Bellyogrphy: Vashti
Issue 203 / November 2005 More from this Issue
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By Astara
Ah, Vashti! Beautiful, mysterious, elegant, graceful, mesmerizing...Vashti!
"Dance is really who I am," Vashti told me. "It is how I express myself. I'm not good with words. If I need to express an emotion, I dance it."
A Salt Lake native, Vashti's dance background is diverse. While pursuing a dance career in the 1980s, she was informed that because of a birth defect, she would have to give up dancing or be in a wheelchair by age 40. She gave up dancing, but entered into a time of deep depression and sadness.
In 1988, she met Courtney Montgomery, a belly dancer, who offered to assist Vashti out of her depression and negative body issues by teaching her Middle Eastern Dance. It saved her life!
"At first, it felt very uncomfortable and unnatural. But I slowly became enthralled and wanted more and more to be able to move like Courtney."
Eager to learn as much as possible, Vashti studied with everyone in Salt Lake, and became of member of Kairo by Night as a percussionist and a dancer, and then a member of the Kismet Dance Troupe. Her epiphany came while attending the Mendocino Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp a few years ago. She was introduced to the variety and richness of dances from Turkey, Morocco, and Algeria. Teachers like Susie Tekbilek, Ahmet Luleci, and Tayyar Akdeniz from Turkey, Amel Tafsout from Algeria, and Helene Erikson and Laurel Victoria Gray from the United States changed her forever.
"I had become bored with cabaret-style of dance. It didn't fit me anymore. What really drives me is to learn about different people and cultures. Why they do the things that they do, how they think, their culture and how that changes the way a person thinks or feels. Folkloric dance gets to the roots of the people. Music and dance is their voice. I came back from the dance camp with a renewed passion for Middle Eastern dance."
"I love all the different styles of Middle Eastern dance, but Turkish is truly my passion. It is raw. Happy. Really out there. It just feels right on me and I resonate with it."
"I love Moroccan music. It is polyrhythmic and very different from most Arabic music. The dancer can focus on so many different parts of the music because there are so many different things going on. It provides an entirely new means of expression."
Vashti's interpretation of Middle Eastern folkloric dance and music is spell binding. When she is on stage, I barely breathe as I am caught up in the magic that she is feeling through the movement. She brings to the dance a creative depth and expression that is rare. There is a truth and honesty when she performs, and a commitment. And we, the audience, for one brief moment, are given a glimpse into her heart and soul. What a gift!
For more information regarding Vashti's performances, classes, or workshops, contact her at swampdancer1@hotmail.com or visit www.utahraks.com.
Ah, Vashti! Beautiful, mysterious, elegant, graceful, mesmerizing...Vashti!
"Dance is really who I am," Vashti told me. "It is how I express myself. I'm not good with words. If I need to express an emotion, I dance it."A Salt Lake native, Vashti's dance background is diverse. While pursuing a dance career in the 1980s, she was informed that because of a birth defect, she would have to give up dancing or be in a wheelchair by age 40. She gave up dancing, but entered into a time of deep depression and sadness.
In 1988, she met Courtney Montgomery, a belly dancer, who offered to assist Vashti out of her depression and negative body issues by teaching her Middle Eastern Dance. It saved her life!
"At first, it felt very uncomfortable and unnatural. But I slowly became enthralled and wanted more and more to be able to move like Courtney."
Eager to learn as much as possible, Vashti studied with everyone in Salt Lake, and became of member of Kairo by Night as a percussionist and a dancer, and then a member of the Kismet Dance Troupe. Her epiphany came while attending the Mendocino Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp a few years ago. She was introduced to the variety and richness of dances from Turkey, Morocco, and Algeria. Teachers like Susie Tekbilek, Ahmet Luleci, and Tayyar Akdeniz from Turkey, Amel Tafsout from Algeria, and Helene Erikson and Laurel Victoria Gray from the United States changed her forever.
"I had become bored with cabaret-style of dance. It didn't fit me anymore. What really drives me is to learn about different people and cultures. Why they do the things that they do, how they think, their culture and how that changes the way a person thinks or feels. Folkloric dance gets to the roots of the people. Music and dance is their voice. I came back from the dance camp with a renewed passion for Middle Eastern dance."
"I love all the different styles of Middle Eastern dance, but Turkish is truly my passion. It is raw. Happy. Really out there. It just feels right on me and I resonate with it."
"I love Moroccan music. It is polyrhythmic and very different from most Arabic music. The dancer can focus on so many different parts of the music because there are so many different things going on. It provides an entirely new means of expression."
Vashti's interpretation of Middle Eastern folkloric dance and music is spell binding. When she is on stage, I barely breathe as I am caught up in the magic that she is feeling through the movement. She brings to the dance a creative depth and expression that is rare. There is a truth and honesty when she performs, and a commitment. And we, the audience, for one brief moment, are given a glimpse into her heart and soul. What a gift!
For more information regarding Vashti's performances, classes, or workshops, contact her at swampdancer1@hotmail.com or visit www.utahraks.com.
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