The Rare Vancouver Goddess

There are countless beautiful, smart, and talented women in this city. I pass dozens of them everyday on my way to and from work and I see dozens more shopping on Robson street or walking their dogs at Kits Beach and English Bay. Later in the evening, I encounter many more in my belly dance classes. They seem to significantly outnumber the men because for every tall, good looking man I see on the street, I notice 10 stunning women of all different shapes, sizes, and races.

It’s often hard to stand out in this crowd of beautiful women and even harder to stay confident in your own appeal when surrounded by such extraordinary female specimens. Vancouver truly is an oasis of attractive, talented, and charming women.

So now you may be thinking:"What's the catch? This place seems like paradise!". Yes, it can be, at least on the surface. But the truth is: Many of the very beautiful women in this city are either bitchy, fake, arrogant, shallow, or insecure and therefore, jealous. Some posess all of these terrible traits. In my opinion, any of the above qualities automatically make you UGLY (except maybe being insecure), regardless of how esthetically pleasing you may be.

Every so often, however, you meet that one woman who has it all yet is down to earth and humble at the same time. She'll blow you away with her beauty, talent, grace, modesty, and amazingly attractive goddess-like energy. She renders you almost speechless as you stare at her in awe, trying simultaneously to figure out what makes her so stunning while also trying to figure out how you can absorb as much of her energy as possible. She may not be perfect, and she definitely doesn’t fit the Hollywood plastic mould of manufactured beauty, but there is just everything about her that somehow makes her one of the most gorgeous women you have ever seen. This is a goddess!

It’s not just her beautiful face, it’s not just her amazing body, it’s not just her unwavering confidence, and it’s not just her extraordinary talent – It’s her fearless feminine spirit!

I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting a few of these goddesses in my life (the universe knows I am not one of them myself, although there is a part of me that aspires to be just like them). As I sit here and recall all the ones I’ve met in my life, I can only seem to account for a few. Today, I want to tell you about two of local goddesses: Sarita Mileta and Ana Llanes.


Let’s start with Sarita. The stunningly beautiful, multi-talented, Puerto Rican Canadian, Egyptian belly dancing, outspoken, hilarious, chain-smoking, drinkin’ and tough as nails yet extremely soft and feminine, Sarita. She’s very well known in the dance community, having been a professional Polynesian dancer in her teens and one of the very best belly dancers in the city for the past 30 years.

When I first met Sarita almost 3 years ago, I was just beginning my belly dance journey. I felt like a tall, lanky and slightly awkward dancer who just wanted to fit in and move a little like Shakira. I had only been shakin' my booty for 6 months and was very new to the Middle Eastern world of dance. I walked into Sarita’s class and was instantly struck by this dark eyed deity of a woman with long flowing hair and a body to die for. She greeted me warmly with a hug and a kiss on the cheek as if she had known me for years. I was almost dumbfounded by how affectionate, open, and inviting she was without a hint of the annoying snootiness I expected to encounter from a dancer of her calibre. (Perhaps I’ve just taken too many ballet classes but somehow I gained the impression that all great dancers where stuck up, snobby bitches).

Over the next few months, I spent a lot of time in Sarita’s class, learning very precise technique in a straightforward and simple approach. My belly dance skills improved dramatically and it was all due to her impressive guidance and instruction. I was being mentored by one of the best belly dancers in North America. She taught me to be proud of my height and use it to my advantage while teaching me how to captivate an audience with the simplest of elegant movements. The best part was: She did it all with a fiery passion and hilarious mocking of what not to do and why. Above all, she taught me to have fun with the dance and not take myself too seriously.

When you meet Sarita, you are either instantly jealous of her or instantly smitten with her. I recently found out that a few years ago, she was openly ostracized by a large part of the belly dance community because she was seen (by plain looking white girls) as being “too sexy”. I can only assume that anyone who could not appreciate and want to learn from this woman could only be jealous. Furthermore, who the hell could possibly say that a great belly dancer is “too sexy”?!? HELLO, that’s the fuckin’ point!!! I’m still trying to wrap my head around this ridiculous rationale, but anyway, I digress….

While she was teaching me how to dance like an Egyptian (still working on that but I’m well on my way!), she also began to show me how warm, encouraging and loving of a person she is. On the outside, she’s a stunningly gorgeous woman with an intense motherly charm and a friendly and inviting aura. On the inside, she’s a ball busting, sharp witted businesswoman, “get the hell out of my way” Mamacita, with a take no prisoners attitude and an indefatigable energy. Put those inner and outer qualities together and you’ve got a hell of a lot of woman that you just can’t help but sit back and stare at in awe and admiration.

On top of all that, she’s a Sagittarius and believe it or not, a grandmother! She’s also got two very good looking sons who were raised to be true gentleman. A part of me wants to marry one of her sons just so I can have the ultimate mother in law!

Women like Sarita come along so very rarely and I’m so thankful to have her valuable influence in my life. I have yet to meet another woman quite like her. However, just last week, I met another one of these extremely rare and fantastically amazing women, professional flamenco beauty Ana "ANITA DE BORNOS" Llanes.

Interestingly enough, she introduced herself as Sarita’s daughter. How perfect!

Now I haven’t known Ana that long, I just started taking my first flamenco class with her last week, but like Sarita, as soon as you meet her you are struck by how stunningly gorgeous, confident, and down to earth she is. And then I saw her dance. OH MY GOD! Ana is by far one of the BEST flamenco dancers I have ever seen!

When you watch her dance, you are captivated by her entrancing presence and amazingly skilled composure. She will elegantly saunter onto the stage as if she’s just jsut stumbled across a new opportunity to dance and she’s drinking in the scene with her kaleidoscopic sky blue eyes. When the melodic flamenco guitar suddenly shifts it’s beat, Ana glides through thick air in a flurry of graceful movement with an impressive technique that could only have originated from the birthplace of flamenco itself. For the remainder of her performance, every single person in the room is captivated and stunned silent by this incredibly talented beauty as she translates wonderful music into a physical art that defies simplistic description.

Now I’ve never been one to learn new dance moves quickly, in fact, I seem to take a very long time to become comfortable with a new dance style and flamenco is no exception. As I stumble and stretch awkwardly in the back row, reminiscent of my first days of belly dance, Ana comes around and corrects my posture and movement with a friendly technical eye for detail. As bad of a flamenco dancer as I appear to be, and as much as I must be butchering this traditional dance, she never once makes me feel awkward and in fact encourages me to keep going, try harder, and keep practicing.

What strikes me the most about Ana is the fact that she’s so uniquely confident in her own style and skill. At the same time, she’s incredibly modest, down to earth, and very approachable. While she’s teaching, she’s a flurry of energy and movement while spewing descriptively graphic dance metaphors that you’ve never heard before yet completely understand. Although she’s an extremely elegant and feminine woman, she will occasionally yell out such expressions as “Come on Chicas, tits to the sky!” or “your hip is like the wife calling her drunk husband home from the streets and you move your opposite leg in to say COME HOME NOW!” with a stamp of her feet and genuine bull fighter expression on her gorgeous face.

Indeed, Ana is a very rare gem and one that I am extremely thankful for because I just want to soak up as much of her rich and strong feminine aura as I possibly can.

To close, I just want to say that I think all women should open themselves up to meet and learn from extraordinary women like Sarita and Ana. I know I’m a better woman for having known these two and many other ladies like them. As women, the best thing we can do is love, encourage and support eachother. We need to welcome other ladies to grow and learn from us, as we can grow and learn from them. This can only raise confidence, strength, and sisterhood all around.

Every woman has something wonderful to offer, be it as a teacher, a colleague or a friend. As I mentioned, I find many women in this city to be catty, competitive, insecure, or just downright frenemie bitches (and with good reason I guess, competition is fierce!) so it’s refreshing and so lovely to meet such open and warm women like Sarita and Ana. If we could all just be a little more like them, this city would be an ever better place to live.

Namaste

To learn more about these two amazing dancers, or to see them perform live, please visit Sarita’s dance Studio 505 at http://www.dance505.com/.