--I'd seen the article in Cosmopolitan Magazine and secretly thought it was great. Then I saw it was free through a university group. I attended and was instantly hooked!

--I'm Home!

--Easy: Well, everyone thought I had prior dance lessons and I hadn't. I didn't find anything easy except for maybe some of the arm movements.

--Hard: Everything else was HARD. I didn't learn how to execute a successful bellyroll for nearly two years

--Teachers: It was a shared venture among several dancers who had taken lessons via the Flamengo Dance Studio and attended and performed at several workshops. It was all about sharing the knowledge back then. I continue that philosophy to this day. I'm not out for notariety or profit, I'm just out to meet people and share the knowledge. Oh, yes, and DANCE as much as possible :O)

- When I was 15, I somehow acquired a paperback copy of the Serena Technique of Bellydancing and a couple of bellydance albums. I personally can vouch for the fact that it is impossible for you to teach yourself to bellydance using a paperback book, even if the music is wonderful.

- Fun! Sparkly!

- Moving gracefully came naturally to me after years of ballet, modern and jazz dance training. However, my arm movements were static, and I had never performed before, so I was ... looked ... scared stiff.

-- I adored my teacher. I drove her to workshops. I arranged publicity for her. I overlooked ... well ... we won't get into that. What's past is past. We all grow and change.