Biography

Maïssane is a professional bellydance artist based in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada. She bellydances at special events in the Vancouver area.

Maïssane is originally from Quebec, Canada and fell in love with Middle Eastern dance  after her first class six years ago. Since then, while pursuing a teaching career, she has been dedicating her free time to the study of bellydance. Her understanding of music, rythmes and movement is enriched by her extended study of classical piano, and by her figure skating and martial arts trainings. Her dance style is sensual, graceful and elegant.

Maïssane dedicated herself to figure skating from an early age and later became a professional figure skating trainer. Attracted to the aesthetics and precision of martial arts and looking for another art form to master, she later dedicated herself to taekwondo, then to kick boxing, which she continues to practice on a regular basis. She earned a black belt in both.

Looking for a new challenge, and having developed a fascination for this exotic dance form through her experience in the Middle East, Maïssane dared trying what she had always dreamed of; dancing!  This new passion grew to compete with her lifetime love for adventure and discovery. She started to travel to dance!

She started taking private bellydancing classes throughout her travels, whenever  possible. She recently studied with Aziza and traveled to California to train with Sandra and attended Souhaila Salimpour School of Bellydance. To continue to improve her art, Maïssane also regularly attends ballet classes. She is planning to attend Amir Thaleb Arabian Dance School in Buenos Aires, Argentina next year.

Throughout her dancing career, Maïssane learned and was inspired by wonderful masters such as Aziza, Tamalyn Dalal, Sonia, Sandra, Helena Vlahos, Nesrine, Sarita, Rhama and many other wondeful dancers and teachers.

Maïssane holds a degree in Education and is currently completing a Master's degree in Modern Languages at UBC. She continues to travel; she has visited over 30 countries and is still counting! She is currently learning Arabic, her fifth language and greatest challenge so far! She is passionate about travel and fashion photography and is hoping to master this other art form in a near future.

 

"Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn."  ~Sweetpea Tyler