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My creed
?The deeper I focus on oriental dance, the more I admire its richness in form,
how it interprets all human emotions and contradictions, from the simplest to the most complex ones.
I see dance as a kind of communication between worlds, people, moods, feelings,
that is why the message and the desire to share and connect are always present in my performances.?
Mercedes Nieto
Internationally renowned, world-famous oriental dancer, instructor, choreographer. Founder and principal organizer of the CAIRO! Fest Budapest since 2007, founder and head of the Nymph Oriental Dance Company since 2005, Master Teacher of the Nile Group Festival (Cairo, Egypt) since 2010. One of Europe’s most sought after belly dancers, he has taught and performed in more than 40 countries around the world in recent years.
Mercedes has spent a decade touring around the World: since 2009 she had been teaching and performing at around 30 different oriental dance events worldwide yearly. While constantly traveling throughout five continents sharing her knowledge, passion and unique vision for belly dancing, she kept organizing the now internationally highly acclaimed CAIRO! Fest Budapest. The festival attracts hundreds of dedicated dancers to Hungary from all over the world every spring.
Mercedes is producing middle-eastern music specifically for oriental dancers since 2012: creating music in Cairo, Egypt, in collaboration with some of the best musicians and composers the scene has to offer, producing and releasing the material in Europe. She has released four albums that gained wide international success among dancers.
Meanwhile currently focusing more on her international career, festival and music productions, Mercedes is still teaching in Budapest in her own dance studio called the ?Nimfeum? whenever she?s in town, performing annual shows with her students, organizing charity galas as well as managing her professional oriental dance company ?The Nymph Oriental Dance Company?.
About Mercedes
“I started studying oriental dance in 1997 with Tia, who was one of the first to teach classical Egyptian belly dance in Hungary, and who became one of the most defining personalities and masters of my life. I used to dance to jazz ballet and flamenco and have been a part of the stage since I was eleven. On the paternal branch, due to my Spanish origin, music and dance have been present in my life from the very first moments, and nowadays they are almost complete.
Belly dancing was initially attracted to the devotion to Arabic music and culture, the exotic depths of the Eastern world seemingly unexploited to the European eye. For me, within this, Egypt embodied all of this, where perhaps the presence of the ancient, mythical worldview and the sparkle of modern life, in the Arab world, are all blended in innumerable shades. And like Arabic culture, Arabic music, and Oriental dance itself, are extremely diverse and diverse. For this reason, from the beginning, the depths of dance have excited me as the dancer becomes, at the same time, the epitome of an ancient, eternal female being, while being able to live a fuller life.
I have been a regular performer of belly dance in Hungary since 2002. I have toured several domestic and foreign tours with the Afro Magic band, performed in several elegant Arabic restaurants in Vienna, and toured with the Art Of Orient dance group in Hannover and Egypt. In 2004, I was a solo performer at the Cairo Ahlan Wa Sahlan International Belly Dance Festival for three nights. In addition, I have performed at numerous festivals and events over the years in Budapest and around the country. From April 2005 for two months I was a permanent belly dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Budapest. From April 2005 to Autumn 2006, I was a regular weekend performer at the Persepolis in Vienna and the Lebanese Restaurant in Vienna at the Mirage with live music.
In the summer of 2006, I was one of the winners of two different belly dance festivals in Egypt (Ahlan Wa Sahlan Festival, Cairo, Nile Group Festival, Cairo).
I have been creating dance theater performances since 2005, my performances are: Moonrise – Andalusian dance pictures (with Art of Orient dance group, Merlin Theater), EnTrans (Krisztina Németh, Merlin Theater, director: Eszter Kárász), RITUAL 2008 (National Dance Theater, National Dance Theater) Makai Szabolcs), WHITE (with the Nimfa Oriental Company and Judit Nesses of Komárom, Monostor Fortress – Komárom, Vaskakas Puppet Theater – Győr, Merlin Theater), and as a choreographer I participated in the Miracle of Life! Musical by Nofretéte (Budapest Chamber Theater, directed by Béla Árvai).
In the spring of 2007, I founded my own company, called the Nimfa Oriental Dance Company, with my most talented advanced students. As a result of intensive training, the 15-member company has won numerous competitions over a year and a half (Raqs Sharki – 2nd prize and best choreography in the National Oriental Dance Competition for two consecutive years, 2007-2008, second prize in the Nile Group International Cairo Festival in 2007-2008, and first prize in June 2009, Nefertiti Charity Belly Dance Competition, 1st prize in 2008, etc …), featured in major theatrical performances (Southern Nights – Downtown Theater, Miracle of Life! Nofretéte – musical at the Budapest Chamber Theater, WHITE Oriental Dance Theater Performance – Merlin Theater) and performed in Vienna, Cairo, Transylvania.
Meanwhile in my private life I was doing Hungarian and media studies at ELTE BTK, and I was a journalist on various newspapers and television until 2007.
My style is determined by the classic and modern Egyptian style. My international (Egypt, America, Germany, Austria) teachers were: prof. Hassan Khalil, Hadia, Lubna Emam, Faridah Fahmy, Yousry Sharif, Aida Nour, Fras, Tito, Nagwa Fouad, Dina, Nour, Osama Emam, Raqia Hassan, Mo Geddawi, Mahmoud Reda, Mona Said, Soraya, Magdy El-Leisy, Jillina, Lesya Starr, Momo Kadous, Leyla, Mohamed Kazafy, Khaled Mahmoud, Ahmed Refaat.
My studies and current dance style also bind me to Egypt , so I was honored to be invited to the Nile Group Festival: in June 2010, as the first European dancer, I had almost one hour of my own at the International Festival Opening Gala in Cairo. In 2011 I was again invited to the show and I was invited to the festival’s Master Teacher Team, so from June 2011 I am a regular teacher at the festival, as the third European teacher.
In my first competition, the Raqs Sharqi National Belly Dance Competition, in 2001, I was a public prize winner and in 2004, I won the professional category of the Raqs Sharqi National Belly Dance Competition, giving me the opportunity to take part in MEDINA (Middle Eastern Dance In North America) this August. participate in the prestigious Belly Dance Competition, where they received a grand prize, which I won by over eighty percent of the public vote.
As a result, I was invited to several American cities for the upcoming period as a lecturer and instructor, and I was able to attend Yousry Sharif’s Egyptian choreographer’s fall master classes in New York. Also at the 2004 Raqs Sharqi National Belly Dance Competition, we won the first prize in the group category and the best choreographer award with the Art Of Orient dance group. At the Raqs Sharqi Competition in 2007 and 2008, I also won the Best Choreographer Award for my consort, the Nimfa Oriental Society, for two consecutive years, and in 2009 for my group in two categories (Modern – Large Group and Small Group). Achieved 1st place.
In my everyday professional development I owe a lot to my classical and modern dance teachers: Beatrix Mihály, László Budai, Béla Földi.
Selected performances
Show Women Odysssey
Oriental Classic Paris 2018
8th Oriental Passion Festival
7th CAIRO! FEST Budapest 2015
CAIRO! Fest Budapest, 2012
Performances
?I think continuous learning is very important, because oriental dance is a living form that is still alive today, and in many different places around the world, and it is probably impossible to get to know it in full.
That is why (and despite this) we must strive to obtain as diverse and comprehensive knowledge as possible, both in the genre and in our self-interest for a clear, sincere expression. ?
Prizes
In 2004 won MEDINA (Middle Eastern Dance in North America – Missouri, USA) International Belly Dance Competition 2004 Grand Prix. Winner of the Raqs Sharqi 2004 Professional Class of the Hungarian Hungarian Belly Dance Competition. One of the winners of the Nile Group Cairo International Belly Dance Festival 2006. Winner of the Best Choreographer Award at the RAQS SHARKI – National Oriental Dance Competition in 2007 and 2008. Nile Group Cairo International Belly Dance Festival Group Category 1st in 2009 and 2nd in 2007 and 2008 with the Nimfa Oriental Society. IX. RAQS SHARKI – National and Oriental Dance Competition winner of the Modern and Small Group category with the Nimfa Oriental Society in 2009.
Mercedes tour posters from recent years
