Alissar Abdel-Halim Caracalla is a Lebanese

dance instructor Dance education is a practice whereby students are taught a broad understanding of dance as a form of art and who are trained professionally in many different genres of dance. Dance education consists of specialized dancers who conduct original r ...

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

and

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

. She is the founder and director of the Orientalist Dance Company and CDS, the Caracalla School of Dance, which is simply known as "Studio Caracalla: L'art de la Danse." Caracalla is the daughter of Abdel-Halim Caracalla the founder of the

Caracalla Dance Theatre {{notability, date=September 2024 The Caracalla Dance Theatre is a dance company based in Beirut, Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediter ...

Biography

Caracalla was born 1974 on February 26 in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Her father, Abdel-Halim Caracalla a

Shiite Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

from

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

, married her mother, a Christian from Zahle, in a church. She spent the duration of the Lebanese Civil War growing up in London. At the age of 18, she moved to the United States.

Education

She received her BA in International Communications and Choreography from

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

in Los Angeles and her master's degree in Fine Arts in Dance Theory and Choreography at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Career

In 2005, she choreographed the dance sequels in

Philippe Aractingi Philippe Aractingi (فيليب عرقتنجي) (born in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Franco-Lebanese author, director, producer, actor and photographer. Biography Self-taught, Philippe Aractingi has directed more than 70 documentaries in various forma ...

's feature film, Bosta. In 2011, she joined forces with Kunhadi to raise road safety awareness in Lebanon and became one of their four ambassadors for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 in Lebanon. Additionally, she was the dance instructor and choreographer in the reality TV show Star Academy Lebanon.

Personal life

She lived in Los Angeles for several years. Currently, she lives in London and

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. Caracalla is married to Nael Chehab an aerospace engineer and founder of the business PrivaSky. They had their wedding in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

in 2012. She gave birth to their first child in 2017. In addition to

Lebanese Arabic Lebanese Arabic ( ; autonym: ), or simply Lebanese ( ; autonym: ), is a Varieties of Arabic, variety of Levantine Arabic, indigenous to and primarily Languages of Lebanon, spoken in Lebanon, with significant linguistic influences borrowed from ...

, she is a fluent speaker of French and English.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caracalla, Alissar Living people Lebanese dancers Lebanese emigrants to the United Kingdom Lebanese choreographers Contemporary dancers Lebanese female dancers Lebanese Shia Muslims 1974 births Lebanese emigrants to the United States Lebanese art directors Loyola Marymount University alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni