Morwenna Assaf is the Dance Director for both Art/Dance Academy and CEDAR Productions. She has been a Middle Eastern (Belly Dancer) dancer, instructor and choreographer for almost 40 years. She studied in New York City with the late Ibrahim Farrah (her mentor and friend), the foremost proponent of the dance in the world. She continues to study to this day America’s top instructor of Egyptian dance. Plus she sponsors and studies the works of the Master Mr. Mahmoud Reda of Cairo, Egypt. She sponsors several seminars with known names per year. . Morwenna is a member of NDA, APPHERD, CAPHERD, CID-UNESCO and the National Association for Teacher Certification in Middle Eastern Dance - NATCMED. She has taken management courses and seminars with Rhee Gold of MA and the Dance Studios Mastermind Group with Sam Beckford in Vancouver, BC. Has taken numerous courses in colleges and various private groups.. But her forte and that of the dance company is the Eastern Arabic (The Levant) countries, namely, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Palestine.
She was inducted into the American Middle Eastern Hall of Fame in New York City in 1994 for her contributions, choreography and research in this art form. She was nominated Best Instructor 2001 by Zaghareet. She has written several books to further the studies of those interested in Middle Eastern Dance Studies. She has been on the staff of several dance magazines throughout the country. She has taught dance workshops for CAPHERD for the past 16 years in both Palm Springs and Riverside, CA. She has also taught for Amani in Lebanon in 2011with a request to return again. Every year or so, she does a teaching tour of New England. Plus Morwenna teaches in Mexico on a regular basis. She currently teaches her Elite Circle of dancers, regular students and is on the staff fro Mira Costa College. Research and writing are at the base of her learning curve at this time. She has completed several books for Middle Eastern Dance Training.
