Blyth started her bellydancing career late in life, but caught up fast. It goes to show you that it is never to late to get started. She has been dancing in Corpus Christi for over a decade. She has competed in three competitions in her bellydance career, the Jewel of the Concho in San Angelo Texas, she and her partner took first place in Duets. She has also taken The Texas Gypsys, to the Middle Eastern Choreography Project in Austin Texas in 2008 and 2009. She frequently travels about the state of Texas to continue her studies and bring the best of the bellydance world to her students in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Her recent seminars include Unmata, Bellanatana, Urban Gypsy, Brandy Bolin of Tribal Evolution, L'imprev, and Arabic Folkdance Intensive by Karim Nagi. She just returned in the Fall of 2009 from Tribal Alchemy in Fort Worth. There she attended workshops by Belladonna, Mira Betz, Elizabeth Strong and Rose Harden. Mira Betz is her new inspiration as well as all her students. When she travels she frequently attends other classes and instructors. These instructors have included Karen Barbee, Zymirrah of Urban Gypsy, and Isis and the Star Dancers. Her travels allow her to see the latest trends in bellydance and share these with her students. In addition to being the Director of The Texas Gypsys and Veiled Intentions, she is also a member of the Austin Bellydance Association and has been for many years. She has served as the co-director of PURE Bellydance in Houston. She is one of the founders of the Texas Coastal Bend Bellydance Association and served as it's first President. She is blessed with an incredible and supportive husband and a beautiful intelligent bellydancing daughter.
Her philosophy of bellydance is simple. It is for all women. Women and dancers come in all shapes and sizes. Many believe, there is evidence to suggest its validity, that bellydance was by woman and for woman after the men dismissed them to their tent for the evening. Grandmothers, Mothers, Daughters, Aunts, Nieces, and Cousins would gather in these small spaces and dance to entertain each other. This tradition is carried on at ABBA! measuring a dancer by her spirit, heart, soul, and grace.
Instruction focuses on creating a strong structural foundation. Movements are broken down into fundamental components and she is happy to answer specific questions that any student may need in order to master the movement or combination. It is all about helping you become the best bellydancer you can be.
She is well versed in many of the different styles of bellydance. She prefers and teaches following the group fusion format, basically the difference is a group of dancers working together. The difference for the beginning dancer is really not noticeable. The foundational movements and combinations are relatively similar with just slight variations in stylization. When students have reached performance ability she offers two options, The Texas Gypsys and/or Veiled Intentions. The Texas Gypsys are a stylized tribal-gypsy bellydance fusion performance troupe -drawing on group created choreography and offers solo opportunities. Veiled Intentions is based totally on tribal style group improvisation bellydance (ITS) , which relies on the members to have a distinct dance language that is shared. Each member participates in leading and following, and never creates the same dance twice. She has students that participate in both groups.
About the Name
Why a Viking dance name? I get this question all the time so I thought this the best place to post an explanation. For those that know me well, I am fascinated by history and mythology. There is substantial proof that the Vikings were living and trading in Constantinople as early as the X century. So on a technicality there could have been Viking belly dancers.
The legends and stories of the Vikings have always fascinated me. There is the story of the 12 Valkyries, one of my favorites, in which they are charged by Odin to bring those who are slain in battle to reside with him in Valhalla. Valhalla is the Viking equivalent of heaven. There are however thirteen Valkyries, the thirteenth Valkyrie is named Myst, her distinct job is to descend upon the battlefield as a fog or mist, to confuse armies and to keep a battle from happening, in essence a peace keeper. Her story is one of my favorite in all mythology. When I dance with others, I feel as if a mist descends around the audience and the dancers. We are blanketed in a moment of time which offer others a glimmer of the beauty, grace, strength, and sensuality of the feminine spirit and peace reigns if only for a moment.
