Spotlight Dancer/Troupe
Susan

Hello! I’m Susan. I would like to start by saying “Thank You” to Yasmina for asking me to be a Spotlight Dancer on her website. I currently live with my four-legged children in a bustling Montana town. I work in law enforcement doing our own hometown version of CSI. Mine is a quiet existence, created with intent.

Growing up in Washington State I had the opportunity to be exposed to and experience many styles of dance from many cultures. Studying several of them over the years seemed like the natural thing to do. In the 1980’s I even spent several years teaching Country Western dance in the Pacific Northwest area at local clubs and folk festivals. But it wasn’t until moving to Montana in the mid 1990’s, that I even saw my first Belly Dancers. The music and colorful costumes were exotic and fascinating. The show closed with a sword dancer, and it totally sealed the deal for me. I was hooked! I sought out the group’s leader and immediately started taking classes and soon after began dancing at local festivals and events. At the time, options for costume purchases locally were non-existent and buying on the Internet was something I had never done before so I learned to sew just enough to make my own skirt (square panels with a tube at the top for elastic). I bought a belt from another dancer and modified it and a bra to match. Tah-dah! 
Here I am, a real Montana Belly Dancer – Wa Hoo!


Several years later I discovered ATS Belly Dance through workshops and videos and found that the music and costumes completely entranced me. I started designing my own belts and learning to sew a bit more to make more costume pieces. Shortly after this, with the explosion of Tribal Fusion and after being exposed to ‘Ar-bee’ at a workshop, I found yet another style to send my artistic expression soaring. Unfortunately, at this same time, I also sustained concurrent hip and back injuries that have prevented me from dancing or performing for an extended period of time. So I turned my focus to costume design and creation which has not only allowed me to stay active in the local dance community, but also given my creative expression the opportunity to bloom--something time and circumstance had limited until then.


Soon other dancers were interested in my costume designs and I began to help them create their own costumes ranging from simple jewelry and hairpieces down to complete costumes from head to toe. Out of these endeavors Witchy Bitchy Belly Dancing (aka – WBBD) was born. In the last year I have even branched out into creating Arabian Native Costumes for Arabian horse shows. Creating a costume for the rider was easy, but creating the costume for the horse, has proven to be an “interesting” venture to say the least. 



I see both dance and costuming as a creative expression where movement, costumes, color and detail can all be used to create a visually stunning form of art. The dance name I chose was “Zinat Luja”, which means “ornamentation or decoration of great depth”. It took me a long time to find just the right name and I believe it truly expresses me in both my personal performance and costuming, as well as, my designs through WBBD. I feel my costumes are colorful and highly detailed pieces that not only function as costumes but also as individual art pieces.


I am in awe of how many amazing, talented, and inspirational women there are among this family we call Belly Dancers; and how fortunate I am to have met the ones I have so far and inspired by the knowledge that I have so many more yet to get to know. Not only the hugely known people like Rachel Brice and Sharon Moore, who have inspired me personally, but people like my dance teacher, Sonja Alarcon, and the women in my very first dance class that I still hang out with; Kilah, Julie, Margo, and Anna. People whom I’ve never even met face to face, but who have through cyberspace, supported me and helped me at every opportunity, namely Pamela and Erec. And each and every person who shares with me, and every other one of us, by writing and sharing and producing products, information and conversation in venues like this and tribe.net and the many other publications and online resources that are available. Seldom have I ever been met with disregard from anyone I’ve ever approached in this huge community of Belly Dancing no matter how simple or mundane my inquiry. So for this opportunity, I again want to thank Yasmina for asking me to be here and to say thank you to all of you who may read this for allowing me into your Belly Dance family. 
See ya’ later, bye…. 



“Blessed are the Danced” - SUSAN

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