Chica Hilma

Chica Hilma is an instructor and performer of Middle Eastern dance who resides in her birth country of Japan. She started studying under an Egyptian teacher in 1995 when the dance was still little known in the country. In 2003, she was invited to instruct an intensive Oriental dance course at Austin College in Texas, which became the most popular course on campus. She opened her own instructional dance school in Tokyo the same year where she still still teaches today to share her knowledge and love for the dance.

Since 2004 she has been the Japan representative for Amani’s Oriental Festival (Lebanon). She has also produced Amani’s workshop series in several Japanese cities and is a regular contributor of articles to a Japanese belly dance magazine.

Web site: facebook.com/chica.hilma

Articles on Gilded Serpent by or about Chica:

3-7-2015 Facts and Misconceptions about Kawliya, Interview with Assala Ibrahim on the topic of Iraqi dance especially Kawliya by Chica Hilma
My first encounter with her was in her Kawliya and Iraqi Zar workshops at Amani’s Oriental Festival in July 2014. I was excited by this rare opportunity to learn the dance from a native Iraqi dancer because dance for me is not a fantasy but a way to understand the culture behind it and to make a spiritual connection with the people of the dance.