Maria and I went to a Belly Dance Performance in Bennington, Vt. a week or so ago, and yesterday, Maria turned to me in the car as we were heading out to eat and said “oh, I’m  taking  belly dancing class next week.” A few years ago, if Maria had said that to me, I would have driven the car into a telephone pole.

This time, I wasn’t the least bit surprised, but I was overjoyed to hear it. Another chapter in her wondrous journey.

I told her I could hardly wait to see her in a performance of this ancient, viscerally feminist dance form (there are some male belly dancers, not many, it is considered a dance for women)

I saw Maria’s face during the Bennington performance and we talked about it for hours afterwards. She just loved it.

We both had the same reaction – what a joyful manifestation of the divine, women of all ages and sizes and shapes flaunting their spirit, celebrating their bodies,  honoring only themselves and their own pride and joy of life. They seemed so strong and free and happy up there.

It was all the sweeter because the dance was in the Mason’s Auditorium, and grizzled old bearded Mason pooh-bah looked down disapprovingly from above the fireplace mantel.

Maria insists that she can’t dance and has no natural rhythm and she insisted she would never be able to perform on a stage.

I bet her $10 that she would. She took the bet. It’s a no-brainer. If she learns to belly dance, and likes it, she will perform on a stage.

When Maria says she can’t do something, that usually means she is minutes or days away from doing it. At one time or another, I have  heard her insist that she couldn’t do art, sell her art, couldn’t run a studio, couldn’t curate an art show, couldn’t be a successful artist, couldn’t sell her potholders.

When I first knew her, she didn’t even think she could rent an apartment by herself, or find a job, or train a dog. She has done all of those things and so much more, she has accomplished just about everything she wanted to do and set out to do. She has enormous strength and energy, and I am happy, and yes, proud of her for plunging into belly dancing. It just feels so right to me.

I had no idea she was even thinking about taking classes, but it fits.

Maria’s work and life is all about finding her voice and affirming and encouraging other women to do the same.

And in so many ways, this is what belly dancing seemed to us to be about. Women have been shamed for so long  about their bodies and denied their freedom, and belly dancing struck me as being all about voice, self-confidence and freedom. Something about the happiness and strength in those women that night struck a deep chord in both of us.

Belly dancing is a natural fit for Maria, and another benchmark in her long and  very rewarding search for her own voice, her own place in the world.  It says she is getting comfortable with herself, whether she performs or not. Watching Maria grow into herself has been one of the greatest gifts of my life, I love her and admire her more every day.

She might like it, or she might not, that’s up to her (and she will certainly not do it if she doesn’t wish to do it), but my sense is that she will love it. This morning, Maria told me she was trying to figure out what her purpose was, what the purpose of her art is.

I said you don’t have to think about it, all you have to do is look at it. You are all about finding voice. Now, you may have found a new way to express it. I cannot wait to see her perform on her stage (no pressure, she will make up her own mind, I can assure you), I just have a hunch that I will.

And I will win that bet.