Danielle LeBlanc

Upon the completion of a B.A. in English literature from UBC, I was unsure which path to pursue: further education or “the real world.” Throughout the course of my B.A., I had dabbled in a few supposedly dead languages, including Old English, Latin, and Classical Arabic. The Old English was taken as a result of my desire to grasp the roots of English literature and language a little tighter, and the Latin because of a Classics phase I was going through. The Arabic was something personal though; it was because I actually wanted a better understanding of Middle Eastern music. I had been studying Middle Eastern folkloric dance since my early teens, and by the time of my B.A. completion, I had also been teaching it for several years. Since I loved the language, along with music and dance from Egypt and the Levant, I decided to take some time to work on my Arabic and study folkloric dance. So I headed off to the Middle East for a while to study both, and, of course, travel. The whole experience solidified my passion, and I haven’t looked back since. I am currently studying History at SFU with a focus on the role of dancers in Egyptian cinema and their contribution to Egyptian nationalism and identity in the mid-twentieth century. I am very excited to be teaching with the SFU Seniors Program, and look forward to sharing my experiences with enthusiastic students.

Previously taught: