Extraordinary!
About the team
Josephine Wise
Josephine has been dancing since 1976. She originally trained in contemporary dance, but having discovered bellydance in 1981 she quickly transferred her affections. Since then she has studied in Egypt, the UK and Europe and has passed on to her students all the knowledge she has gleaned and the style she has developed.
For many years Josephine has been one of the world’s top exponents of Egyptian Dance, and her style is known for its authenticity and deep expression. As a teacher she is in demand around the world for her high technical standards and her knowledge of the interpretation of Egyptian music.
Josephine has danced extensively throughout the UK, Europe, Egypt and the Middle East, including regular functions for the Royal families of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and many years dancing in Arab nightclubs and at high society weddings. She has also gone back to her theatrical roots by touring the UK with her dance company ‘Masriat’, and has choreographed commissioned works for the theatre and opera in England and France.
Since 1990 she has been Managing Director of JWAAD and has run over 15 Summer Residential Courses. She runs the famous Fantasia Festival in London, which has been until now the UK’s largest bellydance event, and the JWAAD Teacher Training Diploma Course, which develops the teaching skills of dancers and has produced many of the best teachers in the UK and now in other parts of Europe.
At present Josephine is developing her new dance company ‘Johara’ and, of course, the Congress. She is dedicated to improving the standard and raising the profile of bellydance in the West, and is determined to have a good time while she does it.
Irene Wood
Irene has always loved to dance, but was frustrated by a husband with two left feet until in 1986 she found a local bellydance class. Now she had found a dance she could enjoy without a partner, and she was hooked.
Local classes soon led to more advanced workshops and Summer Schools: Maggie Caffrey, Josephine Wise and Suraya Hilal were some of her early teachers.
Irene was closely involved with Mosaic Arabic dance network (MADN) from its formation in the Midlands. She served for seven years as membership secretary, nursing the numbers from the 90’s to 900’s, also working on the events committee, playing host to visiting teachers such as Shareen El Safy, Leila Haddad, Zaza Hasan, Morrocco and finally spending 3 years as chair.
Having spent much of her business career as a buyer in retail, Irene was quick to see a need for quality dancewear items for the rapidly growing number of bellydancers in the UK. She started Aladdin's Cave as a hobby, but over 15 years it has developed into a busy internet and mail order operation supplying class wear, music & DVD to dancers across Europe.
Irene now visits Cairo several times a year and travels widely to spot trends and find sources that will extend the choice for dancers, commissioning professional designs and visiting many major bellydance festivals around the world.
Edwin Wood
Edwin's business career has been in the construction industry first as a builder, then as a specialist retailer.
Married to Irene, he has helped her with the logistics (that's carrying the boxes!) of Aladdin's Cave for almost 15 years. After taking early retirement in 1999 he joined Irene's rapidly expanding business, to manage the embryonic music & video department.
With only a spectator’s background to bellydance, his strategy has been to rely heavily on advice from respected teachers, many of whom have been exceedingly generous with their time and guidance, and to listen to what his customers ask for.
In the course of sourcing Europe's most comprehensive catalogue of bellydance CD and DVD titles, Edwin has had the privilege to see most of the world's top dancers live, and the opportunity to make many good friends in the dance and music business, including a number of world renowned Master Teachers whose titles are included in the Aladdin's Cave list.
Although Irene was Edwin’s secretary when he was in the building trade and his partner when he was a retailer, he is sanguine about the fact that she has now turned the tables on him and made him partner in her business.
John Gosler
John, our Art Director, is marvellously talented, very good-looking and generally lovely. He worked for many years as an illustrator in publishing, and then as a background artist and ‘head of background’ in animation. In recent years John has worked as an art director in print, film and TV. His clients have included Warner Bros. and Disney, and he is currently art directing a series of commercials for Aardman Animations (Wallace & Gromit).
Married to Josephine, John has designed the publicity for her and for JWAAD for many years, and has now been caught off guard and found himself saying yes to designing the Congress publicity. He secretly enjoys this work but hopes that Jo won’t find out.