Our Team
Bonnie Toland
Founder
Bonnie Toland practiced dabke with The Sirreyet Ramallah group for music and dance in Ramallah, Palestine in 1999. Learning dabke and its social-political significance formed the basis of a research project on the interdependent relationship between culture and politics. In 2002, Bonnie helped found Al Zeitoun dabke troupe in Boston, MA. After moving to Tucson, Bonnie began teaching dabke in the fall of 2004, and subsequently founded Al-Haneen Dabke Dance Troupe. Bonnie holds a BA in Cultural Studies and Political Science from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. Bonnie began graduate studies in Italian Literature at Boston College and is currently finishing her second BA in Interior Design through the Art Center Design College in Tucson, AZ. Bonnie believes in the power of artistic and cultural expression to promote positive personal, political, and social change.
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Layth Saleh
Trainer
Laith started learning dabkeh when he was 9 years old as a member of Al Hannouneh Group for Popular Culture in Jordan. For a few years, Laith participated and lead dabkes in Jordan. Between 1993 and 1996, he was a member of the Al Hannouneh music group as a violinist. After spending another 3 years as a regular performer in Al Hannouneh, Laith took over training, supervising, leading, and choreographing throughout 1999- 2005. As a member of the dance and music groups, I participated in shows in Jordan and abroad, including the Middle East. Laith has been training Al-Haneen for 2 months and is completing his residency at University Medical Center.
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Zafiro Dell'Acqua
Performance Coordinator/Public Relations
Zafiro is a 19 year old student studying marketing and vocal performance. She has been a part of Al-Haneen for two years and is very passionate about dabke; so much that she sometimes dances outside of the group, leading dabke at Luxor Cafe on the weekends! She had some ballet and jazz dance experience prior to Al-Haneen and has a lot of theatrical stage experience! She hopes to participate as a vocalist in Al-Haneen's music group and is excited about continuing to promote Al-Haneen!
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Jennifer Darrow-Naser
Secretary
Jennifer Darrow-Naser began dancing with Al-Haneen in January of 2007, under the guidance of Ayham Ashouly, who left later that year to continue his life back home in Qatar. She has been with Al-Haneen since then, taking only 2 hiatuses of marriage and pregnancy. Now she finds herself enjoying motherhood and juggling dabke. Her husband, Mohammed Naser, acts as Al-Haneen's advisor. Hopefully in the future, their baby girl Noor will continue in her mother's footsteps and become a dabeeka! The opportunity to learn dabke and be a part of this experience is wholly in thanks to Bonnie- our founder, support, friend, sister, and fellow dancer.
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Leilani Kurtak
Member
Leilani Kurtak is a 17 year old junior at Sabino High School and has been in Al-Haneen for a year. Prior to Al-Haneen, Leilani participated in and performed with an eastern European folk dance group named Rusyny. Leilani has been in Rusyny for 8 years and still performs with them today. Leilani loves performing with Al-Haneen because of the great experiences and friendships the group has given her!
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Ana-Victoria Contreras
Member
Ana- Victoria Contreras is 21 years old and has been in Al-Haneen for almost two years. She has had past dance experience through her middle school in Mexico, where she danced Cumbia and Banda. She first joined Al-Haneen when the group went to Arab World Fest and has been an enthusiastic member ever since!
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Levi Ali
Member
Levi Ali originally joined Al-Haneen's musical group as a darbuka player. However, having a passion for both Middle Eastern music and dance, Levi joined Al-Haneen. He enjoys dabke because of its spirit, the feeling of togetherness the group offers, and the ability to connect to Palestinian culture.
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