About Yousry Sharif

In 1980, a young dancer came to New York City to perform as a selected
member of Nagwa Fouad's touring show. Spotted by the keen eye of Ibrahim Farrah, he was invited to remain, to teach and dance in a community that was hungry for Egyptian dance and for those with intimate knowledge of its indigenous flavors. The young artist did stay, and New York – indeed the “bellydance” world – has never been the same. 

The “boy on the bridge,” whose incredible talent brought him from Egyptian home to a place unimaginable and a status unplanned, has become an internationally celebrated choreographer and instructor of Oriental Dance.  Combining great technique, practiced skill, knowledge, and experience with genuine feeling, an exquisite musical ear, and fearless invention, Yousry Sharif embodies Oriental Dance's continued evolution and renaissance.

Yousry credits Egypt's celebrated Hassan Afifi as his teacher and primary master of the taktib.  He performed for many years with Afifi at the Mena House and with fellow renowned artists Mohammed Kahlil, and Warda, among others – before coming to the U.S. From a young age, he also appeared in numerous Egyptian television shows and films. An experienced and respected teacher and riveting entertainer in his homeland, Yousry became a dancer in Ibrahim Farrah's Near East Dance Troupe and a guest instructor in Mr. Farrah's school, widely respected for its serious attention to the art of dance and perfection of execution.

The Near East Dance Troupe performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Towne Hall, Merkin Concert Hall (NYC) and Warner Theatre (Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.). Yousry perfectly fit the bill for America's thirst for a serious and committed Egyptian dance artist. Mr. Sharif's stage presence is legendary: Just standing there, the energy he exudes is electric, transforming, and real.   
 

In  the 1980s, Yousry established a school – that over the years has  the most popular and respected Middle Eastern dance institution in New  – and The Yousry Sharif Dance Ensemble, one of the only American-based
groups assembled to bring Egyptian folklore to the stage. The group performed
at universities, art institutions, and theatres including The Brooklyn Museum, Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Detroit Institute of
the Arts, and American Academy of Middle  Eastern Dance Hall of Fame, and with
such famed artists as Lebanese singer, Sabah and Simone Shaheen. 

 
With his ensemble, Yousry began to hone his own creative sensibilities and
broaden his scope from traditional renditions to the original choreographies for
which he is now distinguished. The Egyptian Academy of Oriental Dance (created with Nourhan Sharif, his wife and partner), is based in Yousry's unique style and expert articulations.

As adventurous as Yousry's choreographic ingenuity is, it remains grounded in tradition.   He is the bridge between the traditional and the new. He employs movement and music from folklore, traditional oriental cabaret, to contemporary renditions and often, seamlessly, infuses flamenco, jazz, ballet, and modern movements into his work.  He is one of the few contemporary artists who has the gift to artfully and organically combine or individually address these variant idioms
– and remain true to himself and to his roots.

What best demonstrates good teaching is to witness what artists have emerged
from that teacher, and Yousry has amassed an international roster of fine,  protégés. Over the years, his popularity has grown to such an
extent that he tours the globe eight months of the year (much to the distress of  Yorkers!) to headline seminars as guest artist/instructor. An innovative
and incredibly musical artist, Yousry is admired and enjoyed by diverse  from Middle Easterners who seek entertainment exemplary of their
homelands, to purists who wish to preserve traditions, to dancers who yearn for
the contemporary. His work is continually applauded by Western and Eastern
media including The New York Times  (Jennifer Dunning); Dance and the  Arts,
Habibi Magazine, Arabesque, and international  publications, too numerous to
mention. Mr. Sharif has developed a body of work which exemplifies that unique  of knowledge and originality. He has a distinctive "voice" – an
aesthetic vision generated from musical inspiration – which demarcates his
compositions with vitality and authenticity. 
 

Mr. Sharif has an  uncanny ability to unearth exceptional new music from the
Middle East from which  he constructs his incomparable dance designs. With
Nourhan Sharif, he has  produced unequaled, classically-oriented CDs and
performance DVDs of his  choreographies which are an invaluable asset to students,
professionals, and the  sophisticated audience.  Continually evolving, as a great
artist will, Mr.  Sharif is currently pioneering new music productions on an
annual basis in  Egypt, specifically for dancers. His productions include the
acclaimed Wash Ya Wash and Nourhan Sharif series, with additional  new
releases continually in the works, all with the dancer in mind and the  awareness
that, today, good music – for the dancing artist – is hard to find!   
Since that  singular visit to America in 1980, Yousry Sharif not only has
vastly contributed  to the world of bellydance in metropolitan New York, but also
– as a fine artist  cannot help to do– has irreversibly  altered the breadth
and future of Oriental Dance throughout America and the  world, through new
creations in dance and music. Yousry Sharif continues to put  his extraordinary
signature on contemporary Oriental Dance by keeping true to  its history and
advocating for new  breadth in expressions.