At four years old, I played a blue bird in "Wizard of Oz." Although it was only my first time on stage, I feel in love with performing and had to be dragged off stage by my dance teacher and two ballerinas! I did not intend to leave that stage! I wanted nothing more in life, and that feeling never left me.

I studied everything and poured my heart into dance. Then, when I was 13, my teachers began giving me a hard time because my shape was getting naturally curvy instead of looking like a bean sprout. I got discouraged and quit dance classes for three years. I was taking tap lessons at the same studio where someone was also teaching belly dance. When I started, the teacher’s best friend and I were the only students. Can you imagine a belly dance class not completely overflowing these days?

Soon after, I found "The Habibi Dancers" in Lansing, Michigan. I audition for a part in the dance company and was accepted. I believe it’s common in non-profit Mid-Eastern companies to focus on the group. If there is a soloist, it’s usually the artistic director. The need in me was so intense to break away and find my own voice. That’s when I decided I would make the pilgrimage. So in 2001, I left for Egypt dreaming of dancing as a soloist.

I found work in Cairo, Sinai, Port Said, Alexandria, and Algiers. Each day and each job was intensely rich, layered with purpose, and kept me on my toes. I was in a constant state of new experience and assimilation. Egypt is an environment teeming with so much color that one simply forgets the definition of boredom.

Dancing there was not what I thought it would be. My first reaction was, “This is not what I signed up for!"” In the end, it was educational though. My entire approach to oriental dance has morphed and so has my response to viewing it. It can be a whole new world dancing within these elements.

I left because of the ban against foreign dancers. There is work outside of Egypt but how long can you really live out of a suitcase? I also came to realize that I was nearing the end of one cycle. I knew that the moment was optimum for me to return home and begin translating my experiences and the insights.

And now I am positively bursting at the seams!!!! To think there was a time when I considered giving up. I ask myself, what would I be if I were not a dancer? I have no idea!!! So here I am in a sea of everlasting extraordinary dancers/teachers and I can only pray that there's room for one more.