During her time in the Middle East, Tamra-henna worked full-time as a soloist performing with her orchestra in many of the most prestigious nightclubs in Egypt, including those located in many of Cairo's preeminent 5-star hotels, such as the Cairo Meridien, Cairo Sheraton, Cairo Marriott, and the Mena House Oberoi. Most notably she appeared at the Belvedere nightclub in the Nile Hilton as the featured dancer under an extended contract, an honor never before bestowed on a foreign dancer.
In pursuit of diverse cultural experiences, Tamra-henna accepted contracts throughout the Arab world and has performed, traveled and lived in Lebanon, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, and Cyprus. While in the Middle East, she studied musical interpretation, the Arabic language, and further developed as a dancer and artist through intensive training with several of Egypt's legendary dancers and teachers, including Nadia Hamdi, Raqia Hassan, Mona El Said, and Ibrahim Akef.
Since her return to California, Tamra-henna continues to be a highly sought after performer and teacher world-wide. She toured internationally as a featured soloist and workshop instructor with the world famous "Bellydance Superstars," and has recently taught workshops in Japan, Canada, England, South Korea, Mexico, France and throughout the United States. Her global audience can see her in numerous IAMED and Hollywood Music Center belly dance performance DVDs as a featured soloist. Her latest release is "Arabic Rhythms and Combinations," instructional dance DVD on the IAMED label.
Tamra-henna earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance Choreography (within the genre of raqs sharqi) at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has taught accredited classes in Middle Eastern dance technique and culture at UCLA, California State University, Pomona and, currently, in the dance department at Glendale College. Her ever popular weekly classes have been frequented by several of the superstars of bellydance, and her roster of students includes"Bellydance Superstars," Sonia, Aubre, Lorinda and Georgianne. Tamra-henna continues to broaden her kinesthetic knowledge, hone her teaching skills and expand her artistic expression, and is currently working towards certifications in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, and Gyrokinesis.
