Here is an email I sent that perhaps I ought to be ashamed of, but I'm not, in fact I'm so proud of it, I'm posting it here for the world to shake their heads at:

First of all I want to apologize for looking you up like this-- it was pretty easy with all the Austin-based belly dancing sites-- but it feels like I'm being creepy and I don't mean to be.

My name is J. I'm the guy in the tank top who said "you guys were great" last night and then scurried off to the men's room.

What I said was an understatement. I've never really seen belly dancing before, except at one Mediterranean restaurant in Savannah, Georgia of all places. But that was just one style, and one dancer, and I was busy eating and not paying too close attention.

Last night I feel like I had something like the experience that I imagine was originally intended for an audience to have to this kind of dancing, way way back in the day, in a land far far away. I think it literally hypnotized me at one point.

And what I wanted to say to you afterwords, as you were trying to leave with your big mysterious jug of tea, was that I think the way you move your body is truly one of the wonders of the world. Seriously. I'm sure you get a lot of come-ons and this may just sound like another one, but if I were to list my own personal living wonders of the world, it would be things like the taste of a ripe passionfruit, the color of the ocean the moment the sun rises or sets into it, the view of the planet from the air on a clear day, the play of a dolphin in a good mood, the sound of a live band playing their best-- and your hips locking with the wild rhythm of a doumbek. Or your whole body writhing so slowly it's like you've entered another dimension and I've somehow followed you into it.

I am a big music person and don't know much about dance, so this is all coming from a pretty naive observer. All of the other dancers were really good too, and I told a couple of them as much. But what YOU did was, I believe, an ancient form of magic. I could not take my eyes off of you during your performance even if I had wanted to. I left there feeling like I'd had a spell cast upon me and I haven't been able to quite shake it all day.

So all of this is what I wanted to tell you as you were leaving, but you seemed to be patiently wading your way towards the door through the other adoring fans, so I figured I'd just leave you alone, and just hope I run into you sometime and get another chance.

But today I was online and I got impatient and when I found you, I couldn't resist the temptation to write a note. It feels kind of wrong. So again I apologize if this comes off as a violation of your privacy. I'm perfectly safe and sane and I should know better.

And I live right next to Ruta Maya and just wandered in last night having no idea what I'd be getting into! I'm glad I did. I've just moved back to Austin after being away for many years, and I don't really have many friends here or know what's going on most nights, but wandering into Ruta Maya has so far produced excellent results. I'd even say magic.

I've also played percussion for almost 20 years-- very tastefully I should add, in jazz and hip-hop and world music projects, and I realized I think I'd like to get involved in playing for some form of entrancing dance like this. I thought the percussionists you guys had were phenomenal though, and there doesn't seem to be much room for improvement there.

Anyway, all the best to you! Thanks for reading...