Born in Colombia, South America, Horacio Cifuentes attended various dance academies in Spain, Poland and the United States. Among them, the prestigious American Balet Theatre School and the San Francisco Ballet School. Michael Smuin, director of the San Fransisco Ballet discovered Horacio and featured him in various key roles in the dance company, where he also worked with international choreographers such as Jiry Kylian, Robert North and Arthur Mitchell. Horacio was inspired by American bellydance pioneer Magana Baptiste to become an oriental dancer. Under her guidance he followed extensive studies into the mystical world of yoga, spiritual dance and belly dance. His story is full of fascinating anecdotes, humor, tragedy and brings with it a profound spiritual depth. Horacio Cifuentes resides in Berlin, Germany, where he co-directs a dance academy with his wife and dance partner, Beata Cifuentes.

The EDA Handbook for Middle Eastern Dance provides an introduction to the most significant aspects of Egyptian Raqs Sharki as taught at the EDA under academy dean DaVid of Scandinavia.

This book examines the globalization of belly dance and the distinct dancing communities that have evolved from it. The history of belly dance has taken place within the global flow of sojourners, immigrants, entrepreneurs, and tourists from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. In some cases, the dance is transferred to new communities within the gender normative structure of its original location in North Africa and the Middle East. Belly dance also has become part of popular culture’s Orientalist infused discourse. The consequence of this discourse has been a global revision of the solo dances of North Africa and the Middle East into new genres that are still part of the larger belly dance community but are distinct in form and meaning from the dance as practiced within communities in North Africa and the Middle East.

This book is an exploration into the history, aesthetics, social reality, regulation, and transformation of dance and dance music in Egypt. It covers Oriental dance, known as belly dance or danse du ventre, regional or group-specific dances and rituals, sha'bi (lower-class urban music and dance style), mulid (drawing on Sufi tradition and saints' day festivals) and mahraganat (youth-created, primarily electronic music with lively rhythms and biting lyrics). The chapters discuss genres and sub-genres and their evolution, the demeanor of dancers, trends old and new, and social and political criticism that use the imagery of dance or a dancer. Also considered are the globalization of Egyptian dance, the replication or fantasies of raqs sharqi outside of Egypt, as well as the dance as a hobby, competitive dance form, and focus of international dance festivals.