Welcome to Switzerland

Now playing: 30 seconds to mars
mood: A dee dee

I found this pic after Sa'dia sent me some motivational posters in an email. Something about this picture with these particular words crack me up. I'm not sure if it is the dude in the background, or the dog's crooked eyes, or the fact that the picture as a whole is pretty ridiculous.

So there has been a private running joke that I have become a politically neutral bellydance entity of my own called "Switzerland." And in my country of Switzerland there are no studios, or classes, or troupes, just the dance and the freedom to do as I choose. I can dance or not. I can enjoy the styles and classes of others if and when I choose. There is no pressure. There is no commitment. Just the joy of bellydance.

Sounds very Utopian, I know.

But really, I know what my dance goals are and they do not involve all that comes with the political, social, and business end of BD. I am a free floating neutral entity that supports all groups and styles. And I like it here.

The other night at GDC's 1yr Ann. a dance friend, who recently left a group to pursue her own dance goals looked at me and said, "Why do we have to be here?" She said this tongue-in-cheek because she is still fielding questions from other dance acquaintances who don't know she is no longer performing with that group.

I said, "Because sometimes we occasionally have to go to United Nations meeting and continue to declare our independence."

We both laughed.

It is hard to be independent without the support of others, which is kind of contradictory to the word independent. And I don't by any means want to be the leader(<- tie into flying dog picture) of Switzerland but I do want others to know that you can have a perfectly happy functioning BD life outside of all of the crap that can, has, and will happen along the way. You don't have to be a part of a group if you don't want to be. You can have different goals if you want. You can actually dance for the joy of it because everyone is welcome in "Switzerland." We don't have a census here.

Anyway, I think I will have t-shirts made.

"Welcome to Switzerland"

~N