Male

   I started my drumming career by complete accident. In 1981 my then girlfriend Z-Helene would perform Belly Dance on the weekends on 6th street in Austin, Texas. I would accompany her as her bodyguard but as fate would have it I had broken my ankle during martial arts practice. Now normally Helene would play doumbek to gather an audience and then dance to the recording of her drumming which she had just taped on her boombox. But one night her boombox broke and in desperation she literally thrust the drum into my hands and said "play!"

   With my left foot in a cast I struggled to play a basic beledi rhythm while Helene danced and played zills. Somehow the crowd loved it and I was even asked if I taught! I decided that since people thought I was a drummer, and Helene wanted me to be a drummer, that I better learn how to drum!

   I made all the mistakes that young guys make. I played too fast, played too loud and when I broke blood vessels in my hand I thought it was cool. Eventually I got good at it and now it's become an important part of my life. Since then I've worked on a number of musical and performance projects. One of the great joys in life is to try to create beauty and meaning in art, be it dance, music or whatever field you choose.

   I've directed and edited numerous dance videos and helped create CD's with my now wife Z-Helene. For the last 26 years I've had the pleasure of performing and creating art within the Belly Dance community as well as sponsoring the Master Sunday Series for four years and I started NATCMED and the Choreography Project for Middle Eastern Dance in 2004. We have two children and they have grown into wonderful teenagers. I'm happy to say that Helene and I have grown both as a couple and as individuals in this art form. As we have put love and effort into Belly Dance so we have been paid back and I guess that's as good as it gets!


  Check out my websites- www.zhelene.com - My Middle Eastern Dance site with my wife Z-Helene.

www.medancecertification.org - NATCMED- our teacher certification site for Middle Eastern Dance and the home of The Choreography Project for Middle Eastern Dance. Check out the mpegs of both troupes and solo dancers!

www.orientalistart.net - Orientalist Art of the Nineteenth Century- European Painters in the Middle East. This is a virtual tour of some of the most beautiful paintings from the nineteenth century!