Hawaii’s Renaissance Woman

Willow Chang

is recognized for her emotive, innovative and elegant

performances. Trained in voice, dance, music and costume design,

she started her dance journey started, studying hula for 10 years with

Kumu Alicia Smith, with Halau O Na Maoli Pua, and later dancing

in a Hawaiian Show in Egypt (‘94).

Returning to Hawai‘i, she studied with her first bellydance teacher, Glo Ayson,

and delved into  Middle Eastern and related forms of dance, while

completing a BA in Dance with a music minor at the University of Hawai’i

at Manoa. A life long student of dance, Willow’s also studied Classical Indian

Dance (Kuchipudi, Odissi and Bharartanatyam) , Tango, Bollywood, Balinese,

Flamenco, Ballet, Tap, Modern and Contemporary Dance.

For the past 20 years, she’s focused on Oriental dance, annually

traveling to study and perform with master teachers, as well as sponsor their

educational events in Hawaii. (Please see Education, on the Bio page for details).

To deepen her understanding of the art, Willow has also studied the various forms of dance classified as ‘bellydance’and Raks Sharki- Dance of the East, styles that include  Folkloric and Classical Egyptian, Modern Egyptian, Lebanese, Turkish, Greek, Rom/Roma Gypsy, ATS (American Tribal Style), Tribal Fusion and American Cabaret Styles, as well as Persian dance,  Saudi Arabian/Gulf Khaleegy, North African Moroccan Shikhat and dances from Algeria and Tunisia. She has also taken time to master fluency in finger cymbals (sagat/zills) as an instrument and as an accompaniment in both dance and music, has taken drumming and rhythm classes and has recently started the humble journey of learning maqams, the Oriental tonal scale system.

An instructor of various styles, she’s committed to the musical and cultural context of the art. Willow teaches the wide spectrum of bellydance styles, Bollywood dance and Hawaiian Hula with a disciplined, methodical and impassioned understanding of dance, emphasizing the musical and cultural context of the art.

As a performer, she always strives to present the dance in a respectful manner, becoming the music, sharing the emotion and striving for tarab, the ecstatic state of grace through music and dance.

As Jasmine Revolution Dance and SANGHA Dance Theater’s founder and artistic director, she presents unique choreographies and performs modern solo dance performances. She trains her dancers in Oriental and modern “Western” techniques, presenting both a global and traditional approach to dance.  As director of the newly formed BOLLYWOOD HAWAII, she

creates dances that are both upbeat and lyrical, caputuring the beauty and energy of Indian Bollywood dance. Since 1999, her Passport Productions has produced events, performances and workshops with visiting artists. The annual PUJA Dance Concert & Workshops, founded in 2008, has top performers in every genre of dance, with artists from around the world.

Willow’s invited to perform at cultural and educational events, festivals and corporate fundraisers, locally and abroad. She’s featured frequently in all media, including dance and lifestyle publications including Belly Dance Japan, Bellydance: A Raks Shaqi magazine, Bastet, Orienta, Hagalla, Gilded Serpent, Jareeda, Hana Hou and Honolulu Magazine. She’s danced for many notables in Oriental dance, performing as a guest artist for Mahmoud Reda, Tito, Yousry Sharif, Souhail Kaspar, The Rachel Brice and the Indigo, Enussah and Naheda (Germany) & Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, and several high profile dance concerts which are now performance DVDs.

Since 2006, Willow’s had annual European teaching tours to share the art of Belly dance, dance theory, tango fusion, Bollywood, and Hawaiian Hula. Her highlights include teaching & performing in Europe (Germany, France, Switzerland, Greece and Austria) Egypt, Japan, Canada & the US, including at UNESCO’s Dance Congress in Athens, Cairo’s Music Medicine Concert, On DVD, Willow’s featured on Belly Dance Reloaded(2005), Exotic Art of Bellydance (2007), The Soul of Bellydance and The Spirit of Bellydance (2011). Other notable events include performing at Margaret Cho’s Sensuous Woman Show and teaching at Rakkasah West and East, and performing in Arizona for Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco.

In 2010 she returned to teach in Zurich & Paris, &  presented & assisted the director of the IUGTE International University of Global Theater & Dance Conference in Austria. In 2011, Willow was  on teaching staff at Black Orchid Dances’ Najm al Danse Orientale Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, spent 3 weeks performing and teaching in Tokyo, Japan, and returned to Austria to present, perform and teach at the IUGTE, followed by teaching in Switzerland for her 7th time.

In 2012, Willow was invited to present, teach and perform at the prestigious International Bellydance Conference of Canada, sponsored by Yasmina Ramzy. She presented her theatrical dance Fire, Earth, Air, at the Voyage of Aloha 20th Anniversary of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, with legendary dancer Jean Erdman Campbell (Martha Graham Company) in attendance. In the Fall of 2012, she returned to Atlanta for Black Orchid Danses’ Soul of Fusion Festival.  In 2013, she was invited to teach and perform at Athens 1st Bollywood Dance Festival, and was part of the performance and teaching staff at Leyla Jouvana’s prestigious Orientalisches Festival Europas, followed by her annual teaching in Switzerland.

Willow looks forward to meeting and connecting with students and dancers alike of this beautiful art!