Gay Marie

My name is Gaymarie...and I fell in love with dance when I was three years old when my mother took me to my very first ballet lesson.

Dance has always been a very important part of my life. When I was five years old I became a baton twirler and was drafted two years later into the Monterey Peninsula Twirl Team. I studied with Robert Olmstead in Palo Alto, California and competed in USTA <United States Twirling Association> events
at local, State and National levels winning hundreds of awards in the twirling and strut divisions. At the age of eleven I was handed my very first fire baton, and fell in love with the element immediately. I enjoy all forms of dance including contemporary and expressionism. I have taught baton, dance and fire for years, and find my greatest joy in teaching children.

All these years of training and experience have brought me to this wonderful place where my dancing spirit has found it's true expression as a dancer and drummer with Zamora's Bellydancing. The spirit and power of the fire fuels my inspiration and brings the fire in my soul to fruition through dance! I
especially enjoy the appreciation and zeal the young children seem to have with the dance of the fire. I am so blessed to be a part of Zamora's Gypsy Family and so enjoy the combined spirits of our beautiful tribe!

***Fire Dancer***
... a gift of prose written by Phillip Stiles

*************

"Yes yesss!" she hissed, to life she flared
Upon the wooden stick,
>From lowly match with treasures bared,
She stepped upon the wick.

On stage of scented paraffin
Her aura lit the scene,
And dark gave ground to light within,
This elemental queen.

Yet neither robe nor crown she wore
Still dressed as from her birth,
To sisters there her love she bore
Sweet Water, Air, and Earth.

She raised her arms above her head
With grace she took her stance,
Her hands entwined like lovers wed
The queen began to dance.

Her tiny feet so softly pressed
Upon her carpet blue,
The cadence beats within her breast
Bathed in a golden hue.

Her naked amber body flashed
Her hair she whipped about,
And somewhere from her distant past
She heard the chanters shout.

That star filled night, a campfire kept
She warmed the gathered throng,
While gypsies trilled she writhed and leapt
A mirror of their song.

At last in embers' glow she lay
The revelry complete,
By dawn the queen had slipped away
To Goddesses' retreat.

For every fire that e'er was lit
It's life and sight are here,
And those on whom her favor rests
This blessing she confers.

"Embrace the element of fire
and handle it with skill,
Then mold it to your hearts desire
conform it to your will."

"As spirits yours and mine are one
You see things through my eyes,
And come the setting of the sun
When blackness fills the skies."

"In you my sacred trust I keep
Let every mortal see
Let goodness thank and evil weep
The power I give to Thee"

Reborn as candle flame tonight
My vigil does she share,
And watches as you wield her light
With fire dancing there.

And though you dance so far from here
With starlit skies above,
The fire and I both hold you dear
Sweet dancer that I love.