Alexis' Bellydance Blog: A friend is someone who dances with you...

Dancing with Martina in Hungary

I’ve had a wonderful summer at the European festivals – I would usually write a blog about how freaking awesome everything was, but I’m not going to do that. I can tell you that I took some brilliant workshops, performed in some amazing shows and saw some beautiful dancers... I got to dance with some amazing people (namely Ambrosia, Martina Crowe-Hewett, Sundari, and a group of beauties in some impromptu ATS), and I can tell you how grateful I am to the organisers of Tribal Umrah, Carpe Somnium, Split Tribal Fest and Budapest Tribal Festival for creating these opportunities to train, perform and share. But most of all, I’m grateful for how these events bring us all together.

I’ve been reminiscing about a friend recently. A good friend actually. My closest friend for all of my adult life. We haven’t spoken to each other in 6 months. She has her stuff on, I have my stuff on, we’re busy. Too busy to be friends anymore it seems. It’s sad, that this friendship seems to be over. And I thought back to Tribal Massive, where Zoe was talking about her life as a professional dancer. How she lost a lot of friends, good friends, because all she wanted to do was dance. People who don’t dance don’t seem to understand how dance engulfs our lives. And when you’re someone like me – working during the day, teaching classes in the evening (or spending much needed time with my long-suffering husband!), teaching/performing/studying on weekends in whatever city I happen to be in next... that doesn’t leave a lot of time for seeing friends. And some people understand this – they’re busy too and when you see each other again it’s like you’d never been apart. And others don’t get it. They see it as an offence, that you’re the only one who’s not contributing to the relationship. And after thinking of this friend, I came to realise that these days, I don’t really have any friends that are not somehow involved in dance. Now I only really have acquaintances outside of the dance world, with no passing interest in what I do, people I rarely see and don’t really stay in touch with on a regular basis. Some might think that’s kind of pathetic, but I’ve come to accept it and embrace it.

Ambrosia Glam Tribal

During this summer I have come to realise how incredibly lucky I am to be a dancer. I’ve had moments this summer, where I asked myself ‘How on earth did I end up in this place?’ Watching ATS dancers in a park in France, a stage surrounded by trees, a pause in their music with no sound but the breeze brushing through the leaves as the sun went down and darkness crept in. It was a beautiful moment which made me gasp for breath. Performing in a Roman Palace, sharing stages in foreign lands with the best people I could ever wish to call my friends. I am so grateful for the people I have met, and the places I have been, and the opportunities that I’ve had to dance with so many incredible people. I am grateful that I have a dance family that embrace me for who I am, and are the kinds of people that I don’t get to see for months but pick our friendship back up like I saw them yesterday. I’m grateful that I’m a dancer, and a tribal bellydancer at that!

Tribal Umrah

I got to see some inspirational and beautiful dancers this summer, and as such I have decided that, instead of this blog being all about me, it will be all about them. Europe really is where it’s at for Tribal Fusion right now, and I want to introduce you to the videos of just a few of the gorgeous, creative and inspiring beauties I’ve had the pleasure of seeing these past few weeks – some dancers that may not yet be on your radar but really, really should be! I wish there was enough room to showcase videos of everyone I saw.... but check out the Split Tribal Fest Channel on YouTube for more videos from this event! Enjoy!

Taisa Jah Surya (Ukraine)