Hathor

We are a group of dancers who have been performing together since our 1999 debut at the Florence Park Environment Fair, where we performed two dances as Habibi and Nova.

It all started with dance classes run by Hania: when she decided to take a break, she kept our enthusiasm up by booking us in to dance at the above event, while she was on leave. The story of the group's summer of honing our then non-existent performing skills was published in MOSAIC, the newsletter of Mosaic Arabic Dance Network , in Spring 2000, under the title of "Bellies, Wiggles and Veils".

Since then we've performed in various locations, once under the name of Isis, before finally settling on the name chosen by Hania: Hathor, ancient Egyptian goddess of music and dance. We're now a self-managing group, sharing what we learn individually at classes and workshops, writing choreographies together, designing our costumes and consuming prodigious amounts of curry and biscuits (though not usually at the same sitting).

Having arranged our first workshop back in 1999, we aim to continue to bring more top teachers to Oxford in the future. Being a not-for-profit group, any money made from events or performances is ploughed back into the group for rehearsal venue hire, events and other troupe expenses.

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking. - Agnes de Mille