About Esma:
Queen Esma is a New York treasure. Known throughout the belly dance community as a "Grande Dame" of Egyptian style Raqs Sharqi, she isn't timid about pushing the envelope and experimenting with non-traditional music on occasion,but she always returns to her beloved traditional Egyptian style music.

 

Esma's career has included performances that have ranged from dancing at three hotels in Las Vegas to dancing for the Ambassador to Morocco. For several years she has been and continues to be a featured performer on the stages and restaurants in Manhattan,Brooklyn,Queens,City Island in the Bronx,Long Island,New Jersey and Connecticut. She worked on a cruise ship down the Nile in Egypt. 

 

Esma is half Egyptian,half Russian but Her family settled in New York and she was born in New York City.

 

Esma is proud of the charity work she has done particularly with the elderly. She still has a show entitled "Esma and Friend's". This group performs at hospitals, nursing homes,assisted living facilities and at the Louis Armstrong Center for Breast Cancer. Esma presently teaches the staff,patients and a few outside students at the Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health at Mount Sinai Hospital. 

 

She was formerly a sought after model/actress in the 80's and you will have seen her image gracing the pages of numerous magazines and ad campaigns.

 

Esma has a passion for belly dance and also has a love for the photography world. Esma has owned and operated a top photography agency in Manhattan representing some of the finest worldwide talent. She has worked for many magazines such as Vogue,Harper's Bazaar,Cosmopolitan,Essence,Glamour to name a few. 

 

She holds a master's degree in Education and served as a teacher on various levels in her early life.

 

Esma believes that every dancer has their own unique magic. She is known for teaching a workshop entitled "The Wow Factor". It is about capturing your audience.She taught this workshop internationally and in many cities in the USA. She hopes to bring out the special magic inside of each student.