#WCW
We are a tribe of women working together to empower and educate ourselves and each other. There are so many incredible people doing positive and uplifting things in our world, and we want to shine a light on some of the women that inspire us the most. That’s why we’re celebrating #wcw - Woman Crush Wednesday.
Check back regularly, as we’ll be adding new images here regularly.
Guetty Felin
Guetty Felin is an award-winning Haitian-American filmmaker, writer, and producer of both documentaries and narrative films. A native of Haiti, she first fell in love with cinema at the drive-ins of Port-au-Prince. Felin grew up in New York and came of age cinematically in Paris, France while pursuing graduate studies in cinema. Felin now uses the medium for denouncing social and political injustice.
Rigoberta Menchú Tum
Rigoberta Menchú Tum is a K'iche' Indigenous feminist and human rights activist from Guatemala. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's Indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War, and to promoting Indigenous rights internationally. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and continues to inspire women across the Americas as a leading advocate of Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation.
Soledad O'Brien
Soledad O'Brien is our #WCW this week. We look to her as a wonderful example of a powerful woman with a brilliant mind and a fiery tongue. As a veteran journalist, she doesn't hold back, she speaks her mind and expresses her ideas on a national platform. Her biracial background (Afro-Cuban mother and Irish-Australian father) O'Brien is a powerful combination of strength, beauty, and passion - and she always brings everything in her to the work she does in uncovering the truth. Rolling Stone Magazine just published an interview with O'Brien, saying she "isn't holding back anymore." ROLLING STONE: "Being her own boss has given O’Brien the freedom to spotlight stories told by marginalized or underrepresented voices: Hungry to Learn, her recent documentary with filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, shines light on low-income college students too mired in debt to afford food. It has also given her the freedom to publicly hold major media figures and outlets accountable. “When you’re largely self-employed, you have a lot more latitude to call it as you see it,” says her former executive producer Kim Bondy, who first met O’Brien at NBC News, in 1997. “There’s no calling her to the principal’s office. She is the principal." We can't wait to see what's next for this amazing woman! Interview by EJ Dickson; image by Leeor Wild for Rolling Stone. Read the interview at https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/soledad-obrien-twitter-media-critic-951542/
Ya La'Ford
We're back for another #wcw - and we're celebrating visual artist Ya La'Ford.
Maintaining her studio work in both Tampa Bay and New York, Ya La’Ford is a professor, visual painter, installation artist and muralist, with a MFA from The Art Institute of Boston and a Juris Doctor law degree from the University of Florida for good measure. Her work can be seen across the country from the Boston Public Library to the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum. (shineonstpete.com)
Hanan Arts is dedicated to empowering and uplifting women, including our artists who use their craft to inspire and empower our sisters. Learn more about this exciting artist and her work at her website yalaford.com.
Celia Cody
Celia Cody is Secretary for the Hanan Arts Executive Board and a staunch supporter of the work of Hanan Arts & Havana Habibi. Communication and marketing are her super powers.
Celia is a native New Yorker, but has called the South home since 2000. She’s been in Marketing for the duration of her career, having previously worked in the music industry, television, advertising agencies and finally found her calling with QSR (food service). She’s been with Dunkin’ Brands as a Field Marketing Manager for over 7 years, working on Baskin-Robbins, then managing Markets in the Southeast for Dunkin’ Donuts and is currently overseeing Latin America and the Caribbean.
She’s the mother of 4 incredible children, Olivia – 20, Sofia – 16, K.J. – 12 and Zachary – 10. Celia is a graduate of the University of Miami and is an AVID football fan! Celia enjoys watching her beloved Hurricanes and Georgia Bulldogs (as well as NFL Football). She loves to travel, is obsessed with her garden and loves getting lost in a good book. Always improving, Always learning and having fun along the way!
TACHEA
It's Woman Crush Wednesday, and we have a new newsletter out today, too. So many good things to share with our community!
We'd like to introduce you to Tachea, our #wcw for this week. Tachea has been studying Moroccan and Algerian dance with Esraa Warda since they met at Havana Habibi in 2018. Also, she has begun taking private doumbek lessons, aiming for greater fluency in movement, voice and now percussion to aid her work in healing, both for self and others.
Learn more about Tachea by visiting the Artist Spotlight on our website today - go to havanahabibi.com/updates.
Photo credit Pixie Vision Photography
#bellydance #tachea #nycbellygirl #havanahabibi #festival #dance #community #moroccandance #algeriandance #doumbek #healingarts #acrossthewaters #hananarts #artistspotlight #newsletter #tiffanymadera #love #motivation #inspiration #support #art #culture
Sandy Skelaney
andy Skelaney Is an award-winning social venture consultant and a nationally recognized anti-trafficking expert who is passionate about social change, equity, justice, and empowering individuals, communities and organizations to mindfully engage in innovative global transformation. Sandy is a rockstar and a superhero for women and girls of the world, named, “Woman Who Makes a Difference in Miami” after the launch of Kristi House’s project GOLD and Miami’s comprehensive system response to child sex trafficking, which became a national model program that informed dozens of local, state and national policy changes including the offering and passage as Florida’s Safe Harbor at 2012. 📸 and content from her website sandyskelaney.com
#stopsextrafficking #miamigirls#endchildmarriage #sandyskelaney#superhero #wcw #equity#phenomenalwoman#empoweringwomen #advocacy#endgenderviolence #yalealumni
HEIDI SANCHEZ LLABRE
Today we're celebrating friendship and the beautiful gifts that it brings.
Havana Habibi is about the magic of friendship. Building bonds. Bellydancing for world peace. Celebrating friendship through bellydance. The 2016 Festival emerged from a friendship between Heidi and Festival Founder Tiffany Madera.
We're celebrating the incredible love and friendship of Heidi Sanchez Llabre. Heidi has been a part of this project since the beginning and we are grateful for all of her gifts!
Image from a film by Joshua Bee Alafia @alafiavision.
#love #friends #happy #beauty #smile #happiness #friend #inspiration #community #motivation #friendship #festival #belldance #film #indiefilm #havanahabibi #acrossthewaters #joshuaalafia #filmmaker #dancer #gratitude #wcw
ESRAA WARDA
We have another amazing and talented Festival teacher to announce! Our #WCW this week is Esraa Warda. Esraa "is best known by the powerhouse vibration of her hips -- a pure representation of North African traditional movement meeting New York fervor. Of Algerian origin, Warda is a community-taught dancer with "street cred" from women elders in the artistic community both in Morocco and Algeria.
As an educator, she prioritizes the preservation and transmission of traditional North African movement knowledge amongst women. As an artist, Warda is a rebellious spirit who challenges traditional norms and stigmas that limit women's public expression and movement. She is a driving force in bringing Moroccan/Algerian dance out of the margins and is influencing the global culture scene in recognizing North African dance as a distinguished artistic expression. (esraawarda.com)
@esraawardadance #esraawarda #esraawardadance #moroccandance #chaabi #moroccanchaabi #marocco #ladansemarocaine #northafrica #northafricandance #cumbe #africandance #havanahabibi #havanahabibifestival #tiffanymadera #hananarts @hananrama
#music #dancer #art #dancers #changemaker #trailblazer
Gretel Sanchéz Llabre
For more than a decade, Tiffany "Hanan" Madera and Gretel Sanchéz Llabre have been quietly building a movement and tradition of bellydance in Cuba. Today, as the Director of Cuban Soho, Gretel is creating a new generation of dancers in Cuba, leading a school of more than 100 women and girls. Through the art of bellydance, the women and girls of Cuba find freedom of expression while reflecting on their inherent beauty and joy. Bellydance connects us to the feminine spirit, and connects us to a community of other women exploring their worlds through dance.
Gretel has worked tirelessly in her commitment to the art of bellydance, and to the empowerment of the women in her community and is truly the preeminent leader of the art in Cuba today. The Miami New Times published an article about the first Havana Habibi Festival, hosted in 2016, calling it an "Empowering Experience." You can follow Cuban Soho on Facebook, and discover more videos on Youtube by searching "Cuban Soho cuban bellydance." There you'll discover the rich culture of Middle Eastern Dance growing in the heart of Cuba's capital city.
To learn more about all that Gretel has built through her work with Tiffany Madera and Havana Habibi, visit havanahabibi.com. Our website has a section dedicated to the project and showcases all of the incredible efforts that have gone into the making of the Festival and the bellydance school in Cuba.
Dr. Celeste Landeros
We are crushing on Dr. Celeste Landeros this week for #wcwand will be sharing more on what we love about this brilliant woman in our upcoming newsletter. Celeste is associate professor of English at Barry University in Miami, Florida and academic coordinator of arts and humanities statewide. She’s also an award winning arts critic and a contributor to the Knight Arts blog. Celeste was the keynote speaker at Havana Habibi Festival 2018, and is a long time friend of Hanan Arts Cooperative, the organization that founded and runs the festival. Look for more on Celeste soon!
#wcw#collaborators #phenomenalwoman#barryu #writer #artscritic#keynotespeaker#havanahabibifestival #feminist
Aubre Hill
Our #wcw today is the amazing Aubre Hill. A treasured Havana Habibi Festival instructor, Aubre Hill is an international dance artist, choreographer, and event producer. Aubre has been a professional dance artist for over twenty years including touring and assistant directing large ensembles across the United States, Europe, China, Taiwan, and Japan. She was on faculty at California State University, Los Angeles department of Kinesiology teaching acredited courses in pilates, fitness, and dance for over 10 years. Scroll through for videos of her performance at last year’s Festival Gala performance- and you’ll understand why she’s our woman crush Wednesday star!
#havanahabibi #cultural #integrity#expertise #dance #globalarts#middleeasternculture#middleeasterndance. @aubrehill@iqaat @qabilafoundation 📸 F22 Studio
MARYAM HASNAA
For this week’s #wcwwe’re crushing on @maryamhasnaa - we are inspired and encouraged to embrace our inner wisdom, strength, and beauty. #Repost@maryamhasnaa with @get_repost
・・・
“Who are you in three words?
I am “
Black Girl Magik @blackgmagik
Interview with Maryam Hasnaa
transcending time with the practitioner in her berkeley hills home: Photography by Carolina Salazar @isabel_carol
Bozenka
We're thrilled to share with you the exciting news as a #wcwpost - featuring one of our Havana Habibi Festival 2019 INSTRUCTORS.
⠀⠀
Bellydance Superstar Boženka is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed dancer performing and teaching worldwide. Boženka meaning, “touched by God”, is the auspicious birth name of this world-renowned performer and master teacher whose gift for the art of belly dancing transcends her Cuban-Spaniard-Czech heritage. She has enthralled diverse audiences all over the globe while inspiring every performer that has had the good fortune to witness her style and grace live and in color. Her distinguishing elegance and her classic and earthy technique has elevated Boženka to superstar status. Boženka is a leading exponent of Oriental Dance “Raqs Sharqi”. Her special teaching technique and her wonderful spirit make her workshops/performances a fulfilling and motivating experience for all who attend. An exemplary artist and role model, Boženka continues to set her standards higher with each performance and workshop.
⠀⠀
Registration for our 2019 festival opens soon! Find out more about Havana Habibi Festival by visiting our website havanahabibi.com. #ipreviewvia @preview.app #bellydance#bozenka #havanahabibi#culturaldiplomacy #arts #globalarts#culturalexchange #cuba #miami#havana #wcw @bozenkadance. Image and bio from bozenka website.
Roxane Gay
We're crushing on author Roxane Gay and celebrating her bad-ass self. She's the author of several novels and is published in many news organizations and other publications, and has raised her voice in support of body acceptance. She is Haitian-American, a strong female voice and a fellow Caribbean woman, and we can't help but embrace her work.⠀⠀
⠀⠀
Among her titles you'll find, "Bad Feminist," "An Untamed State," "Difficult Women," and, her most recent memoir, "Hunger." In an interview By Sophie Hurwitz for The St. Louis American, Gay explained the focus of the book. "“I hope that society moves to a place of fat acceptance, but we’re so far from that,” she said. “We’re so far. We live in a world where people cannot imagine it ever being acceptable to be fat. So I’m not optimistic. But I don’t think that we have to let that make us feel hopeless, or mired in self-loathing or self-doubt. Just because people won’t get on board with reality, that’s not something we have to carry.” (The St. Louis American, 2017)⠀⠀
⠀⠀
Havana Habibi works to promote self-love and acceptance through movement - and the ancient art of Bellydance - and we love the work that women like Roxane Gay are doing in the world! Learn more about ⠀⠀
her writing at roxanegay.com (one n!) and follow her on Twitter at @rgay or on Facebook at @roxanegay74⠀⠀
Chani Nicholas
In awe of how Chani Nicholas has turned her knowledge and expertise in horoscope into a call to action - we're crushing on Chani Nicholas today for #WCW. Rolling Stone wrote about her, saying, "Chani Nicholas is transforming horoscopes from generalizations about finding true love and stumbling into financial good fortune to pointed calls to action with a left-leaning, social-justice agenda. She weaves activism into the majority of her writing, appealing to a generation particularly interested in issues like racism, sexism and gun control." (Rolling Stone Magazine)
On her website, chaninicholas.com, she describes herself as "a student of astrology for the past 30 years and a counseling astrologer for over 20 years." And like Tiffany Madera (Havana Habibi Founder & Director), "she believes the personal is political, art is magic, and that all should have access to the healing practices that we need." Ache to the art and magic we need to heal!
Tiffany "hanan" Madera
Tiffany Madera is our pick for this week’s Woman Crush Wednesday! Founder of Hanan Arts and Havana Habibi Festival, Tiffany is an interdisciplinary artist at the intersection of film, dance theatre, and ethnographic scholarly writing in concert with her intercultural contemporary dance practice and transnational humanitarian arts entrepreneurship. Encuentro Magazine from Spain describes her as, “a dancer that comes from where one can touch the rooftop of the world.” She is an educator that uniquely juxtaposes activism, social justice, and community engagement with research-based and theoretically grounded creative projects. Vis a Vis Magazine describes her as, “a woman that uses her talent to change the world.” Image by Omni Kizzy Productions. Hair and Makeup Teresa Morgan