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Isn't it ALL about ME???
I was born in Brooklyn in 1970. That's right. I'm THIRTY FREAKING SIX. There I said it. Feels good...
Anyhow, I grew up in a single mom home in Far Rockaway. As a kid I loved anything and everything Indian. I watched the "U" channels on the weekends and caught glimpses of Hindi films and those religious teleplays. I loved the dancing and music especially. I would be heavily influenced by it for a long time.
Then in 1984 I saw Purple Rain. I was 13 and totally blown away. I wanted to be a musician, really, really badly. Mostly so that I could be onstage with Prince. I studied guitar and piano but after a few years I got bored and never practiced. I still dreamt of meeting Prince though. When I was 23 I got a job working at Paisley Park (his old record label) and got to put his food in his dressing room once...Ahh..those were the days. Prince always had Middle Eastern and Arabic influences in his music, especially in the 80s. I think that was the influence he had from the Beatles. In '93 he had a belly dancer named Mayte perform with him in concert. I thought. WHATEVA! I can so do that.
And now I do...
I took my first class a few years later and found my true self. Nothing has ever given me so much confidence as dancing and performing. AND a few years later I actually got to meet Mayte!
Also through dance I met my soulmate and life-long pal Sami. (Affectionately known as Sami-Bear.) Sami is an amazingly brilliant human being and one of the most talented people I know. From him I 've been so inspired to create and since we've been together I have been more creative than ever. Now I take Indian singing lessons with Falu and I'm still dancing. I've been working on developing Zikrayat with Sami, knitting, henna'ing, mosaicing, and designing my brains out. It doesn't get any better than this...
