Maha Al Musa

Maha Al Musa is a mother, writer, doula (birth assistant), as well as actress and dancer. She is of Palestinian/Moslem and Lebanese/Christian background and was born in Kuwait. She migrated to Australia in 1964.

Maha received her Diploma Of Teaching in Melbourne, 1984. In the 80s and 90s she worked as an actress on stage, film and TV in Australia and the UK, and was the first Palestinian/Lebanese actress on Actors Equity books in Australia. She was an early pioneer of multicultural theatre arts in Australia, speaking out for recognition and equality of ethnic actors, and has worked on many productions, including the first fully funded, self devised theatre show of an all ethnic Australian cast A Play On Worlds (1989), the first all cast Arab woman’s theatre show in Sydney, The Politics of Bellydancing (1994), and the first Australia Council funded Palestinian play, In Search Of Rita (1994) written by Palestinian playwright, Assad Abdi with Sidetrack Theatre. In 1989 she featured on a Vox Popoli documentary made for SBS about the struggles ethnic actors face in Australia. In the early 90s Maha was also regularly involved in performance poetry. Her first play, a memoir called Heart's Desire was chosen by Playworks Women's Theatre Organisation in Sydney as part of their annual play collection.

Maha has been belly dancing since childhood. She has been facilitating Bellydance for Birth classes in Byron Bay, Australia since 1997. In this time and through her role as doula, Maha has taught many women of all ages and stages of pregnancy the art of bellydance as a birthing preparation.

In 2001, Maha realised her dream to uplift, inspire and empower all women in their birthing journeys, and with the intention of appealing to women across the globe and over many generations, she began to write her first book, Dance of the Womb.

Maha currently lives in Byron Bay with her partner Don and her three beautiful children, Kailash, Tariq and Aminah.