Kata Maya:
Dancing through the changes and into the future
Katherine LaBrier knew from an early age what she wanted
talked about school, homework, friend drama, and shared in
to do with her life — what she was supposed to do with her
so many laughs I can’t even count.”
life. She is now known across the belly dance community as
Like Kata Maya, many of those little girls, now grown
Kata Maya, and she is doing what she believes she was born
women, are still dancing and still friends, even though they are
to do.
all unique individuals. “Some are quiet and introverted; some
Kata Maya was born into a
are very outgoing and even on cast at
dance family. Her mother, Alice
Scarborough [Renaissance Festival].
Godbey, had already been dancing
One even owns a motorcycle now,”
for several years when the family
Kata Maya said. “Moving a lot after
moved to North Texas in 1986.
college has made it hard to keep up
Once here, Alice started dancing
with them, but when I am able to
with Isis Star Dancer Studio under
[go back to North Texas and] visit,
the name LimMaya, a combination
the love is still there between us all.
of Latin and Egyptian words that
“I know those girls would
translates into English as “lake
show
up on my door in a heartbeat
Katherine and her mother, Alice -
photo
by
Tammye
Nash
water.” Eventually Alice’s oldest
— or as soon as traffic would allow
daughter, Veronica, began taking
— if I asked them to. And I would
classes at the studio, taking the dance name Rose Maya, to
do the same for them,” she declared.
reflect her red hair.
“It’s true that my mother was the main reason I was
Then it was Katherine’s turn. And Kata Maya danced
introduced to belly dance,” Kata Maya continued. “But it’s
into the world. Her name, she said, is obviously partially an
also true that I wouldn’t have stayed with it for just that reason.
homage to her mother — Maya — but the Kata part of it?
“At the time I was majorly obsessed with cats, thus
Kata Maya performs with The Angels of Isis - photo by Jennifer McCoy
‘Kata,’” she explained. “Keep in mind, I was 5 or 6 years old
at the time! Have I thought about changing my name? A
couple times, yes. But am I going to? Absolutely not. I love
that it is unusual, feels like it fits me perfectly.
She “officially started in the little girls’ class at the Isis
studio in 1996, when I was 5 or 6 years old,” Kata Maya
recalled. Her classmates included Safira, now a member
of the Wings of Isis professional troupe, studio owner Isis
Bartlett’s granddaughter Nicole and two other young girls
whose mothers danced at the studio.
Through that class and later the Angels of Isis troupe,
Kata Maya said, she met many other young girls who have
remained her friends through the years.
“I met my first and longest best friend, Safira, in dance.
Others I met in the Angels of Isis have been life-long
friends as well. Each of us has been around through multiple
boyfriends and, now, fiances and husbands,” she said. “We’ve
October 2018
The Belly Dance Chronicles
11