You may have noticed that I haven't been writing as much as I used to, and the fact is I have been sucked into the world of tribal fusion bellydance. Oh, I still enjoy reading sci-fi/fantasy, and I still like roleplaying games (even though I almost never play them anymore), but it seems like every month when my CT deadline is looming, I'm also busy preparing for a bellydance show. I was feeling bad about that, and I was thinking about it, and I realized that my two loves (geekery and dancing) also have a lot in common, so I decided to be like all the cool kids and write a listicle about it. Now, you might think that geeks and bellydancers are completely different from each other. I mean, as far as the media would have us think, geeks are socially awkward, dumpy loners, and bellydancers are glamorous divas. But I'm here to tell you that we have more in common than you might realize. In fact, let's start with the media. 1.   The media rarely portrays us accurately. You know when you're watching a detective show and the characters end up with a murder that takes place at a sci-fi convention or involves a comic book collector, and you just start cringing because you know the whole episode is littered with painful stereotypes? Bellydancers feel the same way. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen my fellow dancers up in arms over a news article that clearly thought we were strippers, or a TV episode where the bellydancer is teaching class in full costume and makeup. 2.   The average person has weird conceptions about us. Remember that time you told someone that you liked comic books and they immediately assumed you were like The Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons? As a bellydancer, I have seriously been asked "Do they undress you?" which showed a clear misunderstanding of both bellydance and stripping. 3.   People have even weirder misconceptions about our relationships and love-lives. As a happily married geek-girl with an awesome geek husband, I get really annoyed at the stereotypes that say that geeks can't get girls, definitely aren't girls, and have probably never even touched a girl. As a bellydancer, I roll my eyes at the people who look at my husband with a "you lucky dog!" attitude. Believe me, he had a much better time of things when I was just a geek and not a dancer. The poor guy has to put up with me being gone on weekend nights for performances, spending all my time on classes, and generally only getting dressed up for other people. If he comes along to the show, he doesn't get to enjoy himself, he has to film my troupe, or guard somebody's purse, or make the stink-eye at some rowdy audience member. 4.   We'd rather go to a convention full of our idols than take an exotic tropical vacation. Oh sure, I could take off for a week in Hawaii, or I could go spend all week in a convention center surrounded by the movers and shakers of my trade. Guess what I choose every time? I attended two major bellydance events last year and I was sad that I couldn't go to more. And let's face it, even if you go to a convention in a nice locale, how much time do you spend enjoying the local scenery? Every time I went to San Diego Comic Con, all I saw of San Diego itself is wherever we ate dinner. Sure, it would have been nice to go to the zoo or the museums or the beach I guess, but we wanted to spend all of our time and money at the convention! The same thing happened when I went to a bellydance festival in Las Vegas. I thought to myself "I could go out for a nice dinner... or see Cirque du Soleil, or go shopping at one of the nice malls... or go buy that pretty shiny bellydance skirt and then go to the bellydance show tonight." Guess which one I did? 5.   We love costumes. It's true that there are some geeks that don't like cosplay, but for the most part even those who don't do costuming themselves enjoy seeing other people bring their characters to life. It's fun to take pictures of people in awesome hall costumes or go to a masquerade. And I can tell you as a bellydancer that while furthering my dance education is budget priority number one, I have considered selling a kidney to buy an amazing costume. 6.   Our passion also takes over our daily wardrobe. Geek-AJ loves her Marie Curie t-shirt even though it is pink, and thinks her Edison vs. Tesla shirt is one of the coolest things ever. Dance-AJ buys t-shirts from all of her favorite instructors and performers and wears them around town just hoping someone will ask her about them. I own very few t-shirts that don't reflect one of my two passions. 7.   We get weird looks on the street. You know when you're standing on the street corner outside of your local convention, wearing your hall costume, and half the people avert their eyes and the other half pepper you with questions? It's the same for a bellydancer. Especially when we go to dinner after a gig, and we've still got our stage makeup, bindis, and jewelry on, but we're wearing street clothes. Doubly so since late-night shows mean we end up in Denny's. Good times. You can always tell when your server is struggling not to ask why you're wearing So. Much. Glitter. 8.   It's hard to be around normal people. Guh, don't you hate that family Thanksgiving dinner where people just want to talk about football and you're sitting there day-dreaming about your next gaming session or troupe practice? Even when someone politely asks you about your interests, they just don't share your level of passion for it. It's so much more fun to hang out with your gaming group or your dance community, where everyone speaks your language. Going out into normal society always means deciding how much camouflage you're going to wear. Do you put on the Portal shirt and spend all day explaining the joke? Do you apply your favorite lime green eyeshadow even though everyone else will be wearing neutral makeup? And then even if you've done your best to blend in, something always gives you away... you accidentally make a really obscure X-Men reference, or the tattoo designed to emphasize your hip-work peeks out from under your blouse, and suddenly the secret is out. 9.   You can't imagine life any other way. Isn't it weird when you meet someone who has never even seen Star Wars? Isn't it strange to think about what you'd fill your leisure time with if you didn't play games, read books, or enjoy comics? I can't imagine being a person who only liked documentaries and non-fiction books. I love having that element of fantastic in my life. Similarly, even though I've only been serious about dancing for about five years now, it's already hard for me to imagine a time when I didn't dance. When the studio closes down for the holidays, I get bored and antsy. I have a hard time remembering what day of the week it is because I don't have my dance classes to use as a reference point. In closing, I'm happy to be part of both sub-cultures, and I'm happy to say that there's a lot of overlap. There's even a group in Chicago that specializes in putting together geeky bellydance performances. When I was at Tribal Fest last year, I saw bellydancing superheroes and Optimus Prime. I know about half a dozen dancing Whovians, a woman just waiting for a chance to do an Orion Slave Girl performance, and more than a few dancers who I swap fantasy book recommendations with. Not to mention the numerous dance troupes that you'll find performing at sci-fi conventions, renaissance faires and steampunk festivals all across the country. So if you meet a bellydancer, don't automatically assume that all she cares about is her figure and nail polish. She might very well be looking forward to a Walking Dead marathon when she gets home from her gig.

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Copyright © 2014 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.net