Christine “Shiraz” Şahin is a dance practitioner-scholar and ethnographer specializing in contemporary Egyptian raqs sharqi (“belly dance”) and other MENAT (Middle Eastern, North African, and Turkish) dance genres. She has a Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside, and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Delaware, and is currently serving as Acting Assistant Professor of Dance in the Department of Dance at the University of Washington in Seattle. She also specializes in geriatric fitness and mind-body wellness. Her research has been published in Kohl: A Journal for Gender and Body Research.