Producer Biography

Nourhan Sharif Producer Biography

With over 4 decades of training and experience in Egyptian/ Lebanese Cabaret & Folkloric Dance, Nourhan Sharif is a leading American Artist of Middle Eastern dance and music~ Her skills are in demand around the world; She has taught and performed on nearly every continent!! Dedicated to the art of Raks Sharqi and to formulating her own expressive style – attributes exemplary of a fine educator and artist ! Ms. Sharif has carefully chosen a serious course of study in Egyptian, Lebanese, Greek, Turkish and Flamenco idioms with the most respected teachers including Yousry Sharif, Tayyar Akdeniz, Morwenna Assaf, Elena Lentini, Shadia Malouf, Mariano Parra, & Anahid Sofian!

She has also taken workshops with the following Egyptian Born Artists: Raqia Hassan, Mohamed El Hosseny, Denise Enan, Nervine, Faten Salama, Lubna, Freiz, Tito Seif, Mahmoud Reda, Sohair Zaki, Dina, Hassan Affifi, Aida Nour, Zaza Hassan, Ibrahim Akef, & Nadia Hamdi to name a few!

Lebanese Artists Ibrahim Farrah, & Hassan Harfouche. Nourhan has studied ballet, modern dance, & most recently Tango & Cuban Salsa! Nourhan has had years of improvisational performance experience throughout the United States in cabarets as house dancer; theatre stages as guest artist; and as a featured dancer in workshop galas throughout the world. Performance highlights include Towne Hall (NYC); Rakassah (CA); Brown University (RI); “ Shake and Bake Festival” (NM); The Nadia Hamdi Theatre Show (Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC); “Arts-in-the-Park” Weekend Festival (dancer/producer, Providence, RI); Mendicino Dance Camp (with Tayyar Akdeniz, CA); Rhode Island School of Design (RI); Festivals in Stockholm-Sweden, Helsinki-Finland, Copenhagen-Denmark, Melbourne-Australia, Sharif’s Annual Seminar Galas 1998- present (NYC). She has been the featured dancer with the renowned Aboudi Badawi Ensemble (Boston, MA) and has been engaged frequently to perform in concerts with singer George Chamoun (Zahlee, Lebanon). She was awarded “Cabaret Dancer of the Year” in 1998 and received the “Ethnic Dance Award” from New York’s Attitude Magazine in 1999. Nourhan’s dance style exemplifies great technique, focused energy, dynamic presence, and precise articulation. Within her more contemporary renditions, knowledge of the folklore and its various rhythms are always in evidence. Her years of immersion in Middle Eastern culture lend her dance an authentic depth that is immediately recognized by her enthusiastic audiences – including students, peers, and Middle Easterners.

Nourhan Sharif deftly combines Egyptian lyricism and Lebanese theatricality with personal expression that is all Nourhan!!

An acclaimed and experienced producer, Nourhan has sponsored numerous seminars/galas with master instructors in Boston, MA; Providence, RI; and New York City, which specifically include her creation of the annual Arts-in-the Park Festival, an ethnic and traditional waterfront dance festival in Providence, RI; La Danse Orientale Middle Eastern Dance Troupe (as Director) and The Annual Sharif Week-long Summer Festival Workshops & Gala Shows (as Administrative and Public Relations Director, from 1998 to the present) which hosts dancers from around the globe.

In addition to sponsoring and producing numerous concerts with renowned Middle Eastern artists on an international scale, Nourhan continues to produce highly-acclaimed, intelligently-conceived, and artistically-constructed DVDs & CDs suitable for professionals, students, and dance aficionados. A partial list includes original compositions by Aboudi Badawi and Tony Chamoun; Yousry Sharif’s & Nourhan Sharif’s music collections, produced in Egypt; and video/DVD productions of Yousry Sharif’s choreography & Nourhan’s instructional works. Nourhan’s video “Introduction to Belly Dance Technique” won the 2002 Giza Academy Award in the Instructional Category. Yousry Sharif’s “Fifth Annual Oriental Dance Gala,” a video co-produced by Nourhan, received The Giza Academy of Music and Dance Legends Award in 2004.

Nourhan's CDs were recorded and produced in Egypt with the exception of Nourhan Sharif Raks Sharqi Volume 1 which Aboudi Badawi of Tripoli, Lebanon composed for Nourhan as a personal gift here in the states! Her Cds are not carbon-copies or remakes: Yousry and Nourhan carefully selected composers and musicians to record original and new music from Egypt, whose production values they overseen and edited. The compilations are classic, contemporary works beyond compare to the majority of ordinary productions available on the current market. Recognizing the lack of great dance music, Yousry & Nourhan focused on this aspect of their multifaceted contributions, which frequently are accompanied with DVDs of their choreographies. Latest ventures for Nourhan include an instructional CD series on rhythm tools for the dancer with famed tabla-artist, Karim Nagy (volumes 3 & 4), Aboudi Badawi (Volume 2), & Ashraf Zakaria (Volume 1).