I didn't come from a dancing family and never showed any particular aptitude for dance at an early age, but somehow I was always drawn to rhythm in music.

My mum was faintly amused when I told her that I was going to bellydance classes but after my first Arabic dance lesson I knew that it was something that had been waiting inside of me all that time.

I danced my way through University making much needed extra money by performing in restaurants and at 'cultural' shows. My friends would often come out to dinner at the restaurants I was working in to see me dance and I developed a bit of a gothic retinue who followed me around!

When I finished uni and got a 'proper' job I stopped restaurant dancing so much because i didn't have the time. What i did start doing though was performing at Gothic events. My goth friends enjoyed my dancing so much that i didn't see why the dance couldn't be adapted to fit into a goth club environment.

This was way back in 1998 before Gothic Bellydance or Raqs Gothique had become an accepted form of fusion dance. I didn't know any other Arabic inspired dancers who were doing this sort of performance and as far as a knew i was the only one, but it made so much sense. Since then i have come across so many other dancers with similar ideas and there are very few gothic clubs these days that haven't hosted a bellydancer or two!

I have performed at Fetish, Goth and Techno/Dance parties as well as for cultural events, private parties and womens events. I have done crazy stuff with my outfits and dance styles but it has always had an Arabic dance base. I chose my dance name 'Magdalene' in 1998 because I had been reading a lot of texts about Biblical Apocrypha and I felt a connection with the character of Mary Magdalene and her place as a woman and an 'outsider'. Unfortunately these days everyone thinks I've got an obssession with the Da Vinci Code! Actually I was interested in the place of Mary Magdalene as an avatar for the Divine and as the Biblical counterpart to Babalon or the Scarlet Woman. I thought that she may have been a dancer and that dance can also be used as a conduit for divine experience. But then it all gets a bit hazy and it's probably best if I leave it at that!

I'm not an American Tribal Dancer - I consider myself an Egyptian Dancer as that is the style I have learned and continue to learn. I like to dance in the earthy, tradtional style of the gypsies and the graceful cabaret style of the 1940s Cairo Clubs. I also enjoy fusing other ethnic dance styles into my movements; Spanish Gypsy, Tahitian & Rarotongan, and even a touch of Wushu - Chinese Martial Arts which I also practice.

I can't imagine ever *not* dancing as it is such a part of my life and of who I am.