Sushi Sundays and Weslandia

     I have been Stiptease dancing and Go Go dancing since I was 18 years old.  I spent many days around professional showgirls, strippers and dancers who lived everyday on the road or working in clubs. I had some of the best days of my life living on the road but also came across a lot of drama, many egos and divas. Not that it was completely negative as I think everyone has their own insecurities and narcissistic traits (including me). It became very common place for me as I was used to being around women who had been in international magazines and traveled the world as feature dancers. I was used to being backstage with half naked women in pasties and G strings. I became desensitized to it and it didn't really phase me how incredibly intimate it really was until I became an instructor and producer. It was then that my perspective vastly and truly changed for the better on dance, security and women.

    Production and instruction were never things I wanted to do or even thought about doing. They were things that the universe threw my way and instead of dodging them I took the challenge to sink or swim as I embraced them. Through production I was able to gain a stronger appreciation for ensemble and variety show casts. I saw how incredibly unique, vital and talented each individual was. It wasn't one of them...but all of them that made the show. Some girls were sexy, some girls kinky or raunchy, some girls are funny and campy, some girls are dramatic, some glamorous and others minimalistic. My mother used to tell me as a kid that "Variety was the spice of life."

 

      Around the same time I started producing I was in graduate school finishing my Masters degree and I came across the children's book 'Weslandia' in my Cultural Perspectives class. I spent the summer working with fellow students from Korea, China, Japan, Europe and America. We were assigned to read Paul Fleishman's 'Weslandia' and I fell in love with it. I believe it is that book that fostered my perspective on production. The book is basically about casting judgments aside but focusing on building bridges together through difference. Through shared experience and difference we can learn from each other and grow stronger as both individuals and as a community.
                                                         

 I highly recommend it....

                    

     Through dance instruction which I started in 2009, I was able to cross paths with women who saw dance differently because they were not professional dancers. These women I spent time with had all the same insecurity and self esteem issues that my fellow feature dancers had but for them it was not a job it was just for fun. It was a hobby and form of fitness so there was less pressure and competition. In watching these women I was simply amazed at how fast they became friends and marveled at how different they were from each other yet they not only appreciated but embraced each others differences. Working the circuit as a professional dancer when differences were involved many times other dancers snubbed each other....but not these women.

    They started off as strangers with very little in common yet they became a solid community of women. I learned a lot from them. My most recent dance students and I have slowly created a tradition of dance practice involving wine, sushi and sake every Sunday. Today when we skip 'Sushi Sundays', I feel naked (and not the good kind of naked) I find myself a little bummed out when we cancel. Thanks to these women I shine with an inner purpose to keep the flame of friendship alive through fitness and dance. It's been remarkably rewarding to witness friendships blossom in positive ways and learn about them.