Layla Taj
American-born belly dancer who promotes Egyptian culture
Layla Taj (Arabic: ليلى تاج) is an American belly dancer in the classical Egyptian raqs al-sharqi style. The focus of her repertoire is to communicate facets of Egyptian culture.
Early life and training
Taj descends from a long line of aristocratic Greek Athenians and Egyptiotes (Greek: Αιγυπτιώτες). Her mother was a beauty queen who won the national pageant sponsored by the Greek-American Progressive Association (GAPA).
Taj initially trained in ballet. She was introduced to Middle Eastern dance in childhood. Later, as she developed her professional career, Taj trained in belly dance in the United States and Germany, where she studied with Mahmoud Reda, Raqia Hassan and Mo Geddawi of the Reda Troup.
Career
Taj has been contracted as an in-house solo Egyptian belly dancer throughout the Middle East, including Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, where cultural and legal norms have been selective regarding who is eligible to perform. In Egypt, Taj has been contracted as the principal belly dancer at venues in Sharm El Sheikh and Cairo. Taj's audiences have included dignitaries such as politicians (including Egyptian Ambassador Youssef Zada) and Middle Eastern royalty.
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This entry incorporates text from “Layla Taj” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.