Who is alexandra?
The official launch of Alexandra's dance career in summer of 2006 has very humble yet deeply meaningful roots. Alexandra is a native of Brasov, Romania, and along with her family, has made a life for herself here in the United States as an immigrant. This colorful upbringing gives her a very interesting history of hard work, ambitions realized, independence, and most of all, an ethnic lens on understanding the world around her.
In a 2002 high school poem writing assignment, Alexandra wrote:
"Enjoying IT
That is, life . . . dancing to its beautiful vibe."
Little did she know, this excerpt from her poem actually foreshadowed her path to the dancing world and her experiences within it.
Alexandra's Story & Reflections:
Middle Eastern Dance is a truly beautiful and expressive dance form. I can say that this beautiful and ancient art form has always drawn my attention, but when Shakira came out with her hit “Suerte”, I felt a longing to learn those sensual, controlled, expressive movements of the body, most of all the hips. Sentiments should radiate from a great Middle Eastern Dance performer.
I embarked on the study of Middle Eastern Dance in sophomore year of high school when I had two brief private lessons from a very good teacher, Ruby Jazayre based out of South Bend/Mishawaka, IN. I quickly learned a choreographed dance and soon, with Jazayre’s invitation, began to rehearse with her group "Sisters of the Nile". This opportunity gave me the chance to immerse myself into the dance for the next year and a half.
Taking the foundations of what I had learned through the choreographies, by chance I started performing at Taverna Opa in Hollywood, FL in August of 2006. I quickly learned of the possibilities of the dance, and continued this grueling routine of flying to Florida on weekends and returning to Indiana, sometimes going straight to school from the airport. At that time I was a full time student at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.
This humble foundation of dancing at Greek restaurants (I also performed regularly at Mykonos in Boca Raton, FL) brought both sides of the world together for me: that of the entertainer, and that of the spectator.
Taking these life lessons and adding them to the belt, I relocated my dancing to Chicago in 2007, which was still a 4-hour commute for me, but here I had more flexibility. It was still a long trip (~250 miles) to and from Bloomington, but I wasn't going to let distance get into the way of performing or of the university. I began performing at many Arabic venues in Chicago, as well as Indiana, and other venues nationwide including: Koutoubia in Los Angeles, MusicBox Theater in Hollywood CA, The Prince in Washington D.C., and Azar's in Virginia.
In April 4 & 5 of 2008, I collaborated with Katya Faris in Bloomington in the Mosaic II concert featuring Mohamed Shahin. Here, along with Ashley Donaldson and Ana Lucia, we debutted Shahin's famous Saidi choreography in Indiana. We later performed the same dance in Indianapolis and Chicago. A success, we then brought Karim Nagi, famous musician & performer, for Mosaic III and workshops on August 30, 2008.
I truly have a passion for dance, and this is evident on any dance floor: salsa, merengue, cumbia, hip hop, hawaiian dance and even breakdance! Yes, I dabbled in this for a solid year! I have even won notable salsa competitions in Indianapolis with my dance partner Alviemar Chavez of Venezuela. Being a professional dancer with experience, I understand and am commended for uniting the dance with entertaining, which is not something that every dancer can do.