Last saturday, I led another workshop for girls/teens on the use of belly dance & other forms of movement to tell their personal stories and ensure that others hear their voice. I ended the workshop with veil work—nothing like a piece of colorful silk fabric to bring out emotions and close a session.

Below is a small video piece (by Mike Spikes) on the "Speak Your Soul" summit hosted by Community Bridges Inc. CB is a courageous community-based organization which I've also been supporting as a consultant for almost 3 years.

Dear students,

The classes at the Dance Institute of Washington began last thursday. Though DIW is still ironing out its administrative processes, the facilities are beautiful and it feels great to support an institution with a national reputation in its work with under-resourced communities and youth in D.C. 

Please note that there will be no classes this thursday 10/21 as I leave very early on friday to lead a couple of trainings on community engagement and social justice in Kentucky.

Though it means I sometimes travel often, my consultant work helps me strengthen my teaching abilities and curriculum development skills for working with adults and youth. And I make sure to bring this knowledge back to the dance classroom in every way possible.

For information on my classes and schedule, please visit my instruction page or email me. I am also on facebook! 

I hope you are enjoying the cooler days of autumn!

Peace and love,

-Marta

It is 2:00AM and I can't seem to fall asleep... 

I taught an impromptu 3-hour workshop today to raise funds for an herbalist friend's upcoming two-month trip to Haiti. She will be volunteering at a naturopathic earthquake victim relief clinic in Port-Au-Prince. I sit in her kitchen looking at her suitcases already filled with necessary dried herbs, supplements, tinctures, and books. I'm reminded that this is exactly what fulfills me, what gives my dance and teaching meaning...helping connect the healing that this dance brings to women and to causes that move beyond ego and capitalism. 

The students tonight were wonderful. At one point these beautiful women of all ages and sizes closed their eyes and allowed their hips to shimmy and their bodies to interpret a taqsim with so much depth and feeling that all I could do was step back and quietly thank the universe for such a gift.

I hope to travel to Haiti soon, I hope to return to South America to teach at the elementary schools I visited last year, I hope to volunteer at a women's birthing center in Ciudad Juarez and its sister city, El Paso. I hope to do so much and wonder how it will all work out. I feel so fearful at times. These trips are so fulfilling but also shake me to the core. I also grew up in a ghetto often wondering if the desperation I saw around me and felt inside was all there was, but always believing there had to be more. Belly Dance helped me find the "more." I hope that all women can experience this at least once in their lives...blissfully closing their eyes and getting lost in a taqsim that speaks their pain, their love, their laughter and their dreams.

-Marta