Lovingly nurtured by wonderful parents who loved to dance, jovially socialized with friends and family and who raised their children in a Catholic home, Little Miss was enrolled in parochial grammar school at a time when the Mass was ceremoniously celebrated in Latin and mandatory weekly benedictions were attended (that is, until the mid-1960’s when a modernization of the Catholic Church changed everything from being celebrated in Latin to English).
She rather enjoyed attending benediction on Friday afternoons since it provided an opportunity to vacate the classroom. Furthermore, the chanting of Latin phrases and the singing of sacred tunes amidst plumes of burning incense was intoxicating, mysterious and hypnotic to her young impressionable self.
Attending benedictions as a child she found the chanting of Latin phrases & the singing of sacred tunes amidst plumes of burning incense was hypnotic
Little Miss wanted to be the bell ringer at the altar during the high points of the Mass but was admonished; that was a role for the altar boys only. In the Catholic Church, it being a patriarchal hierarchy afterall, there was no role for a girl (or a mature woman for that matter) anywhere near the altar other than to maybe go into the passage way behind the altar to iron the priest’s vestments or women were allowed to polish the pews! No higher it seemed could a woman aspire than to enter a convent or to learn to become a teacher at best ~ not that there’s anything wrong with with that but Little Miss wanted to be that bell ringer, an active participant in the ritual.
So, Little Miss dutifully helped her mommy with the younger children in the family, learned to cook and sew as a homemaker-in-training, and earned good grades in school as a shy ‘book worm’.
Tahya explains, “I always loved to dance and in the privacy of my room would imagine myself a fabulous little tap dancer like Shirley Temple but in the town where I grew up, there were no dance schools outside of ballet and I wasn’t built to a ballerina’s size. Rather I have always been full-figured and so, it seemed I was not destined to dance.”
Until one day in her late teens when she heard music that seemed to bring to life the tales of Scheherazade, a collection of tales known as One Thousand and One Nights that her mother read to her when she was young. (READ MORE: tahya.com/enchanted-beginnings/). This music with its intoxicating melodies and hypnotic rhythms charmed her and soon she discovered the power these ancients arts could provide while also discovering that thousands of years ago there were matrilineal cultures in which women held esteemed positions in ancient sacred temple ceremony. These women were the sacred timekeepers and they played drums, rang bells and danced in celebration of the divine mysteries of life. What a revelation!
And the movements associated with these ancient rhythms celebrate women’s femininity and sensuality. She learned in ancient cultures women were revered for being full-figured ~ that fullness represented their life-giving nature. Women shared the “secrets” of the dance in an oral tradition handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter revealing feminine body wisdom unfurling the body into joyful physicality. Again, what a revelation… after all being raised to be a ‘good girl’ implied that anything sensual was ‘bad’ and now she was learning that one’s sensuality is to be cherished, the womb is ‘paradise’ and to be full-figured is to be celebrated! Thus began an independent life-long study of movements and rhythms steeped in women’s traditions dating back to antiquity enhancing one’s beauty, grace and playfulness and that all of these qualities are ageless, timeless. Furthermore, there comes the recognition of the need for a balance of feminine and masculine both within ourselves and within our societies.
The movements associated with these ancient rhythms celebrate women’s femininity and sensuality unfurling the body into joyful physicality.
Her first teacher was a woman named Susheelah in Boulder, Colorado, who had been a member of the famed Jamila Salimpour’s Bal Anat Troupe and soon Tahya traveled to California to meet and study with Ms. Salimpour. At the time Salimpour was also hosting an event where Tahya met Mimi Janislawski who revealed that devadasi temple dancers were the embodiment of the Goddess on earth. More, more, more…. she wanted to learn more and Ms. Mimi would become her lifelong friend and mentor.
Learning the dance as well as learning to play frame drum and finger cymbals, a history of ritual and processions was unveiled, if you will, where women played a prominent role, revealed amidst imagery collected and archived at venues like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in books ~ e.g., When the Drummers Were Women. Her journey included studying with the author of that book, Ms. Layne Redmond and traveling to Crete with Remond. (Read more about Layne)
Along the way the practice of these time-honored arts transformed a timid, insecure girl with low self-esteem into a woman confident in herself experiencing an awakening of sensuality and beautiful ways to celebrate life’s joyous occasions as well as navigate the rough patches ~ drumming and dance became the cornerstones of a rich and meaningful life. (Click here to see flyer promoting the first showcase of the dance Tahya produced in 1980)
A timid, insecure girl with low self-esteem blossomed into a confident woman with drumming and dance as the cornerstones of a rich and meaningful life.
FINAL NOTE: After being born and raised in Union County, NJ, relocating to Fort Collins, Colorado in my early twenties, in my mid-thirties fate relocated me to the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania, where I gave birth to and raised my son Michael, whose current No Sleep Till Gandhara | Journey to the West Podcast I encourage you to listen to!
The home in which we reside was built on Lenape land and it is with gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory I reside on that I seek to understand and build mindfulness of our present participation with a deep bow of respect and acknowledgement to the elders and ancestors past, present and future.