I have been performing more than 25 years and I still am a student.  I keep perfecting my art by working with the very best instructors from the Middle East every year.  That way I can always pass along not just the latest move to my students, but deeper dance expressions.  -- Betsey Flood, a.k.a. Helwa

After taking several modern dance and acting classes in her first three years at Bryn Mawr College, Helwa’s fascination with belly dance began in a class at the college library taught by Habiba, who at that time was the Bryn Mawr College serials librarian—and who spent her summers studying with the Tunisian Folkloric Ballet. Habiba was also a student of Ibrahim (Bobby) Farrah of New York and conveyed his passion for the dance to her Bryn Mawr students, as well as the basics in movement. Decades later, Helwa was thrilled to collaborate with Habiba in a new way, editing an article Habiba wrote for Habibi Magazine.

Inspired by this first class, Helwa continued her dance studies at local park and recreation programs while in graduate school at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill where she earned an M.A. in Greek and Roman Archaeology, and later at Wake Forest University where she was granted an M.B.A. Inspired to learn even more, she also began to take workshops with Farrah, Suhaila Salimpour, Dahlal, Morocco  and Ozel Turkbas among other stars, as they traveled around the country in workshop tours.

In the 1980’s, she took Farrah’s week-long teachers’ workshops in New York and became totally captivated both by Farrah’s passionate choreographies and the depth of talent of her classmates at these week-longs that drew some of the best dancers from all over the U.S. (Jehan, Andrea Deagon, Leila Gamal, Ruby Jazayre, and many others).

Helwa’s first experiences dancing to live music at shows of these many workshops included the Sultans and Eddie Kochak

During this time, Helwa also began performing at parties and local restaurants and clubs—any venue that could possibly help her develop her performance skills further. While performing at the sumptuous Casablanca Restaurant in Chapel Hill, Helwa worked along with Noalle, a Moroccan dancer, who gave Helwa a first glimpse of a performer from the Middle East.  The impressions of Noalle that have stayed with her to this day were “powerful,” “emotional” and “nailing the musical transitions.”  Other inspirational associations included friendship and collaboration with Shakira the dancer and Orientale Expressions. Helwa arranged for solo performances by herself, Deagon and the Orientale Expressions troupe at the opening of the Ramsses the Great Exhibit at the Charlotte Museum in 1988.

Helwa began teaching classes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the 1980’s and soon realized that her students would be the catalyst to literally keep her on her toes as a dancer for the rest of her life

Soon after moving West, Helwa became a featured dancer at Cleopatra Restaurant in the Sunset District of San Francisco and later at Marrakech Restaurant on O’Farrell Street in San Francisco.  She also performed regularly at Chatanoga Persian Restaurant in Santa Clara, California.

In the 1990’s, Helwa began researching dance topics and writing for Habibi Magazine, formerly a flagship publication for Middle Eastern dance that was edited and published by el Safy.  She interviewed and profiled Semasem of Cairo and reviewed the play “Dancing in a Whirlwind,” written and performed locally—as well as San Francisco Bay Area dance shows and festivals

Later, el Safy entrusted Helwa to interview and profile dance pioneer Jamila Salimpour for Habibi Magazine (Vol. 20 #1) cover story, “A Dancer for All Seasons,” and to write “Time Traveler,” an account of dancer/archaeologist Phaedra (Phyllis Saretta’s) experiences in Iraq in Habibi Vol. 19, #4) . By this time, she was collaborating with Shareen el Safy as an editor of the magazine and also edited several parts of Habibi Magazine after Jennifer James Long succeeded Shareen el Safy as owner/publisher of the magazine. As such she ghost-wrote dozens of articles for the issues published between 2003 and 2006; edited feature articles submitted by well-known members of the dance community and managed the event reviews, news and media sections of the magazine.

A highlight of Helwa’s dance career was to be chosen as one of six local dancers to perform with the legendary Egyptian star Nagwa Fouad on stage at the Second Academic Symposium on Middle Eastern Dance in Orange County California in May 2001.   (To see photos from the event, click on this hyperlink). The performance can be seen in Volume 3 of The Second International Conference on Middle Eastern Dance, a video series produced by Turquoise International.

Another highlight has been to occasionally perform live, accompanied by noted Bay Area Arabic musicians such as The Georges Lammam Ensemble.

Helwa has continued her dance career as a teacher in the Park and Recreation programs of the cities of Burlingame and San Mateo, California.  She and her students produce an annual show every Spring and student nights at local restaurants.  She continues to take local classes and private coaching from legendary master teacher Amina Goodyear and workshops with el Safy, Astryd Farah deMichele, Tito Seif and Mohamed el Hosseny and other experts in Egyptian style who travel to the Bay Area—and to travel in the Middle East whenever possible. She writes occasionally for GildedSerpent.com.

Helwa’s aspiration:

For my students to rise up and become better than I ever was.  They are the ones who will preserve and treasure this art form when I am long gone. They are the future of the dance.

Copyright(c) 2010 Helwa. All rights reserved.