BIOGRAPHY
Colette has been passionate about dance from an early age, initially studying Tap,
Ballroom and Irish dance for a number of years.
After leaving Art School she entered into a successful career as a model and often
found herself being asked along to castings which required some dancing skills. This led
to a number of exciting opportunities, including being one of the dance troupe in the hit
British movie, 'Scandal' and performing on stage with 80's pop icon, Adam Ant.
Colette then went on to train for three years as an actress at the Academy of Live
and Recorded Arts in London. Once graduated she set up a theatre company, Venus Productions
with her husband, John, working as a producer and choreographer as well as a performer.
Colette was first introduced to the art of Middle Eastern Dance whilst watching a
dancer perform at Glastonbury Festival. She was amazed and inspired at the controlled movements
and the sensuous femininity that the dancer executed so seemingly easily and knew immediately
that this was something she was destined to explore.
Colette quickly found a class and began to study with Juliana Brustik and the School
of Raqs Sharki, founded by Egyptian teacher, Suraya Hilal. The training there was thorough
and Colette fell in love with the dance.
Growing in confidence as a dancer, she decided to try her hand at performing and managed
to get a job at a local Turkish restaurant. The experience was both terrifying and exhilarating!
This soon launched her career as a professional belly dancer and Colette's performance
persona, 'Amira' was born!
Her warmth and grace as a dancer soon earned her bookings in the West End of London,
where she went on to performed nightly at top London venues, such as; Levant, Maroush,
Ayoush, Pasha, Bagdad Cafe and Momo's, to name but a few.
She has also danced regularly at lavish Arabic weddings and prestigious private and
corporate events at Central London venues, such as; Meridian Piccadilly, Grosvenor House,
and Park Lane Hotel. This has lead to bookings abroad, in India, Sardinia and Dubai, where
her excellent reputation earned her invitations to dance for Arabic royalty.
In 2001, Colette began to share her knowledge and experience through teaching, with
the expressed aim of making Belly Dance available to all women in South London. She now
teaches classes for all level's and abilities. Colette has found that her background as
an actress allows her to offer her students something very special in the form of performance
technique along with a passion for helping students develop stage presence and personal
charisma.
She has found this to be extremely rewarding, watching women, young and old, from
all social backgrounds, growing in confidence as they become more graceful and learn to
express themselves through dance. She loves the feeling of family and sisterhood that naturally
develops within the class, seeing all her students having fun and getting into shape at
the same time!
Colette continues her own development and training with top Egyptian and American
master teachers and Choreographers .
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