Got F.A.C.E.?

I met Basimah at Dreamcamp and was blown away at her energy, her love of dance and her loving personality.  This put me at ease when I went on an amazing journey with her and my bellydance sisters a few weekends ago.  We cried, shared our rawness within our group and all overcame some fears.  My biggest fear (and not my only one) was to improvise as I've never done that before.  I had chosen my song and toyed with what I was going to do but the morning of the day that we were to improvise on our songs, she announced that she had chosen a song for all of us.  ALL. OF. US..... I panicked.  Improvising to a song you know is great.  Improvising to a song you have no clue where the cues are and when it will stop (I thought it would never stop while I was dancing!  LOL!), that's a different story.  She told me I was last.  I enjoyed a portion of the show before I started to worry about going next.... before I could even do that, she called my name.  WHAT?!  ''I thought I was last?!'' I said.  She smiled and winked at me.  She knew what my reaction was going to be.  Why?  Because she's awesome.   I went to the bar, my heart was racing.  I thought I was going to pass out.... I stopped, took a deep breath and listened for my queue.  I hear it and away I went!  My palms are STILL sweating, thinking about it.  It was a blur!  3:34 felt like 10 minutes.  I thought it would never end.  Once it was done, I was so relieved.  I cried.  I was soaked from nervous sweat (ew...LOL), my poor heart was racing.  I was relieved, excited and amazed at what I had just done.  I did my first improvisation. 



I'm unsure if it's viewable or not, but here's the link:  http://youtu.be/EdjLUPFSrtY .  Please remember that I had NO CLUE what the song was and where the cues were.  We are all to learn our song and perform it again next year.  I am so excited! 


My good friend Samara (using her stage name as we all know I don't use folks' real names on my blog) cried as she gave me her critique and what she liked about my performance.  She said these words that struck me: "I wish you saw yourself as we see you..."  such powerful words.  (and yes, I was crying when she told me this, as I am now, remembering the impact that those words had and have on me.)  This is something I will definitely work on this next year.



Basimah came to see me after my dance and sat with me.  She gave me homework.  She got me to write down: 


I can.  I will.
I am good enough.
They do want me.
I have IT!


A tall order, but this is something I will also work on this year.  I'm hoping to knock her socks off at the next Got F.A.C.E!  ;)