Transcript of an Interview with a Belly Dancer, Lea Wroblewski

By Nicolette Edenburn and Carolyn Williams

Skype Interview Owasso, OK to Lincoln, NE with Nicolette’s cousin

Sunday, February 12, 2012 approximately 5:00 p.m.

000: Nicolette (from now on designated as N)- We are going to be asking questions about you and belly dancing for a research project.

Carolyn (from now on designated as C)- My name is Carolyn by the way…

N- Are you ready?

Lea (from now on designated as L)- Yes

N- Uhm, first Lea, will you tell us a little bit about your background and yourself, and tell us the name of the troupe that you are in and about how much time you spend with your troupe each week.

L- Oh,ok, Uhm, My name’s Lea Wroblewski and (pause) I’ve danced with a belly dancing troupe called “eux ver” (SP?) which is a tribal belly dance troupe. We practice once or twice a week. Uhm, and then I probably practice on my own once a week as well.

N-Ok.

C- When you practice on your own, do you just put on tapes or

L-Yes

C-Ok

L-Yea, or I have DVDs I practice with and the other people in my troupe are the same way… Some of us are interested in particular styles, and so we might practice something that we don’t dance together (Pause)

N- And then, can you tell me a little about your life outside of belly dancing?

L- Yeah, I’m an attorney; I’ve been an attorney for fif, no seventeen years. I’m a mom with three kids. I have a dog, a cat, and uhm an old house that’s falling apart. (N laughs) (Pause)

N- Ok, we’ll going to start in on the interview questions. Now that was just a little background… Why did you get into belly dancing? And was there a

person or an event that inspired you to begin especially cause you said you are the tribal form, was there…

L- Yeah

N- a reason you got into that form?

L-Uhm, um, A friend of mine wanted to go take lessons at the YMCA and she didn’t want to go by herself, so she asked me to go with her. So I went with with her and… she didn’t like it (clink-background noise as L fidgets with something off camera’s site) I on the other hand, really enjoyed it and so, I started going back and… Part of the reason I liked it is that is wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t like the curly hair and the sequence, and the super-cute, winky-eyed stuff which is NOT me at all! The tribal belly dancing is much more earthy, I guess and more grounded. They wear more, er, heavier textiles (jewelry bangled-background noise) just more interesting looking clothing, more diverse-looking, I guess, and there is a much more broader looking range of women as opposed to one particular super-cute body type that does it…It’s not I Dream of Jeannie type; it’s more accustomable variety, so that’s why ( clink-jewelry bangled background noise) I’m interested in that. (Pause)

N- Ah, and do you have to be in some kind of physical shape to begin belly dancing?

L- Right, uhm, There’s people of all different, uhm, you know, sizes, all different health issues, all different, uhm, range of flexibility or… stamina, ah there are a huge variety.

N- Uhm, what health benefits have you noticed since beginning belly dancing?

L- Uhm, I would, it’s not the best exercise I could get that’s for sure! I would say the health benefits are more uhm, just mood-wise. I feel good after dancing, and just more of a community, a sense of community, I guess and just that endorphin feeling of that you get from movement.

C-(whispers) Let’s ask her… Well, uhm, you said that you didn’t get that, you didn’t notice any physical benefits. Can you expand on that?

L- Well,I guess I mean, I it’s not, it’s not necessarily an aerobic activity. I mean it’s a physical activity but it’s not uhm, (pause) I think if you’re trying to get physically fit, you are better off lifting weights and going for a run

(laughs) But I think there’s benefits to dancing, of course, like flexibility. I think the flexibility, my flexibility has since improved but again I’m probably better off going to yoga. I just feel it’s more than that.

N- What does a typical practice involve?

L- Uhm, we usually warm up. And then, uhm, if we’re getting ready for a performance, that’s what the rehearsal is going to focus on. If we’re not then we might be just drilling or trying new movements or uhm, new music is pretty common; we like to do lots of different music, so someone usually has something they want to try dancing to.

C- So when you warm up…, is that stretching or..

L- Yeah, mostly stretching and also some slow movement, or a slow dance is a good way to warm up. We’re doing what are called isolations like things like

C-ah ah

L- belly rolls or just a slow, uh, a slow movement.

N- Uh, do you participate in other exercise or physical activities besides belly dancing?

L- Yeah, I walk every day and I go to the YMCA a couple times a week: Uhm, lift weights, and use the elliptical, that sort of thing.

N- Are

C- I was just going to say, does the typical woman, do you think that they would need outside exercise in order to get benefits from belly dancing?

L- Yeah, unless you are going to dance four to five times a week, you need to do more (pause)

C-Ok

N- Ok Tell us about your self-image before belly dancing.

L- Uhm, I do not think of myself as necessarily a…a creative person or dancer. Uhm...And I was not I was very thin. I was actually a lot thinner than I am now when I started belly dancing, and I was uncomfortable with people looking at my body. I guess I’m not used to … I’m not a performer and it’s not something I’m accustomed to…and uhm, at my job for example, I use my

voice and my ability to persuade, and my writing and I use all of these other skills none of which have to do with my physical appearance, so it’s just not something I have ever been comfortable with. That was a HUGE change for me! So that oddly enough, I am more comfortable with my body now, and I’m actually much more heavier than when I started to belly dance. So I think it has less to do with my actual appearance and just more of my (sssss) just my comfort of being in front of other people.

C- So do you feel more rounded, more whole...now?

L- Yeah, I just feel more comfortable. I just feel less I I I have also have realized I I just feel less that people are looking at me, or judging me. Uhm, and I just care less, I guess.

N-And how long did you say you have been doing belly dancing?

L-Uhm, it’s been over ten years now.

N-Ok.

C-And how long do you think it took you to get comfortable?

L-It took me a long time. I think it varies from person to person, but it definitely took me longer than it takes some people, and again I think that’s just because it wasn’t ever something I had ever done. I think when people come from a theater background or if people have a dance background or in some way they are used to physically presiding themselves that the comfort comes a lot more quickly. Probably took me, I mean seriously (cat noise in background) I would say 5 years. I mean, I was performing before that, but it was really, really difficult for me, and I did not see myself as a leader, nor was I comfortable leading until after that time.

N-Uhm, are all of the people in your troupe, have they been dancing about 10 years as well, or...?

L-Some of them. Some of them have only been dancing a couple of years, uhm, and just have a different confidence level than I had or a different, uhm, you know, some of them have a dance background and so they were just more comfortable dancing than I was.

N-Ok. Uhm, are there any emotional benefits from belly dancing besides the confidence that you...?

L-Yea, I was going to say, well the self-esteem for sure. Uhm, and the friendships I’ve gotten, um and the uhm I think the expressing yourself artistically can be really satisfying in a way that uh talking about your feelings isn’t necessarily. Uhm so expressing myself through music has always been you know I was I played musical instruments I never performed to music with my body, and so that’s been a different way to experience music for me, and that’s been very emotionally satisfying.

C-Go back and ask her if the...Was the tribal form the only form available at the Y at the time, or was there different forms?

N-She said that she, you said that you the Y had was the other type, correct?

C-Oh, Y was...

L-Yea

N-And that you didn’t like that?

L-Yea, there’s a cabaret instructor that also teaches belly dance, uhm or was at the time, and it was never anything I was interested in. I enjoy watching it, but it’s not it wasn’t something I ever saw myself doing, I guess..uhm.

C (to N)-So how did she find this one?

N (to L)-And can you say again how you found the tribal form?

L-Yea, my friend asked me to go with her to a class.

C-Oh Ok

L-And it was uhm and I’ve heard it since then I’ve heard it described from by other women I have a friend who’s Persian and she when she saw us perform, she’s like, “This is how all the women in my family dance,” I mean, multiple generations of women, dancing together, in a group, uhm, it’s very, uhm, it goes back to you know the the word “tribal” really describes it, it goes back to a time when tribes of people would live as huge families together and have huge parties together, and women would dance together, and that’s where this style of dance comes from.

N-But you have formed your your own group since then, it’s not

L-Right

N-Classes at...like how you started?

L-Right. I’ve actually had a couple of different, so I started at the Y, and then I went to a studio here in Lincoln that did tribal belly dance, uhm for a while I was part of a cooperative dance studio and we had a belly dance troupe there that did tribal belly dance. Uhm and right now I’m just performing, we actually rehearse at my friend’s house. Uhm once a week we meet at her house and uh go to other workshops where we learn from other instructors.

C-Do you need a lot of room?

L-Not too much. I mean it depends on the size of the group. Uhm but my friend really just clears out her dining room; I’ve done the same thing at my house. Uhm you really just need to move the furniture out of the way and have enough room for about 4 to 5 people to stand together closely and you’ve got room.

pause

N-Uhm, Well, we talked about the emotional benefits, are there any emotional risks from belly dancing?

L-Yea, I mean, and uh, I’ve heard, uhm, you know I’ve gone through a couple of groups, and and I haven’t left any of those badly, I don’t think, but there are always hurt feelings I think if people are interested in going in different directions or um. There’s definitely power issues which happen when you have groups of people that might have different ideas about which direction the group should go in. So that’s been a struggle, uhm...and...(talking more slowly here)

C-Have you had to deal with any of those in your troupe?

L-Not, well, obvious-- not with my current troupe, because that’s part of why we left the last one. But Uhm

C-Ok

L-You know, we really wanted our focus to be on dancing for ourselves, and performing, but not having that be the priority.

C-Ok.

L-Uhm and we were not interested in focusing on teaching. We do have uhm a woman that dances with us that we consider a student right now, but we don’t teach like a formal class. And so the last troupe that I left, uhm they were expecting me to come in and rehearse 3-4 times a week. Uhm They

were, there was, a large emphasis on teaching and it just wasn’t, I wasn’t able to give that type of time to rehearsal or to teaching and it just wasn’t the direction I wanted to go in. So there were some hurt feelings about that, because I was very close to some of those women, uhm, so that’s unfortunate, but I you know I just think when you have, part of it’s the artistic part of this but the other part’s the ego of course, too, you know.

C-Uh huh

L-You know of course if you’re performing people feel uhm very strongly that you should be able to perfect what you’re doing, or do what you’re doing the best, and for some people that means you have to rehearse a lot. That just wasn’t possible for me.

N-So there are mainly emotional risks from dealing

C-From people

N-with other other people outside, not, not. Belly dancing doesn’t cause internal emotional pain anyway??

L-No, no, I would no, absolutely not. (shuffling around) I think it just has to do with the issues that happen within your own group.

N-Uhm tell us about the first time you saw a belly dancer.

L-Uhm well the first time I saw a belly dancer it was more the restaurant-style of belly dancer. I saw it was at the uhm uh it was at a road race in Boulder, Colorado, and there was a group of belly dancers alongside of the road dancing, and they were just dressed up, and uhm entertaining the runners as they went by, and I just remember thinking it looked really fun.

N-Was that more the cabaret style, or was that a

L-Yea

N-Tribal?

L-Yea, that was more the cabaret style. And I would have to say as far as the tribal dance goes, it’s kind of unique to the West coast in the United States, and my troupe was one of the biggest troupes in this area for a long time, the first troupe I was with. Uhm I went to a festival in Seattle, gosh, this was like 4 years ago or so, and uhm I just remember being in the room and there’s this movement that’s called The Egyptian and we’re doing the

Egyptian, and then the teacher in the front of the room cued the turn, and we all did the turn, and I was in this room with like, a hundred women that had all responded to the cue in the same way, and I just started to cry, and I just remember thinking, “These are my people! I found my people!” (N, C, and L laugh) And uhm, and that was really moving to me. It was the first, that was a specifically a tribal workshop, and that was the first time I had been around that many tribal belly dancers. Because always before the tribal belly dancers had been from my troupe, you know...

pause

N-Uh, and how has belly dancing changed the way you think about, or see your body? I think we’ve hit on that partially, but...

L-Yea, I kind of talked about that. I just it I mean the costuming really emphasizes parts of my body that I don’t usually emphasize, like my hips, or my breasts and uhm, so that’s been really different for me, and it’s not necessarily in an overtly sexual way, but I mean that’s definitely where the movement is, and you’re highlighting the abdominal area which is, you know, as a mother of three children, it’s not anything I’d ever thought I would uhm want to highlight, but it’s I’ve certainly become more comfortable with it.

N-Uh, and how has belly dancing changed the way you dress in everyday life?

L-Oh, I think that was one of the questions I suggested! (laughing)

N-(laughing) Yea...

L-Uhm, it has, it really has changed the way I dress, uhm, the particularly, uhm, I really like the heavy textures, the Middle Eastern textures, and, I will sometimes wear uhm, I have some wrap skirts that are made out of Indian saris that I, you know, wear everyday with like a t-shirt. Uhm, I have jewelry that I wear, and whenever I wear, particularly the jewelry, people comment on it, and I will wear just a plain black dress, but then I have this really cool necklace that came from, ....uhm I can’t believe, uh I’ll remember the name of the country here in a minute...but it’s coral, and it has ss and it’s just huge, it’s this huge tribal jewelry, and when I wear that people just go, “Wow, where did you get that?” and uhm, you know very simple outfit really, but it’s just because the jewelry is so much larger. And I guess that’s the other thing, too, jewelry seems so small to me now, it’s like, I look at little

tiny diamonds or little tiny pearls, and like, I want big, big jewelry! (N, C, and L laugh) I want Uhm

C-Do Does the jewelry also bangle and? Or is it?

L-Yea, yea, it’s called kuchi k-u-c-h-i. Um the tribal jewelry, uh women that live in the desert wear all their jewelry all the time because they don’t have you know a jewelry box or a safe deposit box or whatever, so they wear their jewelry, and it’s passed down through the family members and the uhm it’s just really beautiful, worn uhm, clearly jewelry that’s had a life, it’s just really beautiful.

N-So at work you can incorporate it through mainly the jewelry? Is that...

L-Yea, through the jewelry yea. And I do, sometimes I wear stuff in my hair, too, like I’ll wear flowers in my hair, or I have like a dragon hair stick that I have worn. I have a, I wore a uh uhm a hair stick with an elephant in it once, and the judge comm...it didn’t seem very strange to me, it was actually kind of small compared to some of the stuff I wear, but the judge commented that he’d never had anyone in court wearing an elephant in their hair before, so stuff like that (L & N laugh)

C-What about clothing, clothing? Um or do you feel more comfortable in tighter fitting clothes or or would you see yourself in a bikini?

L-Well, I wore a yea, I wouldn’t say, I don’t think so. I mean the skirts are really big and long, and so I think my skirts have actually gotten bigger as opposed to shorter and tighter. Um I like the big, heavy, swirling skirts, so that’s actually bigger and looser.

C-So the clothing is more connected to the culture of it instead of the physical aspects of it?

L-Yea, that’s a good way of putting it, yea. And the colors are just really vibrant usually, and um, varied. I’ve just started combining patterns or combining colors that I might not have before uhm

pause

N-uh and I believe this is one of your questions also. How has belly dancing changed the music you listen to? And tell us about your favorite musicians.

L-Uhm I have gotten to know some uh live drummers, which is really fun. It’s fun to dance to live music, and uhm particularly at parties, there are uhm at

what are called hathas, which is a party, there will be drummers, so then there’s just open dancing with groups of people which is just to me the way, I mean I’m just picturing you know fires and you know groups of gypsies or other um tribal people having a party, and that’s just you know you’re just dancing to live music with fiddles and drums and um just having lots of very uhm the energy is much higher than when you are dancing to recording music I guess so there’s that difference. Um and then as far as recorded I guess, everything I listen to, I think you know whether I could dance to or not. and my kids, sometimes I horrify my kids, and I have a little, I’m a little more eclectic than some people, but I mean anything that has a 4-4 beat I can dance to and uhm, so some of the music I listen to very, is the typical world music stuff. And one of my favorite world music musicians is Max Pascham, who plays what’s called Balkan electronic Balkan music, so it’s tubas and drums and just fun, fun energetic dance music. Uhm and then there’s a uh locally there’s a cellist, and a flautist that I like to dance to, and that’s more of a slow, slow music. So uh not necessarily the popular music, but I’ve definitely gotten more interested in live music and more interested in world music for sure.

C-So in the live music uhm is it the women are dancing, and the men are playing the musical instruments, or...

L-Not necessarily. Uhm sometimes, I know it’s that traditionally it’s the men that drum and the women that dance, and that’s pretty much the case, but uhm not necessarily. At least locally, one of our best drummers is a woman, and uhm, and she just loves to drum for dance, or she’s not able to dance so cause of an ankle problem, so she just enjoys the music and the dancing, and that’s part of how she participates.

C-But there are no men dancing, correct?

L-Uh There are, not in my troupe, but I there are male tribal style belly dancers. There’s one from a troupe in Topeka that I’m familiar with his director, she’s a friend of mine, and she has two male belly dancers in her troupe. And they wear the same costuming as the women, it’s kind of, it’s not traditional for sure.

N-As far as the music goes, would you in your free time, do you prefer to listen to the live music you can dance to, or when it’s your time, you still listen to the recording artists you liked before?

L-Yea, when I’m listening to music on my own it’s recorded music uh yea. Live music can sometimes be, particularly stuff you’re dancing to, can be really uh not terribly interesting unless you’re moving to it, because there’s a lot of repetition. (L laughs)

N-Yea

pause

N-Uh, our next question you answered already. How much time do you devote to belly dancing? You said uh 2 or 3 times a week.

L-Yea

N-And then some on your own?

C-Is that, is that with your troupe?

L-Yea, that’s including that, so I’d say no more than 2 hours a week.

N & C-Ok.

N-And what do you like about dancing with other women?

L-I like the camaraderie, and the energy that comes from it. The confidence that I get from dancing with someone else. I would not perform by myself, I know that. Um I enjoy communicating with other people through facial expression and through uhm body movement, and that’s just a new way of communication for me. Um Almost reminds me, when I was in high school I ran cross country, and the physical relationship I have with the women I dance with is similar to me in that way, just more comfort with our bodies, uh, my friendships since then have all been I guess intellectual so I guess very different.

C-But can you apply some of these new skills, like using um facial expressions and things, into your uh other areas of your life?

L-Yes. Of course. Yea.

N-And the video you sent me showed one woman in front and then three women behind who were going off of her movements...

L-Right, so

N-Which, which role do you?

L-Well, in a troupe, you’re going to rotate...

N-Ok

L-So the leader is going to change every couple of music phrases, so the leader is going to lead probably for 16-24 counts and then get out of there,

N-Ok

L-So uhm it changes all the time, and that’s part of, as an audience member, that’s what makes it interesting, is that the group is changing position all the time, and it’s, you know it’s not choreographed, so although the movements, are you know the the there’s there’s base moves that we all learn and then variations on those base moves, and you’re cueing those variations, you don’t know what the leader is going to do when you start so um it it’s always different, which gives it an energy that I think choreographed music doesn’t have, or choreographed dance doesn’t have.

N-Alright, but you all get the experience of the leader role and the playing off of each other?

L-Right.

N-Ok. Um What challenges does it present dancing with other women?

L-Um

N-Besides those mentioned already.

L-Yea, I uh well and I think when you’re when you’re dancing with someone else, it’s different if you’re just having fun at a party dancing with other people whereas if you’re actually performing and then if someone makes a mistake it’s easy to feel like it’s you know their fault, or they made you look bad, or um that they had no business being, you know they have no business performing, or you know just all the little catty stuff that comes from groups uhm

N-Yea

L-Happens. So criticizing what other people are wearing, what time they showed up, what (chuckles) you know just the usual group stuff, it all happens, even though it looks like everyone’s friends and having fun, that’s not always the case.

N-(chuckles) Uh how has belly dancing become a part of your identity?

L-Uhm, I usually you know it’s funny you know I usually don’t tell people I’m a lawyer, because I don’t think that I fit that you know, when I say “lawyer” everyone assumes things about me. Uhm I’m more likely to I you know when people ask me about myself I usually say something like, “I like to belly dance, I like to read” that type of thing. Uhm I feel like those types of things define me better than my career even, so uh, it’s become part of how I identify myself. Even though I think people make assumptions about what a belly dancer is, I think I feel more comfortable explaining what type of belly dancer I am or why I like it than I am even explaining my own job.

N-What type of stereotypes do you think belly dancers face?

L-(pause) Uhm I think that we are uh I think first of all that it’s like this “sexy” thing like it’s you know, people will comment they’re like, “Oh, I bet your husband like that” or you know, it’s like, well, he does he does like it, but it’s not, you know this isn’t this isn’t, I’m not a stripper, or I’m not uh you know, it’s not a sexy dance per se, I mean it’s a woman dancing comfortably as a woman and like I said, emphasizing parts of her body that uh you know are obviously womanly, but it’s not it’s not a sexy dance specifically I guess is what I’m saying. And it’s certainly not particularly when you’re dancing as a group what I like is that we’re really dancing with each other or for each other and that’s it’s just not... The things my husband likes about it are how it makes me feel or that I have an activity that I enjoy, it’s not like, it’s not that it’s the my wife’s a stripper belly dancer thing, which I think is what some people assume.

N-Um, so how do you deal with those stereotypes?

L-Um I think just by explaining that I dance as a group, that I dance with women who are my friends, and that that’s the primary purpose for me to dance is to have fun in that way. Uhm and I think once people see my costume they know that it’s not necessarily what they may have thought.

N-Uh, and have any of the stereotypes influenced your feelings about belly dancing? Or Either in the past or...

L-Uhm I think maybe in the past they have. And it certainly makes me careful, uhm when I am going to a performance, I certainly, you know I’m a pretty modest person, but I think I do take extra care to make sure I am covered appropriately, that I’m not going to have a costume malfunction, or uhm something that would make someone uncomfortable.

C-Where do you normally perform at?

L-Um we perform at Renaissance festivals, that’s probably, that’s a really fun venue. Uhm we have a rotating there’s a coffee shop here in town that has belly dancers once a month and my troupe rotates through that. Uh we perform at art galleries on First Friday, which is like the art gallery openings at the beginning of the month. Uhm We performed at city festivals there’s an ethnic festival downtown. And uh I’ve performed at weddings (lots of shuffling in background), I’ve performed at ...? Big Bear..

N-And is this all in Lincoln, Nebraska, or do you go other places?

L-I’ve performed in Omaha, Grand Island, the King Arthur festival is in Raymond, Nebraska. And then whenever I go to a workshop there’s usually a performance at the workshop and we’ll perform in that, so that’s a fun way to see people from all over.

C-So when in the audience there are people who have a stereotype, how is that situation handled?

L-Uhm, it’s you you know it’s been a you know you just don’t you know I bet, I was at a wedding once, where one of the guests was extremely intoxicated and I think no matter, you know we could have had a magician there and he would have been inappropriate to the magician, so you know just like any other performance situation, you just stay away from the person who’s trying to, you know in that instance, the people sitting around him took care of him better than we possibly could have. I mean they knew he was being inappropriate, and they were the ones that that handled it, so we just kept performing, and ignored him and directed our attention to another part of the room, and I think his friends took him out of the room or something like that uhm. I mean I think particularly when you are performing, it’s it’s you know it’s just clear that this is not you know it’s just an ethnic dance, and it’s not meant to be um arousing or any of those things that people might think.

pause

N-Uh is belly dancing more for you about self-expression, enjoyment of belly dancing itself, or for entertaining others?

L-Uhm I would say for me it’s for my enjoyment and my self-expression, and I think that my uhm I I enjoy performing but that’s definitely not my motivation, so that’s not my priority when I’m taking the time to rehearse or um decide what I want to do with with belly dance.

N-Would you say that is that would be a dominant answer, or do all belly dancers think differently about that? Do some...

L-I think they’re all different. And and Like I said the last group I left their focus really was on performance and on teaching. Uhm and that was really important to them, so that just wasn’t where I wanted to spend my time.

C-You said you had a daughter, at least A daughter. Do you encourage her to learn belly dancing as well, or do you think that’s an older woman’s activity, or...

L-No, I think it’s appropriate for younger children. I have not, you know I include my kids sometimes, but not um not weekly, and really the reason for that is just selfish because it’s just my time with my friends, and it’s my chance you know to get a break from my family, but I think it’s appropriate for children, uhm and you know at different parties and things my kids will dance with me or join the group when dancing, um and you know again I think it’s just um in other cultures that’s it’s very normal for young girls to dance with people of three or four generations even.

pause

N-And

L-I mean I think it’s appropriate for 80 year old women to do it too! (all laugh) So it’s not just...

C-Not just young girls, yeah.

N-What has been the biggest performance gaffe you have been in, and how did you handle it? I believe that was one of your questions...

L-Um I’ve had performances where we had no music, the music wouldn’t come on, and we actually we just used our zills, which are the hand cymbals, and we just because those are musical instruments too, and so we just kept time with that and performed to those. I’ve had my belt fall off of my skirt while I was performing (animated voice), and I kind of as I felt it falling off, I just kind of stood still and let it fall to the ground and then I pushed it to the side with my foot and just kept dancing, so...

pause

N-And, what is the largest venue or largest amount of people you’ve performed in front of?

L-Um I would say probably at the Renaissance festival, and and partly just cause people are coming and going, well or the Farmer’s Market, that’s probably a couple hundred people and if we have an hour performance and they’re just you know going by, they’re not going to sit there for the whole performance, but probably a couple hundred people, so...

N-And about how long did it take for you to be comfortable in front of that many people with your practice?

L-Um you know I still get nervous, but I um you know I’m certainly more comfortable than I used to be. Probably probably took me uh I would say 3 or 4 years, I mean I was performing after I had been dancing for about a year. I there’s just levels of performance, so for example when you were talking about leading, my first performance, I did not lead, so I came out and followed and then but I did not lead. Um because that just when you have to lead it just is you can’t you have to be more confident you can’t have the stage fright (laughs) that you have the first time you come out, or at least the first time I came out, so it took me a couple of performances before I was able to even do a very simple lead.

C-So do you try to keep belly dancing separate from your other areas of life, or does your clients know that you’re a belly dancer um perhaps other lawyers know?

L-(laughs) Yea! Well, uh I mean Lincoln’s a small town (N laughs), and it’s not like I announce it a whole lot or anything, but um you know I run into other attorneys at the Farmer’s Market, and and actually I performed at the zoo last year, and after I was done performing, I was in full costume, and I was done performing, and I was talking, my neighbor works at the zoo, and so I was talking with her, and she talked to me for about a couple of minutes, and then finally she’s like, “Oh, my gosh! You’re my neighbor!” (all laugh) So, you know, I thought that she knew that I did this. You know I she’d seen me coming and going from my house, but she still had not connected it and didn’t recognize me.

C-So have there been any awkward moments because of that, or are people generally accepting of your choice of exercise or?

L-Yea, I think I have never, I mean I am kind of an unusual person anyways, so even if they didn’t know I belly danced, I don’t think anyone has been particularly , they’ve been surprised, but not terribly, terribly surprised. It’s

not as if I uh, yea, I mean I don’t think it’s out of line if you know me, it wouldn’t surprise you that much.

pause

N-Well, as we’ve been talking, I’ve wondered do most women who begin belly dancing stick with it for 10 years, like you, or do you see many women try it and not continue with it, and what makes them go away from it if if they do?

L-I think a lot of things, I mean I think some of is it’s just it’s just like with any other activity, it depends on why you’re doing it, and so if you’re not interested in performance at all, if maybe you were just trying you know to meet some new people or try a new activity maybe after a couple of years you know, you’re done. Or if um you find you just don’t like it, I know that’s happened, too, people thought they were really, really going to like it and they just don’t. But it, just like anything else, people develop new interests, or they have their life change, you know I’ve had friends who have a baby and they stop, I’ve had people who went to massage therapy school or they’re starting a new business. Or just sometimes people just don’t want to deal with the drama that comes with the troupe, and so they quit.

C-Have you heard of anybody who had to quit because of physical reasons?

L-Yes, I have had...

C-Other than babies, sorry...

L-Yea, I don’t think babies are (L & N laugh). Yea, I have had friends who have had to quit for physical reasons, um just the, um, it can be difficult particularly on your feet and ankles, or the spinning, I have a friend who has a, uh I can’t think of it, she gets dizzy easily, so she’s not able to do the spinning or the turning the way she used to be able to.

pause

C-Is there any other thoughts about belly dancing that you would like to leave us with that we did not address.

L-I don’t think so!

C-Well, you were very interesting! We learned a lot! (N laughs)

N-Well, thank you!

C-Yea, thank you for taking time out of your day.

L-You’re welcome.

43:00 end