Press Release 

FilCan is Second Runner Up in Star Bellydancer Canada Competition Fusion Category

By Mogi Mogado
Ontario-Canada
March 14, 2014




A FilCan dancer's foray into the sultry world of bellydancing has earned her one of the contest's top honors in Canada.


Filipino Canadian born Ishra Shirley Blanco won the 2nd Runner Up title in the Fusion Category at the Star Bellydancer Canada Competitions held in Toronto on February 9, 2014. 

On hand to vie for the honors were the best bellydancers from across the country. The judges, coming from Egypt, Cambodia, Palestine and Canada were equally distinguished professionally, in addition to being conversant and knowledgeable of the bellydancing culture.

According to Ishra, in the last few years bellydancing has enjoyed a gradual surge into a popular distraction in Canada and globally, as top entertainment for its fans, and as a passionate obsession for its practitioners. Like the Hula dance that has captive following, bellydancing commands a widening audience, those from the Middle East where it originated, and many more new adherents that have come to love its body language.

"It is an Arabic folk dance, driven by torso gyrations, shakes and articulations, that evolved into performance art, and now also as a great fitness workout, to simply get in shape in both body and spirit," she said.

The competition had 3 categories: Folkloric, Cabaret and Fusion Bellydance. The Fusion category where Ishra won is the most innovative of all the sections. It allows bellydance to be fused with other dance forms. 

In Ishra's winning repertoire, she fused the articulations of bellydance with the jumps and spins of Ballet and the fiery footwork of Flamenco, "to create an incredibly dynamic piece that was sure to wow the audience," she added. 

Schooled in the Arts (Theatre and Acting at York University) she was drawn to the beauty of Bellydance and has never looked back since. In pursuit of well-rounded excellence she has studied other dance artforms and trained with world-renowned artists and masters. Her body of work so far continues to be exemplary and remarkable.

Among her seminal performances include- as featured dancer in Guelph Jazz Festival's Opera "Quebicité", and with the Kitchener/Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, at the International Bellydance Conference of Canada, and the Great Lakes Bellydance Convention in Michigan; and live performances with renowned musicians as Juno nominated Eccodek, Award-winning Middle Eastern Light of East Ensemble, internationally recognized Cuneyt Yetkiner and Adrian Raso, as well as Bhadra Collective.

She was a cover girl of Canada's Premiere English-Language Bellydance journal Mid-Bits Magazine. Finally, she authored and published her first bellydance children's book "My Mom Has a Dancing Belly" which her graphic artist sister Grace  illustrated. 

Currently, she is Artistic Director of InvoketressDance based in Guelph, Ontario where she teaches the eternal art of bellydancing for fun and exercise.

For more info please visit www.invoketress.com .