Interview with Melissa Calmes

April 21, 2009 11:45 AM

Name: Melissa Calmes

What is your role within the Sahara Dance community? Raqs Sahara Gal & Previous Instructor

Childhood ambition: I saw the movie Fame and I thought…how perfect! I play the cello, I’m on the speech team and I love to dance. That was where I knew I wanted to be!!!

First job: Workin’ as a cashier at Warehouse Drugs after school! But I guess technically before that, I did some holiday gift wrapping and envelope stuffing for The Carat Patch, a small jewelry store my dad’s galfriend managed.

What’s playing on your iPod or CD player? Well I love all music and my collection is quite diverse. I have House music from Zik and other favorites from DJs I know, I have old Elvis, I have Hank Williams, Sr., Deee-Lite, Everything But the Girl, Madonna, Kate Bush, I have lots of classical…lots of jazz, The Police, Anoushka Shankar, Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Holiday and of course many many many belly dance songs!

Indulgence: Doing nothing!

What’s your favorite belly dance moment or experience? My favorite moment was at the end of a workshop that I had worked really hard in, and I was so moved by the realization that this instructor was able to push and pull such an expressiveness out of me that I had not felt before…and I said yes…this is it…I now understand what it’s all about to be a dancer.

Current inspirations: Life is my complete inspiration!

What is your dance background? My only dance background would be Sock Hops in junior high and discotecas in Italy… or maybe it was the baton twirling I did as a child…does that count? The 3 of us would choreograph to songs by Devo or some random late 70’s song…

How did you get interested in belly dance? When I was very young, possibly 6 or 7, I went to Grecian Gardens. It was a small Greek restaurant in Lexington, KY and it was the only place in town that had a belly dancer. I was so surprised when I saw her come out with her beautiful costume and her veil…and especially thrilled when she chose to drape it lovingly on me. There were several other occasions over the years, and each time I encountered a belly dancer I felt drawn to the dance, but of course didn’t ever expect that I would one day be a dancer as well. So long story short, while looking for yoga tapes I discovered the Belly Twins and belly dance. Laura, Beth and I tried those out for a while and then decided to find a real class. We looked up Joy of Motion, found Rachel and the rest is history!

Finally, what do you love most about Sahara Dance (other than Hip Talk, of course!)? The best thing about Sahara Dance is that it’s such a lovely community of women and friends, and we all strive to be so caring, supportive and genuine with each other! It’s all about connecting and growing and discovering and creating and…..

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