I began taking belly dance lessons from a friend who had grown up belly dancing with her mother.  We were both in high school at the time so, the lessons weren’t very consistent, but my desire to learn more never left me.  My formal training came a few years later in my early 20′s.  I have always been a dancer starting in ballet at the age of 3.  My life long love for dance had me continuously searching for a way to have it in my life.  One fateful day a friend insisted that I come with her to belly dance class.  My interest was immediately renewed.  I was hooked! The main thing I would consider a challenge so far as a belly dancer is finding my place within the art form.  There are ‘difficulties’ with technique and proper strength that I think a truly blossoming and talented dancer faces every single day throughout their entire career.  But, what’s more difficult than that is finding what is most relatable to me personally as a dancer first, then as a belly dancer, specifically.  I think an honest dancer understands the further you get in your education and experience as a dancer the more you realize how limited your knowledge really is… how much more there is to learn about the art and about yourself as an artist.

Do I still get nervous?  Oh yeah.  It is ‘exciting’ nerves… but yes. I’m not actually ‘afraid’ of the stage.  The manifestation of nerves comes in so many different forms. When I was little I didn’t get nervous.  As I grew older, it started to change a little bit; I felt a little bit of stage fright associated with learning new things and not yet being confident.  Then, just a few years ago something else started to happen.  Nervousness was suddenly connected to the idea of ‘showing an audience what I think I’m good at’…the idea that I might actually look like I know what I’m doing made me nervous which is a very strange contradiction. This is a perfect example as to one of the many reasons why it takes a dancer years and years to build a relationship with his/her art.  To be a mature dancer means coming up against a lot of things that only experience can present to you. Nowadays, it’s more just good ole show jitters….I guess a combination of all things previous.  Nerves of excitement with a mixture of confidence levels…. and ok perhaps the fear that I may spin off the stage or be blinded by the floor lights.  They look so good for the audience, but floor light’s completely throw me off!  : ) In January 2007, I founded Bodhicitta BellyDance based in Nashville, TN.  It is important to me more and more, as I improve as a dancer and as I learn more about belly dance that we uphold a certain amount of respect for tradition in this art form.  So many questions surround us about the history of belly dance but, I do think it is possible to represent an art form properly even though you may be breaking the mold or creating something new.  I feel this is possible if you take what you have learned, and with a devoted,  heart move forward with gratitude for your teachers by allowing what they have taught you to stay alive within you, maintain respect for tradition by continuing to learn, and show passion for dance through dedication.  This is why I put so much emphasis on technique.  If we are, by nature ambiguous within this art form no matter what we do considering the lack of there being ONE absolute structure within it, we can at least strive to understand, as individuals, what we do and why we do it… in terms of movement, practice, strength and devotion.  So, here I am again with one of the many reasons why it takes a life time to come to terms with ones art.  In Bodhicitta, we try to approach everything we do with this need to be respectful to this art form and to ourselves.  We also embrace the evolution of dance by using varying genres of music for our choreographies to create diversity in our shows.  We sometimes employ uniquely notable stage antics to be ‘lyrical’ in our approach.   We were nominated Nashville’s “Best Interpretive Artist” in 2007 and we have performed internationally, most notably at Spirit of the Tribes (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and Bergenfest (Bergen, Norway). We are rooted in ‘Tribal’ philosophies of belly dance with a diverse point of view as each member brings forth her own history and passion for dance.  We currently have a full length, three Act show consisting of varying styles of costuming, music and choreography.  This show debuted on June 28th 2008.  We perform as often as we can and we try to embrace our community and be an active part of maintaining it.