We were lucky to catch up with Linwe Telperion recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Linwe, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I’d been dancing for a number of years with a troupe, had more recently branched off as a soloist but was figuring out what I wanted to do. I did local festivals and a few private events but hadn’t yet settled anywhere. A good friend said “well you love the Renaissance faire, you should perform there” I never thought a faire would actually hire me, yet 2 months later I found myself performing at a faire. There are not too many solo act belly dancers at the renaissance faire and I was nervous. The moment the music started and I stepped on stage, the worries disappeared. I could not help but laugh and smile as I performed on that stage.
Afterwards I was told by so many people the joy in my face made them happy. Knowing that my art, that makes me so happy, can be shared with others and make them happy was when I knew I was exactly where I belonged.
It’s been a few years now, and many performances later. I work with multiple Renaissance faires and my weekends not at faire I often work at restaurants and hookah lounges as a dancer. I still have people approach me afterwards and comment “you’re so happy when you dance”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

A friend I went to high school called me up one day and said “I’m in this theatrical dance troupe, and we have a show coming up in a month. Would you like to learn a small part?” I practiced for hours and hours for the show and it took me all of 3 seconds on stage to fall in love and start learning the art form in earnest.
I now work professionally as a belly dancer based in the Poconos, Pennsylvania. Most of my work is at restaurants doing American Cabaret, Egyptian, or Turkish style belly dance, and I really love getting people up to dance with me. Or I’m working at Renaissance faires where I work as a act doing fusion belly dance performing to more Nordic inspired music. I also work birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries, and local festivals. But I’m always looking to do something new, whether it’s pushing myself to learn a new sword trick, or bring my art to a new type of venue.
Last year I produced my first Belly Dance Rock Show, bringing in other dancers in the area and partnering with a local brewery to put in a show to rock music, and I’m preparing now for an upcoming show with a masquerade ball where I’ll be doing sword dance to dark orchestral music. Later this year I’m bringing my Renaissance faire act to a meadery where I’ll be doing a hybrid restaurant/stage show.
I always try to adapt my dance to fit the venue or theme of the event, but still do my art. Last year one of the events I worked fell on Halloween. As a belly dancer, we’re sometimes known for dancing with things balanced on our heads. I decided to dance with a trick-or-treat pumpkin balanced on my head and went around the audience giving out candy. And a week later when it was very cold outside at my show, I did a light hearted warm-up with the audience, balancing a mug of hot tea on my head before I started my show.
It’s a lot of hard work, but I have fun with my job and I always try to bring that fun to the audience.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

It’s important to still practice and review the basics regularly, but when I’m working on an advanced move with multiple swords, or practicing a new fan technique I learned from another dancer, I love that excited feeling when I nail it. Sometimes after many tries! Always grow, always learn, always push myself. But also stay humble. I’m lucky to do what I love, and I want to keep doing it as long as I can.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Don’t let a desire for perfection ruin the journey. It can quickly become your worst enemy. When I was in a dance troupe I started developing the worst anxiety that I wasn’t good enough. I was so afraid of making a mistake, and looking bad on stage that I actually started making silly mistakes out of panic.
And they were tiny things, but my brain thought it was the end of the world. I got stuck in my head so bad thinking I had to be perfect or I wasn’t good enough, I stopped having fun. I danced more and more, but was stressed out and constantly having anxiety attacks after shows or practice sessions with the troupe.
I knew I needed to find ME in dance again. There was no question that I loved dancing, but I had to remove the impossible barrier in my brain that said I wasn’t doing enough. I did eventually leave the dance troupe and took a few months simply dancing for fun. No shows, no performances. After a few months I started doing shows locally, practicing new techniques that I wanted to learn, not because I had to learn them, having fun picking out the perfect music for events. I was starting to stand out as an individual. Eventually it sank in people were hiring me because they wanted what I brought to the table and suddenly my brain understood that I didn’t need to be perfect (and no one is) I simply needed to do my best and accept that any person’s best is not always linear. We have ups AND downs, and that’s ok!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linwe_bellydance?igsh=MzhwMWc1cno1c2hn&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linwebellydance?mibextid=opq0tG
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@linwetelperion?si=LVLpZotDCjrl1Z-J

Image Credits
Joseph Pecora Photography