One of the improvisational dances from my series I filmed in last year's fall leaves to the music of Lindsey Stirling. She is my Muse for so many more reasons than the way her music marionettes dances out of me. She has been one of my brightest beacons of inspiration amidst dark times since I discovered her in 2012. She's been so important to my healing journey and my dance evolution that I wrote a whole ginormous blog series about her. It starts here: https://www.hartebeast.com/post/the-muse-in-the-moon-my-journey-with-lindsey-stirling This was the last dance in the series that I filmed, but now that it's fall again, it was the first one to shout, "Edit me, NOW!" Probably because of the theme. ✨🥰✨ I shot these dances amidst hip re-injury at the low point of a 3 year dental surgery nightmare that ultimately led to multiple silver linings, including my ability to choreograph--lost to TBI & seizures a decade ago. Well, in curing that infected tooth implant, some strange things happened to my brain over the winter. Within a month, I got back abilities I've been trying to reclaim since 2013. And my trip down Re-injury Road? That turned out to have my current spine rehab overdrive at the end of it so...I'll take it. When the Universe Gives Me "NO" - I Hunt For the "YES": https://www.hartebeast.com/post/when-the-universe-gives-me-no-i-hunt-for-yes This dance is for everybody who's seen me through my trips to the Underworld and back and down and back again. I can't do what I do without every one of you. THANK YOU. Purrrrrrrrrrr... Music: Morning in the Calla by Music for Makers Guardian by Lindsey Stirling You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com Current updates and work-in-progress goodies are on my Ko-Fi Page: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast

This dance was over 2 years in the making. I had plotted it over the winter of 2019, intending to film the Springtime Persephone once the azaleas bloomed. Alas. Just as I was about to shoot, I re-tore my meniscus and couldn't walk for a week. So I had to wait. I filmed the Blossomtime footage last spring, and then had to lie in wait again. When this winter provided a gorgeous, hefty snowfall, I jumped! And thus, do we have it. My dance tale of blooming, not only after harsh winters, but of learning to find the glimmers in the gray, and of dancing in the asphodels while trapped in the Underworld. I've also written about it over on the blog: https://www.hartebeast.com/post/joy-as-a-weed-it-s-everywhere I don't really dance onstage anymore (covid closures or not). You can find all the Dain Bramagey reasons for that on the blog as well. So if you enjoy these dance performances, the instruction I post here, and my writing, and want to be an artistic patron, here is my Ko-Fi account: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast Music: Blossom by Kerli Lyrics: A frozen heart beat under the snow I've been waiting, ready to grow Shivering and weathering storms Dreaming of some other place warm While my roots dig deeper inside And my leaves stay bundled up tight I felt my face get bigger than life Not only did I survive... I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Knowing I will be okay I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Flowing lifeline with no rain I blossom Winter's voice is ghostly in the wind Whispering "this could be the end" Why are they forgetting me not? Can't they see I'm hurting enough? While my roots dig deeper inside And my leaves stay bundled up tight I felt my face get bigger than life Not only did I survive... I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Knowing I will be okay I learned to blossom Finding sunlight in the grey Flowing lifeline with no rain I blossom And I would And I would And I Could You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/

More of Izzy can be found at her youtube and her website. https://www.youtube.com/user/izzytejedora/videos http://www.izzydancer.com/

In memory of the dancers, the singers, the drummers, the dreamers, all who have come before. In honor of those who have paved the way, allowing me to dance the way I dance, speak what's in my heart and mind, worship the Divine the way I choose to worship, and be whoever I decide to be, as many times as I wish. 🙏🥰☠️🥰🙏 Music: All Souls Night by Loreena McKennitt Reawakening by Music for Makers Like to support the arts? You can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/

A dance I did back in 2016 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville AR. Like to support the arts? You can buy me a Kofi here: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com

Izzy dancing with the interactive fountain at Pueblo's Historic AK Riverwalk - a purely improvisational conversation with water & wind. Filmed by Scott Bolton. Izzy's Website: http://www.izzydancer.com/

The Hartebeast System signature dance style: Dance of Elemental Alchemy. Instruction and performances, live and online. Come dance 5 elements of nature with me! Amidst a pandemic, we're only online for now. Private Coaching: https://www.hartebeast.com/online-classes The Level 2 Weekly Workouts online course: https://hartebeast.teachable.com/p/dance-of-elemental-alchemy-l2 Not a student but want to help me fund the startup of the school I wasn't quite ready to do when Covid hit? Here's my Ko-Fi page: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast Special thanks to: --Mona N'wal who asked the question, "Have you ever thought about using the Elements as a metaphor for movement?" --My Tejedoras, Sahirrnees and Silky Lionesses --All my students, far and wide, who let me guinea pig them in the development of this project --The myriad people who have saved my tasseled tushie and allowed me the space to recover, rejuvenate, and create Music: Akhenaten by Moments Does Not Compute by Music for Makers You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/

In our obscure community, there lives a police officer and a poet, a nurse and a bohemian barista, two very different army sergeants, a tattoo artist and a mother of two...just to name a few. We are of varied age, gender, nationality, religion, social position, shape and temperament, yet there is one element that connects and unites us all: the language we choose to speak... Created for Pangea Day. http://www.pangeaday.org/ Oodles of thanks to everyone who helped me bust this thing out after finding out about such an extraordinary project two weeks before the deadline--but most of all, to my awesome bud Lyman who created the music for it. Check out his stuff at: www.myspace.com/ArtofElectricBass Izzy's Website: http://www.izzydancer.com/

A dance-tale about re-learning to fly, over and over and once again. My second performance from the Memphis 2019 show with Mystic River Dance, Nature's Rhythms: Life's A Dance. When I first conceptualized the piece for this show, I had envisioned telling the tale of my two decades being derailed by traumatic injuries by going down to the ground and rising from the proverbial ashes, multiple times throughout the song. A torn meniscus changed all that, forcing me to live this dance as I created it. But ohhhh, what was born of it! I never would have experimented with the wings this way without that detour, proving the story into truth. Music: Phoenix by Lindsey Stirling Videography: Darell LaRiviere Photography: Kirk Lanier and Candy Prudhomme

The first piece I did in Memphis 2019. My maiden voyage in publicly taking the shackles off, and dancing any darn way I feel like it. It's not belly dance. It's the BellaDancer doing her thang. Music: Omiya by Michael Danna from Kama Sutra: Tale of Love Morning Dew Siren by Shiva In Exile Woman (Oh Mama) by Joy Williams A NOTE ABOUT THE MUSIC When I wrote to Shiva In Exile to ask for a translation of the lyrics to this amazing song, I was informed that it was composed in a fantastical language, and was encouraged to translate it any way I was inspired. So I did. That meant I had to analyze the song, phonetically interpret the lyrics, find all the common elements in the sounds and create a standardized "vocabulary". Finally, I was able to weave words together from that vocabulary, the way they were voiced, the mood of the music, and the tale I wanted to tell. Here is what it said to me: ODE TO THE ELEMENTS Glory unto Your wonders You calm my warring heart Your brilliance is the heart of the sun Let me be the moon Aglow with this reflected light I AM the moon My breath is the sea's rhythm A heart of gold frees me Rivers, grasses, raindrops Rippling in time I am danced by the currents of this Earth A heart of gold frees us all Ah, hearken, hearken...hearken, Mother Please, (Earth) Mother...hearken please, please Sorrow, Mother Yes Mother, yes Mother, yes! Hearts hearken Mother, yes, move me now Oh, hearken now, Mother Now, Mother Oh, now Oh, now! Glory unto Your wonders You calm my warring heart Your brilliance is the heart of the sun Let me be the moon *deep bow* And of course, Joy Williams' amazing, inspiring words, which gave the piece its title: WOMAN (OH MAMA) Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh... Woman make Woman take Woman see Woman breathe Woman carry the burden of knowledge Woman always the one to be blamed Woman shoulder the men of the nation Woman free you from sorrow and shame (Chorus) (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Come let me show where life begins (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama) (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) I am the universe wrapped in skin (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Woman dream Woman hate Woman cry Woman break Woman hold you in the palm of her hand Woman changing the mask on her face Woman stand with her feet in the fire Woman only one thrown in the flames CHORUS (Woman!) I am the moon in the midnight sky (Woman!) I am the secret you try to hide Come let me show you, Oh I'm the moon, I'm the moon, Yeah Ohhh…oh you I am the moon, I am the moon, I am the moon Woman monster Woman child Woman hero Woman wild Woman whisper Woman scream Woman listen Woman free Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh Woman Mary Jezebel Woman heaven Woman hell Woman teacher Woman kind Woman nature Women rise! Oh, mama! (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh mama (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama) I am the universe Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh mama (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Woman! (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Woman! (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) (Oh mama, oh mama, oh mama, oh oh) Oh mama, ma, mama Woman!

The first dance edited from a huge project whereby I got all excited about dancing in costumes I haven't worn in over 20 years - my old SCA costumes. I've been drafting those tales for the memoir blog (link below). That got me listening to the music, which of course made me want to dance. And that reminded me how much I loved these costumes. Since hardly anybody has ever seen them - one doesn't walk around with a video camera at SCA campfires (at least they didn't back in myyyyy day) - I figured it was time they were enjoyed by others besides me and my closet. Behind the Scenes video log: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgEjHhDjdZI More behind the scenes stuff in the WIP Danceylicious Photo Gallery: https://ko-fi.com/album/Danceyliciousness-C0C31KSLE Music: Jordan by Raquy & the Cavemen You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/

The dance and music companion to my latest post on Medium: https://medium.com/@thehartebeast/more-presents-from-a-drunk-driver-traumatic-brain-injury-scoliosis-694a924bd4bb Or my blog: https://www.hartebeast.com/single-post/2020/01/02/More-Presents-from-a-Drunk-Driver-Traumatic-Brain-Injury-Scoliosis “What happened?” he asked, as I lurch my way into his taxi and wrangle the seatbelt around me. “Drunk driver rammed me on the freeway.” His eyes fly open. "By Uintah?" "Yeah." “That was you?” “Yeah.” “And you’re WALKING?” I shrug. Talking, walking...I'm not fully there as I answer, “Yeah. They say I’m fine...” You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/

This project has been germinating in the underground realms of my mind since 1997 when I first discovered Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes album. I've been gathering the footage for it since 2017. Then last spring, just as the flowers exploded into bloom, we got a freak snowstorm that destroyed them all in a landscape of wondrous, frozen beauty. That storm gave me the final pieces I needed to finally finish this project. This piece is about all the things I thought I could never tell my dad, and about how confiding in him healed so many things--not only in our relationship, but also in me. It's also about the way that trauma gets frozen inside the body, and about a bunch of things that I do to get everything moving again: Play... connection... nature... dance... martial arts... storytelling... making art... and of course, love and trust. Trusting my loved ones and trusting myself. Most of all, it's about learning how to love myself as I am. Music: Winter by Tori Amos All is Wonder by Cast of Characters I write a lot about the tales underlying this dance in my memoirs on my blog. You can find them under the categories of: --Healing --Sex, Love & Violence --Trauma & Self-Defense https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com This is really the only place I dance anymore, between the pandemic and Dain Bramage. Like what I do? Consider becoming a patron, or keep up to date on all my videos, writing and projects here: https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast

Another dance I made to accompany a post on my blog. This one was shot in my home dancey-writey-fighty studio, an improvisation inspired by one of my greatest learning curves. The blog post on Medium: https://medium.com/@thehartebeast/the-base-solid-gold-rebel-29507e53a16d?source=friends_link&sk=cc26bcef940d138c4512888c5d635bfc Like what I do? Buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/hartebeast Music: Still Learning by Halsey Dandelion Theory by Music for Makers You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/

A dance for the 007 Bond Girl in my blood. From the 2014 University of Wisconsin, Madison show. Music: 007 James Bond Theme Goldfinger sung by Shirley Bassey

Ohhhh geez! I'd forgotten about this dance until putting together my latest blog posts, all about my days in Jazz, Tap, and Swing Dance, and how they...infiltrated my belly dancing. Or was that the other way around? This was a swing/belly fusion piece I did to James Horner's "Sing, Sing, Sing" at the Runyon Theater back in 2005. The smart-aleck is strong with this one. You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/

My sword dance to Semazen by Shiva In Exile from the show I did in Poland 2010.

Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos. A very personal piece filmed at the Mineral Palace Park in Pueblo, CO, 2009. Filmed by Lisa Potts.

Precious Things by Tori Amos. Another very personal piece. Filmed at the Arkansas Riverwalk in Pueblo, CO 2009. I literally tore my dance shoes to shreds in the filming of this piece, but it had to be created so badly that I couldn't stop--bare feet on rough concrete. Added to the flavor. :D Filmed by Lisa Potts.

Wow, I just found this in my computer! Lisa Potts and I filmed this at the Arkansas Riverwalk in Pueblo, CO back in 2008. It is one of the Angry Grrl Dances I made just as I was getting divorced for the first time. I did not get to editing this footage with the other two, due to my ever-increasing shaky health while I (unknowingly) lived with arsenic and black mold dripping down into my bedroom. Where Little Earthquakes was about my grief over tearing apart my house and my heart again... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RrWOnAZNL8&t=3s And Precious Things was about bullying and cruelty... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhzmoIqRexY This one was mostly about my experience of being ohhhh-so wildly adored for one or two facets of me, and the wish that I could be boxed up and confined to those parts. It also reflects my inevitable exit from the belly dance scene. When we filmed this, I was already feeling the tremors of judgment over my style and the weight of trying to perform that job on Traumatic Brain Injury - particularly when directors or promoters did not adhere to my health policies. Imagine my surprise to find this video today. This project truly planted the seeds to what I'm creating these days: the Hartebeast System, a fusion of my Dancing the Elements and Conditioning Drills, combined with my studies in martial arts, meditation for mind & movement, theater, and storytelling. I have been building an online school and have also started filming more videos like this one. Enjoy a sneak peek. Official trailers are coming! You can follow more of my adventures here: https://www.hartebeast.com/blog https://www.hartebeast.com https://www.facebook.com/BellaNtheBeastie/