When I was eighteen, I saw a belly dance contest at a mall. The women were young and old, big and small. The music and costumes were fantastic. I thought, “I want to learn that!” I contacted the organizer of the contest and started taking classes with Kismet. That was 1978.

Not long afterward, I took a break to go to the Army, get married, and have kids. Then about seven years ago, I saw a show at Earth Day and the spark was reignited. I’ve been dancing ever since.

I never thought I’d compete. At some point I was looking at my life and thought I’d like to do as much as I can within my limits (money, time, age). I thought, “Let me just try competing one time and see how it goes. I don’t care if I place. I just want to do it.” It was like checking off the box to say, “I did that.”

It took me a long time to prepare. I copied the rules and judging criteria and put it in my folder. I listened to Taaj’s teleseminar with Zaina Hart. That was the greatest help of all. Because Zaina has been in many competitions and judged them, here advice was great. I was worried about doing my style in contest because it’s is very old American style, and I noticed that everyone was doing Egyptian. I thought I wasn’t going to do well, but Zaina said that it was not a good idea to change yourself all around for a contest. She said to dance to the music that you love and the style that you are comfortable with. I felt okay about it after that and said, “Okay, I will do this.”

I was really surprised that I won Grand Champion at the East Coast Classic. Everyone was so good and so polished. I think the thing that made the difference is that everything that was on the score sheet was in my routine. It’s really not about being the best dancer. It’s about including all the elements that are being judged in the routine and dancing it cleanly. If X isn’t in the routine, you can’t get points for X. My advice for contestants is to get a blank copy of the score sheet. Underline the criteria. Memorize it. Make sure that everything the judges are scoring is in your routine because that’s what the judges are going to be looking at. I would also get Zaina’s teleseminar CD. She has good advice about preparing for the contest that made a huge difference.

I am glad I competed, but I don’t want to do it again! It’s too hard. I rehearsed twice a week for three months. It was stressful. It’s something I just wanted to do once. I did it. I’m done!

I want to keep Oriental dance as my hobby. I am not going to be an instructor. It’s way too demanding. I don’t want to be responsible for shaping people’s dance. It’s too hard. I decided that I wasn’t going to let any negativity come into my life because of the dance. It is my joy. I didn’t want it to be called a business or my work, or get tired of it, or any of that.

I am able to do that by not taking on the responsibility of the business end of it. I book gigs through my instructor. I can pick and choose gigs. I don’t teach. I don’t put on shows and workshops. I just do the fun part! I am forty-six years old and don’t know how long I will be able to dance for people for money. As long as it’s fun and people want to see me, I’ll be right here.