special place in my heart.”
Moria Chappell, she said, offers “special inspiration”
and “resonates with my spiritual side. She is someone with
whom I have had the immense honor of collaborating. The
woman is a living goddess, and her dance path does nothing
but reflect that.”
Groundbreaking artist Ilan Rivière and “what he has built
in Sitges, Spain, looks like the most interesting project I have
seen lately,” Silvia said. “And finally, I must say that despite
all these amazing human beings I mentioned, the strongest
inspirations come always from close to home: my fellow
dancers in Houston — I have already mentioned Sahira,
but then I cannot forget Kimberly Larskpur — and the
Goddesses of the Festivals in Texas. Isis [Bartlett of Isis Star
Dancers Studio in Bedford] is totally, completely, someone
who continuously humbles me. The woman is a tour de force.”
But in the end, inspiration comes from within.
“If anything, my source of inspiration is expressing aspects
of myself or my story on stage, blended with the beauty of any
form of dance that resonates with me when I try it.
“The truth is,” she continued, “we are surrounded by
beauty, and we just need to open our eyes to it to be inspired
or motivated. I truly feel like there are days in which I am in
my head, and the Universe goes, ‘BAM! Silvia, wake up and
look at this marvel!’ Whether that is a fabric or a tree or a
video on social media or how my cats move.”
T he healing power of dance
Regardless of where the inspiration
comes from, for Silvia, the goal of
belly dance is to heal, whether that be
mind, body, soul — the world, even.
“We are practicing a modality
of dance that is based on and
mostly follows organic and natural
movement,” Silvia said. “So, we are
exercising our bodies into strong
muscles and well-maintained bones
for life, good blood circulation,
sustained heart rate, spine flexibility.
Now to me, the key is that we are
putting that together with expressing
in our movement what we feel, with
never losing sight of the celebration
of beauty and feminine energy that is
belly dance.
“One steps into practice, and with
the first hand movement that conveys softness, we feel soft,
tender. With the hip movements, we feel strong, powerful.
With one repetition of snake arms, we feel beautiful, graceful.
“And the moves themselves are full of all kinds of
wonderful attributes of the feminine divine. So we tap into
those attributes in our flesh,” Silvia explained. “Bottom line
is, very simply, a woman comes in the room feeling low,
and she leaves the class, or the stage, feeling better. And if I
begin talking about healing from abuse, particularly sexual
abuse, I would have to write a book.”
Silvia chose to go into biochemistry because she wanted
to help people. When she left that field, she found another,
better way to help — as a therapist.
“I don’t work in biochemistry anymore, but now I
use my knowledge of brain chemistry as a therapist. As
dance was happening for me, I also wanted to manifest my
desire to help heal others. So I got my master’s degree in
transpersonal therapy, and I work as a non-conventional
therapist. I blend in all that I find good and sacred.”
And for Silvia, belly dance is part of the good and
sacred. “I did my transpersonal psychology master’s degree
dissertation about belly dance as a tool” in working with
women who have been sexually abused, she said. “I got the
degree, so I guess I was pretty convincing!”
She continued, “Dance is healing. Dance is nurturing.
Dance helps us process. In therapy, most of what I do is
Photo by Ron Mailloux/Le Vieux Loup Photography
April 2019
The Belly Dance Chronicles
15