Bella Dancer
BABY BELLY DANCER: My First Belly Dance Class
Okay. I'm finally ready to tell you what happened after a coin and fringe bra literally saved my life. Many of the references I make in...
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Memoir Table of Contents
Welcome Aboard!
--"Izzy, how did you start dancing?"
--"What got you into martial arts?"
--"What kind of dancer/martial artist/writer are you?
--"How do you deal with brain damage, bodily injury and
C-PTSD, yet still dance, write, train, live the way you do?"
--"How do you still find joy and beauty amidst pain and loss?"
--"Wow, you should write your memoirs!"
This Is My Story
NSFW, 18+
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Bella Dancer
- Jan 31, 2021
- 15 min
THE GREAT "WHITE BELLY DANCER" WAR OF 2014 - And How It Finished Off My Career
In May 2013, I had a seizure onstage. It was just one of those little blip-of-a-seizures, but in the middle of a dance, a blip is a big...
74
Bella Dancer
- Jan 2, 2021
- 14 min
MY RAWR-ING 2020 IN REVIEW: And a Shameless Request for Patronage
RAWRing '20s Grrrl New Years Eve 2020 EDIT: Dain Bramage & Covid strike again! Huh...so apparently it was actually the first day of the...
30
Bella Dancer
- Dec 21, 2020
- 9 min
ON THIS DAY 20 YEARS AGO - Nadhra Rising, a Blossoming Belly-Nerd in Home-Sewn Spangles
You know how this goes. It started out like any other day... And it did. Like the day before, I cracked my eyes open and dragged my...
32
Bella Dancer
- Dec 2, 2020
- 2 min
CONFINED CREATIVITY - From Your Home Into Mine
One of my best friends just lost access again to her dojo, right when she'd really gotten back into the flow. Naturally, she can do the...
24
Bella Dancer
- Oct 28, 2020
- 12 min
READY OR NOT, HERE HE COMES: Boys, Mosquitos, and A Big, Puffy Couch
As it turns out, my classmates did not get bored with the game of hunting me through the hallways, no matter how much I tried to ignore...
26
Bella Dancer
- Oct 11, 2020
- 10 min
A MULTIPOTENTIALITE HSP: I Am NOT a Specializer - In Anything
Multipotentialite: The phrase coined by Emilie Wapnick, referring to people who have a range of callings and jobs over one lifetime. ...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 1, 2020
- 18 min
DYE JOB: How a Coin & Fringe Bra Literally Saved My Life
**WRITTEN ON MEDIUM JUNE 28, 2020 Fall 1991 — In my freshman dorm room just after I started college March 1992 Nineteen years old We...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 1, 2020
- 8 min
UGLY DUCKLINGS, SWANS & BIRDS OF DIFFERENT FEATHERS: BellaDancer Takes Ballet and Finds Loie Fuller
**WRITTEN ON MEDIUM JUNE 9, 2020 Fall 1991 18 years old I used to think I was good at dance. Now, training among real dancers for the...
30
Bella Dancer
- Oct 1, 2020
- 4 min
IZZY & ISADORA - DUNCAN THAT IS: My First Modern Dance Muse
**WRITTEN ON MEDIUM MAY 25, 2020 “I…Isadora…hereby vow…that I will dedicate myself to the pursuit of Art and Beauty, and to the single...
45
Bella Dancer
- Oct 1, 2020
- 8 min
*ALSO* A BELLY DANCER: My Jazz Dance Connection
**WRITTEN ON MEDIUM MAY 20, 2020 “She’s not a belly dancer! There’s more Jazz in her than anything.” This was one of the many statements...
47
Bella Dancer
- Aug 18, 2019
- 1 min
What Can I Do When I Can't Dance?
Knowing that the retreat would take place in a rustic location in the mountains, I determined to go there as strong as I could. I kept...
6
Bella Dancer
- May 9, 2019
- 9 min
Everything Was Beautiful At the Ballet--I mean--BELLY...no. Bella.
Life...Crap...Dookie...Problems...Issssssues that cling to your ass, year after year after decade like dingleberries stuck to the dog's...
34
Bella Dancer
- Mar 3, 2019
- 6 min
THE DAY I PICKED PICTUS - Beyond Belly Dance
My favorite weekend at any Renaissance Faire is Scottish Weekend. Why? Seriously? Ummm... Is there really any question of--?! Hey, now! I...
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Bella Dancer
- Jan 22, 2019
- 11 min
WHEN IRISH EYES ARE...(a short story)
January 1997 “Still haven’t found any courage in the bottom of that glass, eh?” His eyes shoot open and meet mine. Embarrassment colors...
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Bella Dancer
- May 28, 2018
- 8 min
HIGH ON CRAIC! - Dancing Like I Do
As defined by the Cambridge Dictionary Online: Craic: (kræk) noun: irish english "enjoyable time spent with other people, especially when...
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Bella Dancer
- May 4, 2017
- 1 min
Here There Be Dancers
One of my favorite moments of every week... I gather up my sweaty, nasty BJJ stuff from the locker room and huck my Mary Poppins carpet...
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Bella Dancer
- Apr 23, 2017
- 4 min
DRAWING ROOM: The Power of Dance
I draw the sign of infinity with my body and my life changes. Drawing with my head, I close my eyes and soar into the depths of...
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