Melina of Daughters of Rhea

I first belly danced danced on stage to a live Greek bouzouki band with a costume pinned to my diapers at the hip of my trailblazing, intrepid, rebellious, hippie-artist mother, Rhea. I was almost 2 years old. A little boy came up to tip me and instead tried to take money from my costume! We wrangled over the cash and I won, of course: my mother didn't teach me to sit back and just let things happen to me.I also grew up performing in the circus: my dad, singer/songwriter folk/rock musician Phil Marsh, was bandleader of the Pickle Family Circus in the 70s, so as a kid, I performed in the circus ring as we toured up and down the west coast. Perhaps inevitably, as an adult I've managed to combine all my childhood art forms under one Big Top: Together with my husband Sacha Pavlata (5th generation Czech circus perfomer) I now own my own circus, Cirque Passion. Inside our charming little chapiteau I can fuse belly dance, global rhythms and aerial circus arts to my heart's content.My sister Piper and I grew up immersed in the art and business of belly dance in both the San Francisco Bay Area and later in Athens, Greece. We lived to dance and we danced to live. We worked every night at up to 5 tavernas a night in the Plaka. The Acropolis watched majestically over us as we entertained hundreds of international tourists a night on taverna rooftops. We sewed all our own costumes (well... needle and thread were thrust into my hands), mastered all the Greek folk dances so we could have back-up work in the balleto and generally had a fantastic time in the old city. Our hasapiko trio is killer, as good if not better than the macho kamakia of Plaka. As adults, when my sister Piper and I both pursued our doctorates - mine in medieval French literature and hers in molecular biology -- we continued to teach and perform belly dance in California, Philadelphia, Montreal, Canada and Washington, D.C. Currently we have Daughters of Rhea Belly Dance schools in our respective cities of Boston and Baltimore and are invited to teach seminars all around the world. I just got back from teaching in Singapore and Greece. My mom Rhea has a dance studio in Athens where she still teaches daily and produces shows with her students in Greece.Under the expert guidance of Jamila Salimpour, my mother Rhea was the first dancer to take the balancing of a sword as prop into a cabaret performance. (See the Tribal Bible for more on this era & Rhea's innovations). I carry on this balancing tradition with my tray of candles (which I have balanced in performance since I was 7 years old), and my one-of-a-kind sword and dagger act. I like a challenge and I like to innovate. I immerse myself in new artforms, push boundaries by exploring the intersection of eclectic global music, my family's belly dance tradition, circus aerial arts, storytelling, flamenco, jazz and different styles of belly dance. Above all I want my work to feel authentic and be entertaining at the same time. Possible or impossible? POSSIBLE!Some of my thoughts: If you have an idea, try it. Forget fear, untether yourself from convention, forget what others might think. Do it. Stop bullshitting. That is the Daughters of Rhea way.Check out my belly dance teaching schedule at www.daughtersofrhea.com. Take a look at my circus tent at www.cirquepassion.com.