Meet The Dancers: Lori Yanis, Ensemble Dancer

I’m from a generations-old farming family in central Missouri. Not exactly what you expect when you think of a belly dancer, right? Maybe...

The upcoming Mother Nature show excites me on many levels. I was a painfully shy child, it was extremely difficult for me to speak to people, much less get on a stage and dance. That didn’t happen until just a couple of years ago with this group. Stepping  onto a stage felt like stepping onto a foreign planet. It was a new world there for my exploration.

I had an ideal early childhood with free run of hundreds of acres. Days were spent with little concept of time and surrounded by Everything Beautiful in nature: for me, communication with nature was easier than with people. Outside and alone was home. Missouri’s landscape and natural abundance is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Our little corner of the Earth is sometimes vastly underappreciated. It is fitting we do a tribute to Mother Nature here.

My first taste of belly dance happened in India at 18 yrs old. I took a class and from then on dabbled in and out of it throughout the years. From that age on, I spent a lot of time in the Middle East and in the Middle Eastern culture; therefore, the essence of the dance feels natural to me. This is my third year with Moon Belly and it’s an honor to be amongst such beautiful and dedicated women.

As I am learning, it’s one thing to train your body and showcase your physical movements. But this is not the end goal. The goal is to tell a story, expose the soul, and communicate beyond the realm of mind. On the stage, my body should be my words. The audience deserves a connection, not just a show. 

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