and will be teaching at the Las Vegas Bellydance Intensive, September 2009. She teaches Egyptian Cabaret and Lebanese style dance as well as teaching and performing Double Veil, Sword, Cane, Tray, and other folkloric forms. She has studied Flamenco, Ballet, Modern (Humphrey-Weidman technique), African and Jazz. She has studied with many well known teachers, most recently with Ava Fleming, Aziza, Oreet and Azhia, as well as Suhaila Salimpour and Amaya of New Mexico, both of whom she is Level One Certified.
MiaNaja started performing at age 12 with the Columbia Dance Theatre directed by Anne Allen and co-directed by John Kinderman Taylor. She has performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the Merriwether Post Pavilion, Community College of Baltimore and at the Columbia City Fair with modern dance pioneer, the late Charles Weidman. She also has performed as an understudy of both roles created by Nell Carter and Armelia McQueen, in the production of Ain't Misbehavin at Petrucci's Dinner Theatre in Laurel, Maryland.
Other instructors MiaNaja has studied under locally include Artemis Mourat, Faten Salama, and Malika Negwa, Nadirah Nasreen and Lotus Niraja.
She has regularly performed at the Fells Point Fun Festival, and Amaya's Shake and Bake Dance Festival in NM. She also has performed live in Negril, Jamaica and at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. She also has performed and was the official Mistress of Ceremonies for Babylon Breeze Production events. Her restaurant appearances include: Taste of Morocco, The Casablanca, The Five Seasons, Colony South Decoy Lounge, Cafe Spice and Mosaic Cafe. She also conducts workshops and dance events in the MD/DC/VA area as well as programs at Nursing Homes, health fairs, Sorority and Fraternal events and educational programs at schools in Howard, Montgomery and Prince Georges County. She has been featured on WMAR-TV-2, Fox 45 and WJZ-13 as well as The Howard County Times, Columbia Flier, Columbia Magazine, and the Maryland State Bar Bulletin. She has been published in the WAMEDA newsletter and Zaghareet Magazine.
When she is not teaching dance or performing, MiaNaja works as an educator, fashion and image consultant and attorney in the Washington-Baltimore Metro area. She conducts Show Me the Money workshops with Amaya, providing legal advice on how to start a buisness. Many dancers and others have opened successful businesses based on her advice. MiaNaja has a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction and holds an Advanced Professional Certificate from the Maryland State Board of Education.
For bookings or classes please contact her at 410-964-1546 or email at MiaNaja@yahoo.com.
For telecommunication services, visit her ACN Independent Representative site.
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