Eleanor 
Founding director of Shimmy School
Eleanor started her belly dance journey at just 10 years old in an after-school club. She then went on to start teaching classes at age 16 and has been performing professionally since the age of 18.
She has gone on to play the lead in Sleeping Beauty the Belly Dance (2012), dance on ITV, BBC and Sky1, dance in music videos, work on board cruise ships for HAL and TUI, dance and corporate events, weddings, festivals and much more! Eleanor is very dedicated to her ongoing training having weekly private classes at Hype Dance in Ballet and travelling the globe to gain knowledge from the world’s best teachers. Eleanor has won the first Scholarship to train at Cairo Festival in Budapest with Mercedes Nieto, she also has been working in Cairo yearly for Randa Kamel at Raqs Of Course where she takes lessons from the leading teachers in Belly Dance as well as continuously taking fitness courses to better her teaching.
In previous years Eleanor has directed and choreographed 2 sell out productions in Sheffield. The first being the Aladdin the Belly Dance in 2019, then co-directed Beauty and the Beast in 2021. The motivation behind the productions being Eleanor’s desire to raise the profile of belly dance, to develop the community of dancers in Sheffield and to connect with different groups who would not otherwise have the chance to work together. In 2022, Eleanor took over as managing director of Taste of Cairo, the UK’s premier belly dance agency. As well as running her successful dance school, Shimmy School, she now manages over 30 professional dances across the country alongside performing as a professional belly dancer.She continues this work and passion by bringing Taste of Cairo Presents… to audiences across the country.
Natasha
Shimmy School’s Principal Choreographer
Natasha is a founding member, teacher and choreographer for Shimmy School alongside Eleanor. She has been dancing for over 12 years and has studied a wide variety of styles in the UK and internationally including whilst working in Cairo for Raqs of Course festival.
Julia
Shimmy School Instructor
Julia is an experienced teacher and performer at Shimmy Shows with 15 years of dance under her shimmy belt!
Dancing as part of Shimmy Shows, Julia performs in restaurants, weddings and other performances as both solo and as part of the troupe enabling her to connect with her audience through energetic and entertaining dance. Her love of Oriental dance has blossomed over the years and she continuously works on developing her dance style and technique through 1-2-1 private sessions, attending workshops and being inspired by other dancers across the globe. Julia teaches our Gentle Belly Dance class and Stretch and Relax.
Nat
Shimmy School Instructor and Admin Support
Nat began belly dancing for fitness in 2016, she had always loved dance and used to enjoy social Salsa and Ballroom dancing in Woodseats. She fell in love with Belly dance and since then she has joined the Shimmy School community dance troupe and began performing with them in 2018. Nat says “Being on the bigger side, I’ve never felt like I fit dance ideals. Belly dancing and Shimmy School have helped immensely in building my confidence, after all you need a belly to belly dance!”
Nat’s background is admin and project management, she uses this to support both Shimmy School and Taste of Cairo. Nat loves the confidence that Belly Dancing gives her and wants to help other people feel the same so began to teach in 2020. She began dancing with Taste of Cairo in 2023 in their stage show, Taste of Cairo Presents…
Sophie
Shimmy School Instructor
Sophie has been dancing since she was a young child, she is proficient in a range of styles including ballet, tap and modern jazz. Sophie has been belly dancing for around 3 years and joined the Shimmy School team in 2024. She is captivated by the rhythmic musicality of the art form.
Sophie pursues a diverse dance career through performing, teaching and the application of dance for mental and physical wellbeing.
Dee
Shimmy School Instructor
Dee started belly dancing in 2002, and took a break in 2017 to venture into Ballroom and Latin dancing. Dee came back to belly dance professionally in 2022 and joined Taste of Cairo, where she dances across South Yorkshire at restaurants, events and workshops and began teaching with Shimmy School in 2022. Dee primarily teaches our beginners courses and FUNdamentals classes.
She loves dancing with a veil and making people smile with dance. Dee loves dance, loves music and believes that life is definitely better than you’re dancing.
