Memories of Shimmies Past
Jul. 26th, 2004 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosIn the deep storage under my stairwell. . . every bit as hard to get into as the term "deep storage" implies. . . I have a bin in which I have been storing what I believe are the last surviving vestiges of the costumes ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
raptures_shadow wore when she was dazzling audiences as a belly dancer lo these many years ago.
Now, these are forgiving outfits -- baggy harem pants and elastic-waist skirts, for the most part -- but it was gratifying to find that I could actually wear them and move comfortably in them. They don't look anywhere near as good on me now as they did on her then -- but it was nice to be able to go to class wearing something other than street clothes.
My sister was a marvelous dancer: like flame, with her red hair swirling around her, and the unique light of her spirit radiating out from her eyes and face. There was a joy and a purity of spirit to her dancing that was unlike any of the other women who shared the space with her. She was incredibly sexy but also innocent. Men fell for her by the score. The first time I saw her dance, I was stunned. She had always been beautiful and charismatic, and I had seen her dazzle as an actress, but I had no idea she could move and glow like that.
Mine has always been a different kind of light. It has always felt strange when either of us "crosses over" into what had been the territory of the other, but there's a kind of expansiveness to it. For a very long time we limited ourselves to the boxes other people put on us. We're (mostly) beyond that now. I will never dance like my sister. I can only hope to dance like my own true self -- even if it sometimes feels during class that my true self has two left feet.
I didn't expect this post to go off in this vein. I guess that door under the stairs also leads to an annex in my mind that I hadn't entered in a while.
raptures_shadow wore when she was dazzling audiences as a belly dancer lo these many years ago. Now, these are forgiving outfits -- baggy harem pants and elastic-waist skirts, for the most part -- but it was gratifying to find that I could actually wear them and move comfortably in them. They don't look anywhere near as good on me now as they did on her then -- but it was nice to be able to go to class wearing something other than street clothes.
My sister was a marvelous dancer: like flame, with her red hair swirling around her, and the unique light of her spirit radiating out from her eyes and face. There was a joy and a purity of spirit to her dancing that was unlike any of the other women who shared the space with her. She was incredibly sexy but also innocent. Men fell for her by the score. The first time I saw her dance, I was stunned. She had always been beautiful and charismatic, and I had seen her dazzle as an actress, but I had no idea she could move and glow like that.
Mine has always been a different kind of light. It has always felt strange when either of us "crosses over" into what had been the territory of the other, but there's a kind of expansiveness to it. For a very long time we limited ourselves to the boxes other people put on us. We're (mostly) beyond that now. I will never dance like my sister. I can only hope to dance like my own true self -- even if it sometimes feels during class that my true self has two left feet.
I didn't expect this post to go off in this vein. I guess that door under the stairs also leads to an annex in my mind that I hadn't entered in a while.
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Date: 2004-07-27 09:41 am (UTC)This brings up another point. The 6th?