“Ooohh! I also love me
some syntax and grammar!”
she adds. “So I freelance
as a copywriter and editor,
proofreader and translator.
There’s something about
words that makes me relax. I
do like camping and hiking,
but I’ve not been able to do
much of that in a while.”
Mia also works to raise
awareness around issues of
mental illness — “something
I suffer from and will forever
be medicated for, both
depression and ADD” —
and she has joined others in
raising awareness of trauma
and serious illness survivors.
“I like to remind people that
suffering and pain are never
a contest and one cannot
compare one’s experience with
anyone else’s,” she says.
She also makes sure to
make time for church, too, since she is a devout Catholic.
“I was taught from a very early age that we use each
and every one of our gifts to spread God’s love, so dance
is yet another tool that provides me with the opportunity
to show kindness,” Mia says, noting that she has never
had any issue reconciling her faith with her work as a belly
dancer, even though she is quite traditional in some ways.
“My faith is a very important part of my life. I wear the
‘mantilla,’ or veil, to humble myself before I enter my God’s
house. A lot of my vanity is wrapped up in my hair” —
which hangs well below her waist — “so pinning it up and
covering it serves to remind me that I am there [in church]
to listen and learn, not to show off or aggrandize myself.”
Wearing the mantilla is “a dying tradition,” Mia says, “so
other Catholics even ask me why I wear it! My mantilla was
a gift from my paternal grandmother, so it’s also a lovely
reminder of her.
“And here’s a fun fact,” she adds. “I find all religions
and spiritual practices across history fascinating from
sociological and anthropological viewpoints, including
mine. I love to study the ‘whys’ behind their development,
proliferation and decline.”
18
The Belly Dance Chronicles
January 2020
Although she has been
dancing all her life, Mia says
she is about to embark on a
new leg of her dance journey.
“I’ve been focusing on my
home life lately, so I feel like I
am about to have my second
‘coming out’ as a professional
dancer,” she declares. “I am
very excited about 2020, as I’ll
be creating more of a foothold
for myself in France. I’d love
to see everybody at Genova
Raks Festival this Feb. 15-16,
and I’d also love to see you all
in Puerto Rico this coming
July, as well as at Yaa Halla
Y’all’s 20th anniversary bash
in Texas at the end of July.
“I really look forward
to making more group
choreography projects and
working to create beautiful
pieces of art by collaborating
with other dancers,” she
concludes. “Einstein said, ‘Dancers are the athletes of God,’
and given that we hold in our hands the power to make an
entire audience feel peace, joy, love, relief and any number of
things for five minutes at a time, I not only agree with him,
but I think we should use this superpower for good!”
[email protected]
TAMMYE NASH
Tammye is a professional journalist and
amateur photographer living in Fort
Worth, Texas. She loves watching belly
dance shows and the chance to be part of
the belly dance community.