when did she start belly ing news did she have to
dancing and what was her share with NAFOURA Maga-
inspiration? zine’s readers?
Pleasant started dancing when she turned 32. She explained that she is currently working on
Prior to this she never had any formal dance a belly dance book. “The title is still to be de-
training. “Many people have commented that cided. Although, the book is almost completed!”
I am a natural dancer. I personally feel this.” She is shooting the cover when she gets back
Her teachers have been Zarah Zuhair and Zain to California. “It will be very art deco and 1920’s
Abdul Al-Malik. They have all been instrumen- influenced.” She has designed it herself! “This
tal in inspiring and developing her technical and book will have a lot of history. A lot of practical
artistic skills to become the performer that she information for belly dancers. It’s a guide that
is today. Princess Farhana has performed to a talks about everything from props to costumes
plethora of dance styles ranging from Classical and dance styles.”
Egyptian Belly Dance to Burlesque. Her cur-
rent style is very 1950’s influenced. “Probably But this isn’t her first book! She has also pub-
a lot to do with my recent stint in Stuck!” She lished ‘Showgirl Confidential’, a book about her
focuses a lot on theatrical performances but her life onstage, backstage and on the road. The
one true love is classical Egyptian Belly Dance. book talks about 20 years of her most scary and
intense experiences. She used the example of
When was the first time that
when she spent an evening at a police station
in Cairo!
she visited cairo?
Pleasant has also been a regular contributor
“I visited Cairo for the first time in 1991. I have to NAFOURA Magazine, published articles in-
many great stories to tell about my adventures clude: ‘Best Foot Forward’, published in July
there, but these are probably best kept for an- 2009, ‘Ahlan wa Sahlan Story’, published in Au-
other article!” gust 2009, and ‘Gilding the Lilly’, published in
September 2009.
what are Princess Farhana’s
For more information about Princess Farhana
future travel plans? visit
http://www.princessfarhana.com.
She has already been booked up for this year, © 2010 NAFOURA Magazine, all rights reserved,
since 2008! Her travel plans for 2010 are to visit copying is not permitted.
the UK to attend Gothla in Manchester and to
possibly teach workshops for Hips Inc. She is
also planning to visit Cairo to attend Ahlan wa
Sahlan.
it was getting quite late and
i was mindful that Pleas-
ant needed to catch an early
morning flight to Los Ange-
les, so i concluded the in-
terview by asking her a final
question. what other excit-
45
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