Paula Palomares was born in Vitoria (Spain) on 12th November 1989. She started dancing Classical Ballet when she was 6 years old and did it for two years. Later on, she spent 7 years learning Basque Folklor Dance at the municipal school of Vitoria. In 2005, Paula discovered Oriental Dance, and immediately fell in love with it. Meanwhile, she also studied Indian Dance and Bollywood with the famous Indian actor and teacher Sunny Singh and Gisela. She started practicing Kung Fu – Wu Shu with Sifu Patxi Marta in Youchin’g martial arts school, Contemporary Dance with Edurne Martinez and Argentinian Tango. She still practises these last three arts.
Paula graduated in Advertisement and Public Relationships at the University of the Basque Country; but in 2010 she decided to devote her life to bellydance, so she started to combine being in college with her job as a bellydance teacher.
In 2005, Paula started her way on oriental dance with her first teacher Amira (from Vitoria). She was the one who transmited her the most important essence of this dance and its emotions. Since 2010, she has been attending International Festivals in different Spanish cities (such as Barcelona and Madrid) and other countries (like Egypt, United States, Hungary, France and Switzerland), in order to take classes with the best master teachers of oriental dance. These are the Festivals she has attended:
Moreover, Paula has worked as a bellydancer in some luxurious hotels in Egypt and Switzerland during the year 2013 and 2014, as well as a teacher in Budapest (in Mercedes Nieto’s well-known Nimfeum school), Portugal and Stocholm (master teacher in the festival organized by Alexandra Soto).
In January 2012 Paula organized her first and successful Bellydance Show called Wuahama in Vitoria: she invited different dancers, students and live musicians to perform in the stage. After that, she organized another show in May 2012 called Al-Qahira in Vitoria too: she invited more artists and organized some workshops with the excellent dancer Davinia Iñesta from Barcelona (now staying in Abu Dabi). Her third Show was called Alegria and was celebrated in January 2013. Finally, her last show Leyla Amar took place in Vitoria in June 2013. She is now working on her fifth Show, which will be first shown in March 2014.
These have been her oriental teachers: Mercedes Nieto, Mahmoud Reda, Dina, Raqia Hassan, Dr. Hassan Khalil, Randa Kamel, Mohamed Kazafy, Wael Manssur, Tito Seif, Nour, Farida Fahmy, Mo Geddawi, Amir Thaleb, Khaled Seif, Saida, Yamil Annum, Jillina, Zaza Hassan, Momo Kadous, Khaled Mahmoud, Mohamed Shahin, Yousry Sharif, Nour, Hatem Hamdy, Asmahan, Camelia of Cairo, Osama Emam, Mohamed Refaat, Carla Pedicone, Soraia Zaied, Nesma Al-Andalus, Munique Neith, Dariya Mitskevich, Aleksei Riaboshapka, Azad Kaan, Katalin Breban, Mustafa Siina, Yael Zarca, Rosadela, Salima, Effendi Dabke Tarshulat, Morgana, Leila del Cairo, Jade el Jabel, Lulu Sabongi, Narjess Montaser, Aziza from Canada, Elena Ramazanova, Faren Ben Azira, Davinia Iñesta, Guan Shengsong, Leila of Serbia, Yana Soklakova, Gitza Krotzsch, Jasmine Shoroq, Gemma Arnaiz, Samira Stella, Aisha, Elnaz of Sweeden, Maria of Sweeden, Nerea Al-Qamar and Gisela.
She has also taken intensive modules for Oriental Teacher Formation with the dancer and teacher Munique Neith in Barcelona.
She has promoted the oriental dance in her city by organizing different classes, workshops and shows. Teachers like Davinia Iñesta, Gemma Arnaiz and Jasmine Shoroq from Barcelona, Nerea Al-Qamar from Pamplona and Edurne Martinez from Vitoria have been her guest teachers. Paula has been also invited to perform in some national and arabian weddings in Spain.
She likes helping other people. That way, she organizes activities for charity. For example, in January 2015, Paula organized some workshops with “Sonrisas de Bombay” Organization, so she helped collecting money to build schools and hospitals in India.
Paula is part of the organization of ISIS Cultural Association here in Vitoria. She has been also one of the members of Arima Bellydance’s Group in Vitoria since 2008 (she is its main choreographer and director) and Bint El Amar Group in Barcelona since 2013 (with her mates Jasmine Shoroq and Gemma Arnaiz). These groups have performed in different Spanish cities. One of Arima’s most important performances took place in the famous and luxurious Carlton Hotel in Bilbao in front of the Egyptian Embassy.
Competiton Prizes:
In the summer of 2012, Paula travelled to Cairo for the first time to attend Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival, where she learned with some of the bests master teachers and competed with her first live band. Since then, she turns back to Cairo every summer to the Nile Group Festival, so that she can continue learning from Egyptian and international teachers, while she lives the real Egyptian people’s essence and life.
EXPERIENCE AS A BELLYDANCE TEACHER:
PAULA’S CLASSES:
Paula is a very energetic, positive and creative person, and she has a strong motivation to teach her students. In her classes, she achieves a happy and relaxed atmosphere. She is always encouraging her students to understand, appreciate and enjoy this art, so that they can become aware of having a healthy body position, work their attitude and coordination, and increase their self-steem in a very powerful and joyful way.
