The Electric Feminine Podcast: Healing Through Dance
Anjua Maximo interviews Nurjahan Boulden as she bravely shares her survivor story and the healing power of dance in the company of women
Martin and Shivi interview Nurjahan Boulden for Martin & Roman’s Weekend Best VIP segment
The Chatty Broads sit down with gun violence survivor Nurjahan Boulden. She shares her story, the trauma that followed, and her powerful journey of healing through it all. She also discusses living without fear, shares her “7 Agreements for Survivors”, and much more.
Nurjahan Boulden delivers a commencement address to Pitzer College's Class of 2019
Women Against Gun Violence Legacy Series: Nurjahan was out with friends dancing and having fun when a gunman opened fire, wounding her and another, and killing a man beside her. For years, Nurjahan couldn't talk about the incident. Now she's raising her voice to help others.
Khateebah Nurjahan Boulden delivers the khutbah for The Women's Mosque of America on November 30, 2018. She moves the congregation with her courageous sharing of the struggles she faced as a shooting survivor. Nurjahan shares how we can achieve inner peace and healing by submitting fully to God, how to distinguish between blind vs. true faith, and how we can use true faith to transfrom our fear into action that will help us achieve our dreams.
Online and print magazine Pitzer College Alumni Feature
The Mom Forum | Healing from Trauma and Finding Joy
Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, and The Trace online and print Magazines:
More Than 100,000 Americans Are Victims of Gun Violence Each Year. What Happens to Those Who Survive?
While we focus on the victims of mass shootings, survivors struggle with psychological traumaof their own. Especially when new horrors play on loop.
Love What Matters: ‘Am I ever going to walk again? Will I survive this?’ I couldn’t see it coming or avoid it. I never saw the man who did it. I just felt the shattering vibration in my leg and collapsed.’
T.H.E. Celebration: Tom Earl interviews Nurjahan Boulden on Moving Beyond Fear and Embracing your Experience
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Belly Dance Lessons
Henna Art
Speeches & Interviews
Note: No performance inquiries please—Nurjahan teaches belly dance as a form of intimacy and community, not as a performance art
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Mita Banerjee, Professor of Psychology
"Nurjahan's empassioned reminder of why we need to face our fears in order to live fully, was beyond inspirational"
Sandy Anglin Phillips, Founder of Survivors Empowered
"Nurjahan's spirit and guidance transformed the participants. Her light will always be so precious to me. I can't wait to do it again."
Ruby Bajaj, Superhero Lifestyle
"Nurjahan teaches you to learn with your own body movements and go with your own personal rhythm and comfort. It helped me bring my sexy back after having 7 surgeries in 2 years. I didn’t think that was possible."
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I learned how to belly dance as soon as I could walk. I danced and danced and danced, and I dreamed of sharing belly dance with the world - until a bullet stopped me in my tracks.
I got shot in the leg with an assault rifle on vacation when I was 21 years old.
I pushed through some of the best parts of life—graduating college, starting my career, getting married, having three (pretty damn cute) children.
But I never felt safe. I never felt whole. I walked on and off with a cane throughout my 20s, and I hated my body for failing me.
Ten years after my shooting, I heard another survivor sharing her own story, raw and vulnerable. When I told Rhonda Foster how inspiring it was to hear her story, she invited me to open up about my own.
When I shared my story for the first time in front of over 300 people, I felt an immense release. It was the first time I let other people witness me in my grief, my pain, and my constant fear.
That moment was the catalyst for my recovery, and with every step I took out of hiding, people I met along the way held and guided me through.
As I tried to dance under the open sky again—I started to recognize the true value of my mom and aunties’ childhood lessons in belly dance.
They gave me the audacity to believe that I should be able to exist in spaces—dance, stand in the center, command attention, refuse to be pushed aside or ignored. With belly dance workshops, interviews, and speeches across the country, I invite participants to find and embrace the fullest expression of themselves, without holding back.
My story has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Women's Health Magazine, and a number of other media outlets, including dozens of podcasts and shows.
It took me a long time to get back on my feet, physically and emotionally. And now that I'm here, I dance at every chance I get!
When I'm not writing or traveling for work, my family and I love to play soccer in the backyard, grow fruits and vegetables in our garden, and have impromptu dance and karaoke battles in our living room.
Note: No performance inquiries please—Nurjahan teaches belly dance as a form of intimacy and community, not as a performance art
© 2021 All Rights Reserved
Belly dance was passed down to Nurjahan from the women in her family, who migrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Tanzania to the United States. While it's practiced differently in many parts of the world, she grew up with it as a community-based practice, with women coming together to celebrate and reconnect with their bodies.
Access Nurjahan's Belly Dance playlists on Spotify: Arabic Music, Swahili & Afro beats, TikTok Sounds
Shop similar styles to Nurjahan's dresses here.
$7 Belly Dance Single Class
Note: no performance inquiries please—Nurjahan teaches belly dance as a form of intimacy and community, not as a performance art)
Shimmy into a Body Roll
Beginner's Body Roll
Front to Back Hip Shimmy
Tips for Sensual and Fluid Hand Movements
Chest Shimmy Tutorial | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Walking Body Roll Tutorial | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Hip Slides Across the Floor (Shakira-Style) | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Tutorial for Wider, More Dramatic Hip Circles | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Hip Lifts from the Floor | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
4 Common Belly Dance Mistakes & How to Fix Them | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Guided Meditation for Survivors of Gun Violence | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
My Favorite Belly Dance Outfits | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Hip Lifts in a Circle on One Leg, aka The "Aunty Move" (pt 3) | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Hip Lifts in a Circle on One Leg, aka The "Aunty Move" (pt 2) | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Hip Lifts in a Circle on One Leg, aka The "Aunty Move" (pt 1) | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Stretching & Strengthening | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Hip Lifts in Motion | Belly Dance with Nurjahan
Note: No performance inquiries please—Nurjahan teaches belly dance as a form of intimacy and community, not as a performance art
© 2021 All Rights Reserved
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