The Story So Far

The birth of Tabeeya Dance Company came out of events that happened in 2000. Christianne Brynolf-Trett, Liz Moan and Barbara York had been studying Raqs Sharqi with Anji Jackson-Main and performing with her Cambridge-based group Shamaal. Liz had decided to move on and I really missed dancing with her so I asked if she would partner me in my first choreographic venture that I wanted to perform at the MADN showcase. Luckily, she agreed and one thing led to another. We enjoyed working together and I knew we had the creative energy to do something much bigger. At that time Christianne was looking to organize an event to raise funds for the homeless in Newmarket. Once she knew that we were working together and doing our own choreographies she suggested we put on our own show. We had approximately 6 weeks to put it all together but Christianne has amazing organizational skills, so we did it and put on an evening performance that raised several hundred pounds. We had gathered together several of the dancers we had been dancing with over the previous couple of years. In addition to the 3 of us the original line-up was: Jean Elbourn, Jo Moan, Susie Johnstone and Roxanne Taylor. Over the next couple of years this group put on several shows and danced at a variety of events.

Several of the original members have moved on and our thanks go to them for their valuable input in the early days. We have been joined by a number of new members: Tamsin Elbourn (2002), Claire Morgan, Dorothy Wood (2003), Anita Epstein, Bridget Poulter (2004) and Kim Hall (2006).

Tabeeya is a performance group and being a member not only requires excellent dance technique but a love of, and dedication to, Egyptian dance and music.

Barbara York