Second Act
Add to favorites
Belly dance opens the door to the enjoyments of being a woman, playing with make-up and dressing up like Hollywood vixens, leading ladies and Ziegfeld’s chorus girls. Year after year I enjoyed the costumes, limelight, bling and the attention that came with my profession. Playing dress up was a way of life and I found that dressing down for daily activities just meant less make-up, lower high heels and no glitter in my hair. Years went by and I lived life vicariously through my belly dance image and dress code.
As the tick, tock of the age old time clock came to pass new problems were being introduced that I would have traded or bartered away in a heartbeat. As strange as it may sound, I would welcome a zit to wrinkles and I would give anything to go back to the days when I didn’t have to dye my hair every four weeks. I woke up with a spring in my step years ago but now adays depending on how much I danced or exercised the day before, I talk myself into sitting up in bed. My feet argue with me when it comes to high heels now. I have to coax them into my favorite shoes and by the time I get home they feel it necessary to scream at me! My Marilyn Monroe walk by the end of the day tends to look like an unintentional impression of the hump back of Notre Dame.
Belly dance seemed to blur the years into a time warp so much so that by the time I stepped off my flying carpet, I was older, wiser and definitely in denial about being older. I came off my flying carpet at the very moment I was doing a photo shoot with my daughter. When I viewed the photos it was obvious that I didn’t look like I used to in photos. My daughter was the vision of youth and I was the vision of middle age. Photographers always told me I photographed younger then my age. With the reality sinking in that this was no longer the case the first thing I wanted to do was go out and buy a box of chocolates! Nothing like zits and wrinkles happening at the same time!
I was depressed not because I minded getting old but because it snuck up on me and I wasn’t ready for it. I know this isn’t a realistic way to look at it but it’s the truth. After chewing on it a bit it occurred to me that there are many women who through out their careers made a difference and didn’t let age get in their way. I thought to myself, “Okay, so I’m in good company.”
I started to think about women within my own state that made a difference not only for women in the arts but who created a following based on their unique abilities to stay the course. Georgia O’Keeffe came to mind because she changed the view of what was visually appealing to paint. Her courage to follow her own desires and instincts resulted in a fan base of millions all over the world. A horse skull with white roses on it or a landscape made with bold colors demonstrated her artistic view of life. For dancers, fabrics, costumes and jewelry become our pallet as we decorate our bodies creating visual masterpieces. We give the audience a glimpse of our world that is rich in color and design.
My mentor and dear friend, renowned female portrait artist Barbara Sayre Harmon, is the enchantress of the ages, wisdom abound and laughter as contagious as the wind. Her magical spells are a delicious recipe of enchanting costumes, jewelry and fabrics of every kind. She is my belly dance dream come true because she envelopes me in fabrics and I magically turn into a thousand and one nights’ heroine or Cleopatra waiting for Caesar. There were a few times I was a nymph and swore I had wings and to my surprise the personification of Spring in all her glory. In her eighties, I look at her and see such beauty in her face that only gets more beautiful as time goes by.
Flamingo dancer, Maria Benetiz is a recipient of the New Mexico Governors award for Excellence in the Field of Dance. With the Metropolitan Opera of New York, she choreographed their production of Carmen in 1987 and she was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Santa Fe Opera. Her fire and passion is as intense today as it was thirty years ago. I realized that the knowledge of a dancer enhances not only her dance but her interpretation of life. We choreograph and produce multitudes of shows working to bring in our themes that reflect our heritage and art form. Inspiration is the key behind our fiery passion because it never leaves us and only grows stronger with time.
Bert Balladine once said, “You have nothing to dance about until you are over the age of 30.” There is a part of me that whole heartedly agrees with him because I have so much more to say now then even ten years ago. So growing older just means we trust our intuition more and we teach dance as we have lived life making no apology for who we are.
As I look through life with my older eyes I tend to see the detail that I once missed because I was always in a hurry. How a woman wears her hair or a unique blending of fabrics inspires me to look at costuming in a whole new light. Women standing together and how they communicate with their body language becomes a synchronized choreography of communication and life.
It’s obvious this is my second act or one might say, my second wind. The second act in definition states that it is inferior or less important to the previous part. But I whole heartedly disagree. I see my second act as a way to do the things I didn’t have the courage to do when I was younger. I have thicker skin that occasionally comes in handy and I have found out that having a forked dagger as a tongue doesn’t always get me the best results. A wise woman knows that in order to keep her wits about her, it’s what she doesn’t say in the moments of chaos and drama that says more then any spoken word. Silence isn’t just golden, its’ smart!
Living life to it’s fullest means walking a path open to experiences that teach me to be a better woman. The day I stop walking my path will mean I’m back on my flying carpet ending the journey of a lifetime. That day hasn’t come yet so for now I enjoy taking one day at a time, smelling the roses and looking beyond the immediate into the grand scale of life.
If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.
~ Gail Sheehy ~
Check out www.bellydancevillage.com
Related posts:
Add to favorites
About Leyla Najma
