Eastern culture has always fascinated me. The beauty, the aura, the mystery has always captivated my spirit. Mostly I blame my father for that. When my parents first met, my dad was a merchant marine and consistently traveled back and forth from New York, to locations all over the world. He visited many eastern countries including Egypt and India on a frequent basis. Once, while in India he called upon a Gypsy fortune teller who told him that he would one day have a daughter. She gave him some strange pills, and sent him away. And well, here I am!

As I grew, so did my interest. When I was about 16 I discovered that the 'U' TV stations here in New York would show Indian music and what I thought was 'Belly Dancing' on Saturday mornings and I became a regular viewer. I do think I found some Arabic stations too, but I can't be certain. Nevertheless, I was enchanted. That was also around the time I began having several recurring dreams of being in India!

How did I actually get into studying and performing the ancient art of Oriental Dance myself you ask? Well, the first dancer I actually ever saw on a stage was Mayte. She performed with Prince during his 1993 O(+> tour. She did veil work, played symbols, and balanced the sword while doing floor work. Never having seen any of this before, I was spellbound. I thought she was really graceful and charming, but also, I thought it looked pretty easy to do and so I wanted to try it too! But more on her in a second...

Several years went by until I decided to take a class. I was actually looking for something in the phone book one afternoon in early 1997 and I fell upon a page with dance school listings. 'Bellydancing by Serena Studios' immediately caught my eye! I thought! 'i should finally take a class', and I called Serena and went to her beginer class that night, but just to watch. As I stood there observing, I knew I had discovered something wondrous. I actually got the chills! I took my first class the following evening, and I was a junkie right away.

After that I immediately bought every book, and video and spent hours on the web reading and learning about the dance. I continue to immerse myself in all things belly dance even 5 years later. To me you can never learn enough. Oh - and one of the first things I found out is that nothing in this dance is easy...That's for sure!!!

And Mayte? Well, let me share a fun experience I had. In the Spring of 2000 a mutual friend of Mayte's and myself named Dave asked me if i knew of a place where she could have a small party for her mom (Nelly's) birthday. She wanted a place that had live music and where she could surprise her mom by coming out and giving a special performance (Nelly was also a M.E dancer and taught Mayte when she was small). I suggested a restuarant called Cedars of Lebanon, a favorite of mine at the time. Mayte went there and arranged the party. No one knew who she was and they gave her a bit of a hard time about dancing, but eventually she convinced them that she knew what she was doing... :D

The next day Dave sent me another email saying that Mayte asked that I come to the party. I said, "NO WAY!" I thought it was highly inappropriate for me to come to her mother's birthday party! I didn't know her afterall but he insisted saying Mayte asked that I come, and she would like to meet me. So I went...That evening I had a great conversation with Mayte and her mom about dance, and teachers in the city, etc. Her and her mom mentioned several workshops they attended back in the day and I got a real sense of how deeply involved they once were in M.E. dance before Mayte began dancing with Prince. I also could tell she wanted to get back into it in some way...

Eventually Mayte slipped away unnoticed by her mom. When they announced Mayte as the dancer, Nelly was geniunely shocked and thrilled. She is simply one of the best Middle Eastern dancers I've seen (and I have seen plenty)! Excellent technique coupled with a really sweet quality that shines through. She invited this guy onstage to dance with her and after awhile it became apparent that he had had some training somewhere. Her rolled up his shirt and started undulating almost as well as she was! Mayte was so tickled by this that she just stopped dancing for a moment and let him take over! She even poked him playfully in the bellybutton! Everyone - the band, waitors, bartenders were smiling and staring at her in awe. Like, "Wow! Who is this girl??" It was pretty fab experience. I have begun calling her Maytesnuffaluffagus lately. You know - like Mr. Snuffaluffagus from Sesame Street. You remember him right? Nobody ever got to see him but Big Bird. Not many people have gotten to see her dance classical Oriental, so proving that prowess is difficult sometimes. But that's ok. If it was good enough for Big Bird, I guess it's good enough for me...

Dameshe...