About Al Wadi Dance Company
Al Wadi Dance Company is a raqs sharqi (belly dance) education and performance collaborative of Heather Louise and Ella Moore. We offer joyful, engaging, and culturally connected instruction grounded in Egyptian traditions.
“Wadi” means “valley” in Arabic; the company name pays tribute to our location in the Willamette Valley. Just like the Nile Valley in Egypt, the Willamette Valley’s fertile soils have heavily shaped its population’s way of life. An elegant earthiness defines both our surroundings in Portland, Oregon and the essence of raqs sharqi.
Meet Heather Louise
Heather is a raqs sharqi performer, teacher, and life long student of Middle Eastern music and dance based in Portland, Oregon. She has established herself as an elegant and polished performer for weddings, events, festival stages, and everything in between. She is known for her intuitive musicality, soulful movement quality, natural playfulness, and inviting charm.
Heather has been teaching for as long as she’s been performing. She has honed a keen eye for movement and has become a sought after teacher and workshop instructor. In addition to teaching in person through Al Wadi, she has recorded hundreds of hours of instruction on Datura Online, where she has been a featured instructor for over ten years.
Meet Ella Moore
Ella had the good fortune to stumble into a raqs sharqi class during college, and she’s been obsessed ever since. She continued her studies while completing her Bachelor of Arts in Music (Percussion) at the Florida State University. Since moving to Portland in 2017, she has carved out her niche as a raqaasa with an expressive musical style, a sense of humor, and a thumb on the pulse of modern raqs sharqi.
For Ella, the music of North Africa and the Levant is an eternal wellspring of inspiration, and musical understanding plays a large role in her performing and teaching. She’s a firm believer in growth mindset, and delights in not just teaching students what to learn, but HOW to learn it.
Want to see us perform?
Guest Instructor Emilie Lauren
Emilie Lauren is joining the Al Wadi teaching team this Fall for a special silk veil series. We are over the moon to dance with her!
Emilie Lauren draws on her ballet and gymnastics background to create her own elegant and athletic style of raqs sharqi. Known for graceful floorwork, thrilling sword-balancing, and the creative and deft integration of silk props into her performances, she is a sought-after performer and choreographer in the Portland, Oregon belly dance community. In addition to her solo work, Emilie currently dances with the award-winning Raqs Ayana Collective. She was also a founding member of the influential Znama Dance Company, and an original member of Ashley Lopez's Allegro Dance Company.
In addition to her dance training, Emilie is a certified full-studio Pilates & Balanced Body Barre instructor.
VISIT EMILIE’S INSTAGRAM