Christine “Shiraz” Şahin

Christine Şahin, also known professionally as Shiraz, is a dancer-scholar specialising in contemporary Egyptian Raqs Sharqi and dance traditions of the Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye. Her background combines long-term embodied dance practice with formal academic training in anthropology and Critical Dance Studies. She completed doctoral work at the University of California, Riverside, where her research examined the social and cultural dimensions of dance rather than focusing solely on movement analysis. Şahin has taught dance and academic courses and has published research addressing embodiment, identity and cultural representation. She is also the author of educational work designed to connect belly-dance technique with anatomy and cultural understanding. Her profile is particularly important for Raqs Atlas because she represents a growing generation of scholars who are simultaneously experienced practitioners rather than outside observers of the dance.