Hala Al Zayani is the owner and director of Ballare School of Performing Arts. She started dancing ballet at the age of five. It was extremely evident from a young age that dance was going to be a part of her everyday life. Soon enough she decided to continue her education in London at Millennium Performing Arts. After having graduated and moved back to Bahrain she began teaching at a local dance school as well as choreographing for a Musical Production Company called MASK.

Hala is completely dedicated to offering Bahrain the best of the performing arts in every way possible. She is so excited to have launched Ballare on September 25, 2011 and even more delighted to see the fantastic response in students! She believes Bahrain has a great amount of artistic talent that is just waiting to arise and is delighted to provide a well structured, creative curriculum for students of all ages and abilities.

Louise was introduced to dancing at the age of 9 as a way to satisfy her need for physical activity. It wasn’t long before she realized that she had a natural flare for performance and so she became a dedicated and passionate acrobatics and jazz/hip hop dancer. She later studied contemporary modern, ballet and tap dancing in order to fulfill her wish of becoming a complete artist. After training at Phil Winston’s Theatreworks, where she developed and nurtured her drama and singing skills she gained qualifications as a IDTA (International Dance Teacher’s association) dance teacher.

Louise sees teaching as a delight because it allows her to express her love for choreography as well as pass on and share her passion and performing skills to other aspiring artists. Louise has 13 years experience as a dance teacher not only in the UK but also different countries, she had the luxury of teaching in Budapest, Hungary. This enabled her to increase her choreography as well as technical knowledge. There, she had the privilege to train with Bako Garbor in American jazz and Cunningham techniques which was an immensely valuable experience. In joining Ballare she feels she can continue to pass on her knowledge in a way better than before with such state of the art facilities and equipment makes it easier for her to continue with the job that she loves.

Up until the age of 18, Jane’s passion was dancing, spending much of her leisure time engaged in a wide variety of dancing genres.

In her professional life, Jane gained an HND in Health & Beauty at the age of 21 and for many years owned and ran successful salons in the South of England. At the same time, she completed a number of courses relating to health, nutrition and exercise.

As a result of having two daughters, Jane has been able to keep in touch with the world of dance by getting involved in their dancing and gymnastics. For many years she has taken great pleasure from assisting at school performances and dance shows.

It is no surprise therefore that Jane is delighted to be on the staff at Ballare, where she is once more able to be involved with the dance scene and to see other young children learn this wonderful discipline.

Shannon began dancing at the age of 5 with her local dance school, Assemble School of Dance, It was there that she spent 12 years dedicated to her passion in life that is dance. In her time at the school she studied in ballet, contemporary, tap, modern jazz, hip hop and acrobatics, taking many examinations with the IDTA and RAD, competing in numerous dance competitions and performing in Annual dance shows and other events.

Knowing that she wanted to pursue a career in the performing arts industry Shannon attended Brooksby Melton College and trained for 2 years in dance and musical theatre. It was at college that Shannon truly became to grow as a performer and as an artist, training in new styles of dance and experiencing the industry by having the chance to work with professional dance companies such as Retina, performing at LABAN and travelling to New York to dance with and learn from professional choreographers. Also during this time Shannon was part of the Dynamite Extreme Cheerleading squad performing and competing at city and national events.

Shannon thoroughly enjoyed her time at College and successfully achieved Triple Distinction for her Diploma.

After Shannon graduated College she was offered a contract with Disneyland Paris as a parade Performer/ Dancer and moved to Paris, she performed in a number of shows, parades and special events involving tv and magazine appearances and raising money for charity organizations such as Wish upon a Star. Shannon's time at Disney was Magical! And to have the opportunity to perform for thousands of people is truly breath taking.

After returning to England Shannon began working with Phizzical, which is a performing arts company, in her time with the company she worked along side international choreographers

From New Zealand to India, learning new styles and techniques in Classical Indian and Bharatanatyam dance, Argentinian Tango and African dance, as a company we composed new fusions of international dance and performed across the city. Before joining the Ballare team Shannon then was accepted in to the Sickle Urban Ballet company, created and ran by Cheryl Whimpers, a former graduate of the Royal Academy of Dance & Trinity LABAN. As a company Sickle develop and explore the traditional ballet technique using urban and contemporary movement creating a new dance fusion. Sickle's aim is to rebrand Ballet so it can be more assessable and appealing to modern society, changing people's views on traditional ballet style and allowing the audience to see it in a new Urban light.

Shannon is delighted to be a part of the Ballare Family and looks forward in sharing her new experiences with the school.

My name is Faris Ahmadi aka EFAAY, I’m Bahraini, 19 years old and I’m one of the most respected break dancers in Bahrain. From a young age, I discovered the art of breaking on stage in a school talent show, and from that moment I knew I was born to do this.

At start, it wasn't easy learning and practicing, since Bahrain was new to the Hip-hop culture, I had to start from scratch and master this art all alone. I can definitely say that the streets of London was my education and the old-school break dancers my inspiration. There was no internet, teachers or dance schools around. It didn't take too long until I started dancing on the big stage and featured in many school dramas, talent shows and dance competitions. In the early 2000's, when the breakdance scene in Bahrain started to grow, I started to dance with several other break dancers and started taking titles locally.

After lots of practice, performances and dedication I started to rise and gain popularity until I formed my own crew the ''Street Star Crew''. Today Street Star is one of the best crews in the region. After practicing with London's finest break dancers the ''StyleHybridz'', I took a major step in my dance career. Not only a dancer, I’m also a talented teacher. After teaching several kids for fun and getting great results, it was clear that teaching was a must in the near future.

I was discovered along with my dance crew the ''Street Star'’ in a local entertainment show and offered a job at ''Ballare''. It was the perfect opportunity to start living my dream. I’m currently a teacher in ''Ballare'' and to me dancing is not only a job but a lifestyle. It makes me happy to teach and pass the knowledge to the next generation dancers of Bahrain and it makes me even happier to do what I love every day.

Ziyad Ahmadi also known as Bboy Zizo is a Bahraini Bboy, and also one of the founders of Street Star Crew.

Ziyad started breaking at the age of 12, he never got the chance to learn break dance by a professional dancer, he used to watch bboys on TV and copy them without learning the right technique. He started balancing on his head since he was a child, as he started at an early age he's one of the best headspiners in Bahrain. Ziyad is very flexible and because of this special ability he manages to do some amazing freezes and tricks. Unlike his crew partners, Ziyad doesn't focus on footwork and style, he focuses on power moves and freezes. A freeze is another word for balancing on different parts of the body (Hands, shoulders, elbows, etc.) When teaching his students, he normally asks them to do some stretching to get warmed up and for their safety off course because the best way to get flexible is to warm up your body before training.

Ziyad came up with the idea of starting a crew with his brother Faris Ahmadi and together they came up with the name "Street Star Crew''. As a crew they performed over 30 shows in 2011 in Bahrain and London and they are one of the best Crews in the Middle East. Ziyad travels to London every summer and practices with one of the most respected crews in London "Style Hybridz". At the end of the day Ziyad's goal is to teach the young generation of Bahrain Break dance professionally and help them achieve their dreams of being famous dancers .

My name's Adam Al- Rafaei, im a 17 year old high school student, I'm half Filipino, half Bahraini, I'm one of the few poppers in Bahrain,I used to love dancing as a child, watching videos and dreaming of learning how to dance, I took dancing as a hobby a year ago after joining street star crew, ive made more than 30 shows in 2011 in malls, events, schools, talent shows etc. Ive achieved alot as a dancer in this past year and hope this experience grows in the future. This talent of dancing helped my crew and I build a water well in India after winning first place in Bahrain's Got Talent and this will always be my best memory when i knew that this talent helped me in providing people with water to drink everyday.

Ive experience teaching before in school, & also in the philippines to students in different age groups, i speak arabic, english and understand filipino (tagalog). I came to teach at Ballare because dancing is what i love and this keeps me motivated to teach everyone, and to make people understand that dancing is an art and i'd like to share my talent and knowledge in dancing to the children of tomorrow, the future of Bahrain.

Dance and Performance has always been in my blood. Since age 5 I was dancing ballet which developed into gymnastics, tap, contemporary modern jazz, and choreographs here and there in salsa, tango and my native lebanese Dabke. I highly enjoy being on stage and experienced numerous fashion shows including a summer collection show for Benetton during the 80s. In the 1990s I won second place in talent competition with 3 other dancers dancing to Kylie Monogue's "Locomotive." Taking dance to another level did not come till much later when teaching Belly Dance to friends generated interest for more lessons. I traveled to NYC only to discover that the oriental form that I knew instinctively was combined into a modern art form called 'Tribal Fusion Bellydance'. Practicing amongst pioneers there I was able to pull-off two live performances with a mentoring partner who now resides in Munich, Germany. My vision is to advance our classical technique in the Middle East and re-present it as a Tribal Fusion art form which stands out for its ability to incorporate a team of Belly Dancers in choreographs that infuse other cultural influences including Indian and Spanish dance. I also aim to develop Belly Dance into a healing dance form that awakens and utilizes our natural breathing capacity and develops our spiritual awareness through conscious and advanced unified group movement.

I am a qualified High Performance Leadership Trainer (HPLT) in Performing Arts after 4 years of intensive coaching from the company Wailea GmbH certified in the 'Curiosity Method' by Dr. Martin Sage. Through my training experience in Maui, across Germany and NYC I have performed in singing, dancing, acting, choreographing and art directing for numerous shows off-Broadway. The purpose of the HPLT is to self-actualize the individual talent and develop latent skills into High Performance ability.

As I grew up in Bahrain, the Kingdom is home. Ballare is a progressive studio which looks promising in its ability to influence the entire performance level of talents through developing and encouraging public performances that will further inspire and generate growth of talents from across the Kingdom. I am passionate about building a team of Belly Dancers who will perform in a unified spirit and mind on stage for a live and prominent audience! Your are welcomed to grow as a part of our Belly Dance team!

I started playing piano since 1981 and during that time I was only 7 years old. Being a Ukrainian person, I took my education degree at Music National College of Kryvyi Rih and we have brilliant musical education. During the time that I was studying in Music School, I performed all music and technical competitions every term and do exam as well. Also I performed concerts for parents every end of the year. In Music College, we had the same programs but more difficult levels.

When I finished my degree in Music College in 1996, I started to work in Music School as a Piano Teacher for 4 years. From year 2000 until 2007, I was working as a Private Piano Teacher in Ukraine. In November 2007 I came to Bahrain for teaching student how to play piano, because I wanted to explore and to have some experience in my life outside Ukraine. I decided to teach at Ballare for the reason that I want to contribute my skills and knowledge in teaching piano and to build my students to be one of the great pianist.

Some of my student/s achievements are being 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in different competitions such as St. Christopher Music Festival, Etudes Competition in Life & Music, and First International Choplin Competition 2010 which is the 1st time in Bahrain. We will also enter our students for yearly exams under Associated Board of Royal Music Academy from London and Russian System exam from Life & Music. I love Music and I want to teach children to understand music, love music as well and feel it. I want them to be musical in soul because I believed MUSIC can makes everybody happy.

We are looking forward to see you soon in our place, to start playing piano, to understand music and to love it.