We have always believed in honoring our influences.  It is easy to lose track of one’s lineage these days and it is even easier to forget that before us, and along with us, there have been many achievers in this struggle to be our true selves, many supports to our mission and many contributors to our understanding.  On these pages, we would like to share with you the influences that have shaped us as individuals and as a group.

If it weren’t for Barbara Brandt, our founding mother, The Goddess Dancing would never have happened.  She put herself on the line and publicly declared that belly dancing was connected to women’s spirituality. She drew people to her.  She influenced her dance students so deeply, that they wanted to continue to explore her vision together.  She shared her knowledge so graciously that eventually sharing also became our mission. Thank you, Barbara!

  A group of women

When The Goddess Dancing began, we were simply a group of women sharing with each other.  We all brought something, we all shared something and we all received.  It is amazing what can happen when ordinary women get together. Magic. Love. Support. Growth.  Thank you Barbara, Johanna, Iris, Ann, Linda, Cynthia, Lisa, Anita-Cristina and Lorraine. 

    Local flavor

The Goddess Dancing asked for feedback from one special Boston area belly dancer. For a brief time, Elisabeth Clark watched us dance together and gave us her valuable insights during rehearsals. Thank you Elisabeth!

    A shifting time

The Goddess Dancing has had many members and apprentices over the years.  Each one has added to the group. Thank you MoChing, Mia, Amber, Deborah, Jennifer, Hannah, Amy, Lisa, Laura, Cathy, Pam and Karen.

Anita-Cristina speaks...

Of course, my first belly dance influence was my mother. (Thanks mom!)  I watched her dance in the living room. Then she would pin curtain fringe around my hips and tell me to shimmy and roll with her.  She managed to get me a few private lessons with a Boston dancer named Nassir  (he was famous for balancing a tray of coffee on his head) and take me to the shows at The Middle East. I was shy but I soaked it all in.  In high school, I was able to take one eight-week lesson at the infamous Odalisque belly dance studio with Sudana  (I still have the notes she wrote about my entrance!) and purchase a costume by Nola (used of course!). When I went off to college, my mom sent me off with two things, George Abdo and three drawings by Elisabeth Clark.  I am lucky to have been influenced by the wonderful artists of the ‘heyday’of belly dance in Boston.

I had known about Morocco for a long time.  My mother used to talk about her. On my own, I had read many of her articles. One spring day (I was fresh out of college) I knocked on Morocco’s door in New York City.  Since then she has been not only influential, but also supportive in my search to develop as an original dancer. Thanks Rocky!

Another special thank-you to Dunya whose calming presence always brings me deeper into my dance and into myself. 

Barbara Brandt, of course, still continues to give me insight, strength and love. Thank you Barbara for being one of my greatest influences.

I find that I am influenced these days by ordinary things. I find love and partnership inspiring.  I find my troupe mates inspiring. I find myself influenced by the passion and creativity of our students and other dancers who dare to make belly dance their avenue for storytelling, political statements and inner expression. And now, I’ve been a belly dance teacher so long that I am inspired by former students doing great and wonderful things with their own belly dancing!  

Karen speaks...

~  WebGoddess' note:  OK, so I have been waiting for over three years for Karen to give me her thoughts for this page... If you would like to hear what she has to say, please send her an email.

Leslie speaks...

My first dance influence was my mother. Her love of ballet and dance in general was passed on to me and to my sister. As I was growing up, ballet was a big (and fun) part of our life. We were lucky enough to find a wonderful teacher, Shirley Lamoureaux of West Boylston, MA, who brought so much creativity and inspiration to our classes that it was much more than just ballet class. She prepared me well to enjoy and explore all types of dance, and to see the connections amongst all the arts. I am grateful to both my mom and Shirley for giving me such special gifts.

As I got older I found it harder to find a dance form that I could indulge in without upsetting some part of my body and spent some time not dancing. Then I answered an ad for belly dancing lessons, which sounded intriguing, and met Ann Gillette, one of the former members of The Goddess Dancing. I took some private lessons with her and she passed on the belly dance bug - Thank you Ann! I started taking classes with The Goddess Dancing in 1996 and found my niche.

The classes I've taken with The Goddess Dancing have been an enormously positive influence on my life. I want to thank all of my teachers for giving such rich and varied instruction and information, and for constructing amazing classes that welcome women of all types, encouraging them to join and enjoy the dance. Besides learning a new form of dance and expanding on my latent costuming skills, I also discovered a new talent through the classes - a knack for choreography - a happy revelation that I might never have learned about otherwise.

I am grateful to all the founders of The Goddess Dancing for starting a wonderful group. I believe The Goddess Dancing's core philosophies are a powerful antidote against much that women suffer in our society. I am very grateful to the current members, Anita-Cristina, Cathy, and Karen, for their support and friendship and for their gifts of knowledge, enjoyment, inspiration, and humor.

Last but certainly not least, I've also appreciated the gifts I've gotten from all of my fellow dancers. When they share their creations and styles of movement I am continually inspired and delighted by them, whether watching them in a show, participating with them in a class, or having the privilege
of teaching them.

  New Ideas

There have been a few individuals whose unique ideas and perspectives have helped shape the way The Goddess Dancing teaches belly dance.  Ambika Wauters, Gabrielle Roth, Hellel Inglehart Austen, Karen Vogul, Vicki Nobel, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis, and Martha Graham…Thank you!

•   Ambika Wauters 

Ambika is a Classical Homeopath trained in Britain and is known as "Queen of the Chakras".  She has authored several books on using the Chakra system including Chakras and Their Archetypes: Uniting Energy Awareness and Spiritual Growth and The Book of Chakras: Discover the Hidden Forces Within You.

You can learn more about Ambika Wauters at her website The Institute for Life Energy Medicine.

We draw extensively on her work in our Advanced Beginner classes, Belly Dancing through the Chakras..

•   Gabrielle Roth

Gabrielle is a noted artist, philosopher and healer, who has devoted her life to exploring and communicating the language of primal movement and experimental theater. She is the author of Maps to Ecstasy, and Sweat Your Prayers. She is also the artistic director of her dance/theater/music company, The Mirrors; and through her recording company Raven Recording has produced more than twenty music compilations.  She is best known for the 5 Rhythms™ , her self-styled form of ecstatic trance dance,  in which  movement is used to ignite shamanic ecstasy.

You can learn more about Gabrielle Roth at her website.

We have adapted Gabrielle's 5 Rhythms™ and apply her principles to belly dancing in our Intermediate level classes.

•   Hallie Iglehart Austen

Hallie is author of The Heart of The Goddess:  Art, Myth and Meditations of the World's Sacred Feminine.  In her book she has assembled and organized a major collection of images of the sacred feminine from around the globe, including photos and images.

We return to her book often for inspiration in our Intermediate level classes on Goddess Archetypes and her images and words were of great insight in the development of our signature Goddess Stretches™.

•   Karen Vogul and Vicki Nobel

Karen and Vicki are the co-creators of the Motherpeace Tarot.  Their backgrounds are in anthropology, biology, history and women's studies. To learn more about these women, you can visit their website Motherpeace tarot.

We have used the Motherpeace tarot deck and accompanying book as part of our research into goddess cultures from around the world, and often use these tools as a stimulus in our classes and in our personal dances.

•   Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and Martha Graham

Three American women whose lives were daring, courageous, and creative. They had a voice and used it – sending waves of enlightenment through the audience, theater and dance was forever changed by their work.

Three American dancers who pioneered story-telling choreography. Their lives and their work continue to influence our style of choreography for the Performance Group level and for our own signature company choreographies.

Learn more about Isadora Duncan and The Isadora Duncan Foundation.

Click here to read Karen's paper about Isadora Duncan and Modernism.

Learn more about Ruth St. Denis.

Learn more about Martha Graham.

    We continue to grow...

Honestly, the greatest and most constant influence we have received as a group has been the women we teach.  Our students and workshop participants continue to be inspirational.  We are humbled by the power of belly dance in women’s lives and we celebrate that we are able to continue to share this dance with women.

Send mail to the WebGoddess with problems, questions or comments about this web site.

Copyright © 2008 ~ The Goddess Dancing

All materials on this website including photos, graphics, and written materials are copyright The Goddess Dancing™ unless otherwise indicated and may not be used without permission.  

Last modified: 8/23/2008