Professional Belly Dancer from Sheffield

Eleanor Gaywood

In 2022, Eleanor took over as managing director of Taste of Cairo, the UK’s premier belly dance agency. As well as running her successful dance school, Shimmy School, she now manages over 30 professional dances across the country alongside performing as a professional belly dancer.

Eleanor started her belly dance journey at just 10 years old in an after-school club. She then went on to start teaching classes at age 16 and has been performing professionally since the age of 18.

She has gone on to play the lead in Sleeping Beauty the Belly Dance (2012), dance on ITV, BBC and Sky1, dance in music videos, work on board cruise ships for HAL and TUI, dance and corporate events, weddings, festivals and much more! Eleanor is very dedicated to her ongoing training having weekly private classes at Hype Dance in Ballet and travelling the globe to gain knowledge from the world’s best teachers. Eleanor has won the first Scholarship to train at Cairo Festival in Budapest with Mercedes Nieto, she also has been working in Cairo yearly for Randa Kamel at Raqs Of Course where she takes lessons from the leading teachers in Belly Dance as well as continuously taking fitness courses to better her teaching.

In previous years Eleanor has directed and choreographed 2 sell out productions in Sheffield. The first being the Aladdin the Belly Dance in 2019, then co-directed Beauty and the Beast in 2021. The motivation behind the productions being Eleanor’s desire to raise the profile of belly dance, to develop the community of dancers in Sheffield and to connect with different groups who would not otherwise have the chance to work together. She continues this work and passion by bringing Taste of Cairo Presents… to audiences across the country.

Dina

Dina started belly dancing in 2002, and took a break in 2017. She decided to venture into Ballroom and Latin dancing, competing in competitions with her husband across the country. Dina came back to belly dance professionally in 2022 and joined Taste of Cairo, where she dances across South Yorkshire at restaurants, events and workshops.

She loves dancing with a veil and making people smile with the dance. Dina loves dance, loves music and believes that life is definitely better than you’re dancing.

Lizzie

Originally hailing from Cheshire, Lizzie found her passion for belly dance aged 18. On moving to Dubai at 24 to pursue a career in aviation she trained with many famous dancers in her spare time travelling to all corners of the globe to take classes.

In 2020 she trained to be an instructor with the Oriental Dance Academy in Dubai and turned her dream of going professional into a reality. On moving back to the UK with her family in tow in 2022 she joined Taste of Cairo.

Lizzie is a keen horse enthusiast in her spare time and loves a pub quiz!

Nat Thompson

Nat began belly dancing for fitness in 2016, she had always loved dance and used to enjoy social Salsa and Ballroom dancing as a teenager. She fell in love with Belly dance and began performing with a community troupe in 2018.

Nat’s background is admin and project management, she uses this to support Eleanor Gaywood with both Shimmy School and Taste of Cairo. She started teaching with Shimmy School in 2020 and began dancing with Taste of Cairo in 2023. Nat primarily dances and teaches at community events but has ventured onto the stage for this production.

Bo

Bo is the only male dancer in the North of the UK represented by Taste of Cairo. He is relatively new to belly dance, only taking up the art in late 2022. He has been dancing and competing in ballroom and Latin competitions since 2017, and took ballet as as child in Sweden.

Bo enjoys the folkloric dances and loves dancing with props. He particularly loves dancing with sticks and swords. Bo also loves the rhythms of Arabic drumming and can occasionally be found dancing on top of one!

Sophie

Sophie has been dancing since she was a young child, she is proficient in a range of styles including ballet, tap and modern jazz.

Sophie joined the Taste of Cairo team in 2023 and has been belly dancing for around two and a half years. She is captivated by the rhythmic musicality of the art form.

Sophie pursues a diverse dance career through performing, teaching and the application of dance for mental and physical wellbeing.

Anamaria

Anamaria is a dedicated professional dancer with a focus on Latin, Ballroom, and Belly dance styles.

Her journey into dance began at 10 years old, long before she joined the University of Derby, where she studied Dance BA and laid the foundation for her artistic expression.

She loves to glide across the dance floor, bringing together the finesse of Ballroom, the passion of Latin dance, and the allure of Belly dance.

Sophia

At the age of six, Sophia began taking dance lessons at a local dance studio. She instantly developed her enthusiasm for Disco while mastering it. which encouraged her to participate in as many dance-related extracurricular activities as possible after she entered high school and began her contemporary dance training, which she pursued through college and university.

At Salford University, Sophia was studying physical and dance theatre in 2009 when she came across the Manchester School of Samba. She then developed a genuine affinity for the genre, and fell in love with the rumble of the drums. She had no idea how much of an impact her father’s drumming career and preference for Latin music had. Sophia began dancing professionally with Samba Livre in 2013 as a principle dancer and has since received instruction from Passistas from Salgueiro Samba Enredo (Rio Samba School.)

Sophia began Belly dancing in 2020 and has been performing with Taste of Cairo since 2021.

Lucy

Ms Lucy Sparkle is a professional belly dance performer and teacher who trained with The Oriental Dance Academy of Dubai! She has a Bachelor of Arts and has studied various styles of dance such as Lyrical, Turkish Romani and Egyptian! Based in Lincolnshire, she spreads the love of belly dance in her classes online and in Stamford as well as workshops at Comic Cons and festivals all around the UK! She has a zest for life and wishes to spread the joy of belly dance! She invites you to ‘Sparkle with Lucy’!

Kleo

Kleo has been studying belly dance for around 15 years and dancing professionally for around 10 years.

She loves Egyptian music and cultural heritage, but most of all she loves laughing with an audience and making people smile.

As well as dancing and history, she’s also a sewing nerd, and makes all her costumes for gigs and shows, including some costumes for this show!

Megan Abel

One of the founders of Utopia Martial Arts in Sheffield, Megan has been training in martial arts for 18 years and has been teaching for 8 years. Megan has trained in karate, freestyle (weapons/flips), taekwondo and kickboxing and is a 15 times world champion. She has won several European and British Martial Art Titles.

Megan has recently started to branch out into belly dancing, having performed with Eleanor Gaywood on stage at previous events. She loves working with props, and unsurprisingly, loves dancing with swords.

Julia Bisby

Julia is an experienced teacher and performer with 15 years of dance under her shimmy belt!

Dancing as part of Taste of Cairo and Shimmy School, Julia performs in restaurants, weddings and other performances as both solo and as part of the troupe enabling her to connect with her audience through energetic and entertaining dance. Her love of Oriental dance has blossomed over the years and she continuously works on developing her dance style and technique through 1-2-1 private sessions, attending workshops and being inspired by other dancers across the globe.

Natasha Meldrum

Natasha is a founding member, teacher and choreographer for Shimmy School alongside Eleanor. She has been dancing for 12 years and has studied a wide variety of styles in the UK and internationally including whilst working in Cairo for Raqs of Course festival.

Virginia Samar

Virginia Samar is a professional belly dancer and teacher based in Manchester. She is originally from Madrid, Spain, where she started her belly dancer journey in 2013 learning at her hometown and making belly dance her passion soon after she discovered this dance.

By joining a five year belly dance training programme with Celina Belly dancer in Spain, and ballet lessons, Virginia developed her dance skills. She studied a wide variety of dance styles and improved her skills while also dancing in restaurants, corporate events and a variety of private parties – weddings, hen-do, birthday parties, etc. with Taste of Cairo belly dance agency.

Virginia loves dancing to live music, especially Baladi music. When using props she adores silk veils, fan veil and Isis wings… just about anything with silk!

Muna

Muna has been belly dancing for several years. She has a background in ballet and flamenco. She loves to entertain and especially enjoys engaging with people of all backgrounds and ages while sharing the joy of belly dance .

She is constantly looking for opportunities to train and enhance her technique and knowledge and she loves being part of our amazing Taste of Cairo team.

London based professional belly dancer from Canada

Victoria Nephthys

Victoria is an international belly dancer and award winning aerialist, travelling and performing around the UK, France and Canada. She has been dancing and performing across the globe for over 10 years.

As a movement artist, she spends most of her time between performing and coaching dancers of all backgrounds. Always looking to amaze her audience, she loves to use swords and fire in her shows. She has been dancing with Taste of Cairo since 2023.

Dancers of Taste of Cairo Presents…