Kay Taylor or Madam Kay

‘Madam Kay’ is my Cairo name.  Denotes a certain amount of respect for me as a business woman in Cairo.  My partner now refers to me as ‘Madame Kay’ on facebook posts – and dancers that come to Cairo with me use it too!  Really I am just ‘Kay Taylor’.  A fairly down to earth Yorkshire lass that has adopted the North East as her home.

I started dancing about 30 years ago in Leeds. A hobby became a passion and then became my whole life.  I am a bellydance artist, educator and choreographer.  I have produced, directed and choreographed several shows.  We took the last one ‘Bellydance:  A true story’ to a sell out week at the Edinburgh fringe festival – and on tour around the UK.  I do less performing myself these days but love to mentor and encourage younger dancers on their path.
I have taught at festivals around the Uk and internationally and I still teach regular classes in the North East – and on Zoom.  Through lockdown I started an outdoor bellydance fitness class ‘Shimmy Camp’ and developed hybrid classes.
You can join me on zoom through my membership platform:  Love Bellydance.  I love teaching and have even embraced zoom as it enables students to have access to classes they would not otherwise be able to attend.  Love Bellydance has 3 membership levels:
1/    Raqsette:  2 posts a week:  Level 1 technique, choreography or fun follow alongs and a cultural or music clip.
2/    Sharqette:  3 posts a week:  The same as a Raqsette PLUS and additional clip with choreography / technique suitable for Level 2 dancers.
3/    Amarette:   4 posts a week.  All of the above plus one post a week with technique / choreography suitable to Level 3 dancers.  Amarettes can also join my ‘live’ classes either in person or on zoom.
Classes you can join:
Tuesday night 6 – 6.45:  Shimmy Camp
Tuesday night 7 – 8pm:  Level 3 – Develop the bellydancer within – combination of technique, choreography & improvisation.  Every term is different.
Thursday night 5.30 – 6.30pm:  Open level class.  I adapt the content to the participants.  We focus on bellydance foundations.  The posts each week support the class material.

As a Northerner I love to host events in the North.  You can see what is currently on offer on our Farida Dance events page.  I also run a residential weekend ‘Shimmy Up North’ at Borwick Hall near Lancaster.  A amazing weekend with a host of wonderful teachers and around 40 hours of dance classes to choose from.

As part of the ‘BellyDance Now’ team, I help design and create courses to inform and inspire.  We have something for you wherever you are on your dance journey – including an in depth teacher training course.  I now design and run the BDN flagship festival ‘Fantasia’ which is based in London every February.  Also our week long International Bellydance summer school.  This was originally designed and run by Josephine Wise – and I have never missed a single one!  Jo is semi retired so I now run it for BDN.  My favourite week in the UK bellydance calendar.

Importing costumes and selling them has enabled me to build up a network of costume designers in Cairo – and meet some wonderful dancers as we travelled around the UK to different events with the souk.  I am now running down and selling off my stock.  Lockdown changed everything and I am now focusing on teaching, events and Cairo.

Taking groups to Cairo is 50% pleasure and 50% achieves nightmarish qualities. I love showing people round, taking them to dance shows – from 5 star luxury to 50p dives! But Cairo is like quicksand – everything changes from one hour to the next. Nothing is definite until it is actually happening.  With my extensive network of friends and contacts in Cairo ….. we make things happen.  Join me on one of my specialist bellydance trips at Farida Adventures.

Just as I think everything is settling down and balancing out, some new idea or project inspires me & we enter another whirlwind of chaos.  I love having a variety of projects in my life.

Likes : Dancing, dinner parties and fine dining.

Star sign : Cancer

To go back to Kays workshop options, click here:
For classes with Kay click here:  Kay also runs several dance breaks and residential courses each year:  click here.