This is my story of how I became a teacher. It differs from a
bio, (which will soon be posted on my webpage) because this is
more personal and reveals who “the person behind the teacher
“ is for you.
I've been a dancer ever since I was two and half years old, the
youngest to pass an audition for Thelma Davis' School of Dance
& Modeling. My mum had enrolled me because she thought that a
two year should not be falling over her feet as much as I was…
little did she know what she started!
I did the usual tap, ballet, acrobatic stuff and grew up going to
bed each night dreaming of what it would be like to be a
"real dancer". Something about dancing made me feel
"high" in a way that was much larger than anything I
knew. I danced in my room alone, and made my dances into prayers
and rituals. I felt that this was what I was meant to do.
In high school I took modern dance instead of sports or phys ed,
since I wasn’t very good at either of them. There I was
introduced to Ruth St Denis and Isadora Duncan's work through my
dance instructor. We did performances to Jonathan Livingston
Seagull, Mike Oldfield, and the Godspell album, (am I showing my
age yet?) along with folk dances and studied Graham technique. To
her horror, I wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer (anything to be
able to dance for a living).
Throughout my life, and at a deeper level at this time, I became
a spiritual seeker also. My mum taught Hatha Yoga, and read much
about Edgar Cayce, so I was turned on to metaphysical studies in
my teens.
And still I danced. I danced in the open fields, I danced in
smoky clubs. And I always connected with something I couldn't
describe and was afraid to, since no one else seemed to have this
experience.
I became fascinated with Indian Temple Dancers, the Devadasi.
In 1980 or so my mum and I took belly dance classes together.
Wow! This was the thing I was looking for! Unfortunately I gave
it up for a time for a boyfriend who didn't approve (and he
didn't last) but I remembered the moves and incorporated them
into my club dancing. My life went through some very odd stages,
I made some strange choices. But I still read everything about
spiritual matters, and I still danced, just for myself.
Since returning to Kansas in 1992, I have taken up Bellydance as
my passion. I took over my mums' bellygram business and brought
it with me when I moved to Lawrence in 1993.
I danced in restaurants in Lawrence and Kansas City, at the
Renaissance Festivals, and I’ve been hired for many
corporate events and parties over these past years.
I am now exploring dance as a healing art, and using the energy
bodies around us.
I started finding books here and there about dance, but nothing
like what is starting to be available now, connecting dance and
Spirit. I started teaching bellydance at Pagan Festivals because
the women there wanted to connect with a feminine power and inner
beauty, not to mention look good around that bonfire at night!
Then I taught some workshops in the local New Age bookstores;
Bellydance, Goddess dancing, Dancing the elements. The response
has been wonderful. I've been fortunate to watch shy, awkward
women bloom into graceful movers in just a few weeks of classes.
And it's affected me.
I’ve taught my workshops in Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and
all over Kansas.
In 1997, I blew out three discs in my upper back, working as a
truck driver and had to give it up. I shunned the cortisone shots
and nothing the doctors tried seemed to help the pain. For an
entire month, I slept hardly at all, more than ten minutes in any
position soon had me crying with the pain. It was finally a
bodyworker - a sister dancer-who did cranial-sacral therapy and
helped me through some emotional traumas that started me to
finally heal. I moved when I could and danced what little I
could manage until I grew stronger and could perform again.
It still gives me bad days from time to time, but if it
weren't for dancing, i would still be near immobilized, I'm sure.
It was the only thing I felt motivated to try.
More and more, Spirit kept gently pushing me to go further with
this, stretch my wings and reach out.
In the fall of 2000, my finally healed back problem was
re-traumatized by a young man who ran into my stopped car at
about 60mph. My four-door Intrepid was totalled, crumpled between
his truck and the car in front of me. Thankfully we all walked
away from the accident, but again, I was sidelined for months
while my body and mind worked on healing this latest "kick
in the backside" from Spirit. The doctors found on x-rays
that my neck had actually been fractured in the past. It was
never discovered by the doctor on the previous injury, but it
sure made sense of the pain I went through back then. I am
convinced that if it were not for Dance, I would not be nearly so
mobile today.
A psychic woman told me that dancing is my healing and my
communication and a way to help heal the Earth. And she didn't
know about my dancing or spiritual practices. An astrologer has
pointed out the dance elements in my natal chart.
Dance is my channel for Spirit.
My personal style when I dance spontaneously has a mixture of
modern, Indian, Turkish, Persian and Arabic dance in it. I also
love to use my skirts to flourish around, as part of the dance.
I start all my performances with a mindful prayer, even if only
for a second before the music starts, and I start classes with a
secular guided meditation. And music? Ah, I dance to anything.
I've caught myself "dancing" to the beat of my turn
signal in the car! I love drummers and live dancing out in the
parks and places where the wildness flows free, and I love dark,
smoky clubs where techno music pounds.
I took a ten-day retreat to Maui with Delilah of Seattle
(www.visionarydance.com) and Mésmera of Los Angeles. I felt the
power of Pele climbing into my core.
I returned to Kansas with a deeper understanding of how this
dance heals us, without our even asking for it.
I’ve been teaching since 1997, and dancing
semi-professionally since 1992, I hope to continue to do
both for much longer. Unlike other dance genres, bellydancers are
honored as they mature, and there are still venues for dancers
into the years long past where other dancers have had to retire.
Many women don’t even start until their middle-age, my own
mother was over forty when she took her first Bellydance lesson.
It’s often a lovely gift at that stage in life to discover a
whole new world of self-expression, and a hobby that will keep
them active, lovely and limber for the rest of their lives.
Welcome to Bellydance.. and may your journey be fulfilling,
whether for something different to try for awhile, or for a
lifelong dream!
Roya,
Spirit-Dancer