Tell us about yourself: How did you discover belly dance? Why,
when, and how did you begin studying belly dance?
I’m a Southern, liberal, mama’s girl who has loved to dance
for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a country-esque
suburb of Dallas and spent a lot of time outside being active.
I attended some formal Jazz dance classes growing up, but
nothing extensive. I mostly have memories of dancing
barefoot in our sticker-infested backyard with my heavy
“portable” boombox, the kind that needed about twenty D
batteries. I danced to music that was most definitely not
appropriate for my age, but I didn’t know the difference.
Some of my favorite tunes I used to create my on-the-spot,
unrefined, avant-garde moves were “Come On Eileen,”
“Big Country”, “Bizarre Love Triangle”, “Destination
Unknown”, “I Melt With You” and “Don’t You Want Me
Baby.” I have, also, always loved music and I would even
improvise on my sister’s piano before I ever took a formal
lesson. I’m not saying that what I played was good, but I was
feelin’ it! Nonverbal expressions of creativity have been my
chosen path since I’ve always been shy and had a hard time
conveying emotions any other way.
Austin Belly Dance Convention
When I first discovered belly dance I was a prudish
fourteen-year-old who did not approve of the sparkly, sexy
lady putting a veil around my dad’s head at an old Greek
restaurant in Dallas (a place where I would later work!) I
guess, deep down, I was intrigued, because the next time
I saw a belly dancer, I was hooked. This belly dancer was
the one and only Isis! I remember being at Scarborough
Renaissance Festival with my parents, seeing her perform
with all her veils and swords and red hair everywhere. The
sounds of the drums really ignited something primal in
me and I wanted to know how to dance like that to those
drums! But, I didn’t express this to my folks, yet.
When I was fifteen-years-old, I was an exchange student in
Budapest, Hungary. While I was over there, I tried to look
up belly dance lessons, but nothing ever came from it. Part
of the reason was probably because I thought belly dance
came from India and I was researching Indian dance! Why
I thought that, I don’t know. After I came home from my
year of living in Europe, I jumped at the first opportunity
to go to a Greek restaurant, “Goldfinger’s.” This time the