When I was in 7^th grade and eleven years old, a student came up to me and said, "You look like Norma Jean Baker!"  I had no idea who he was talking about, but in the course of our friendship through jr. high and high school I would have plenty of time to find out just who Norma Jean Baker was.

Like my friend, I became obsessed with Marilyn Monroe.  He liked her in her early days…brown hair & innocent smile: Norma Jean Baker.  I liked all of her ages & aspects.  I loved the innocent photos with brown hair on the beach in Southern California and the most passionate ones as a blonde bombshell in Hollywood.  I never saw her movies until I was much older and didn’t feel like I ever had to.  I collected her photos, posters and articles. I studied her on microfiche (remember microfiche?) at the library and couldn’t believe she wasn’t alive.  Since I was born long after she died in 1962 I would secretly hope that I was Marilyn reincarnated.  Remember...I was 11 years old.

While living in Florida I worked for a talent agency doing "belly-grams" and "Marilyn-grams." One of the agents kept harping on me to combine the two. "Marilyn Monroe as a belly dancer!"  To me it sounded like a bunch of schtick I didn’t want to deal with.  Middle-Eastern dance was one thing…Marilyn was another and both were pure in their own sense. I would not mix them.

Years later I bought an amazing red "thobe" (Middle Eastern dance dress) to wear while working in the Middle East. When I wore it onto the stage in Jordan I received huge responses from the Saudi crowds. It was their favorite dress.  And I felt like Marilyn Monroe…all poured in tightly with my breasts full and high.  I WAS Marilyn as a belly dancer. All I needed to do was grab my blond wig.

Back in the U.S. I honed my "Marilyn" routine.  Marilyn’s giggles, wide eyes and unconditional joy would all be part of this dance.

The more I perform this dance, the more I "sink" into being Marilyn.  It started as a "flavor" of Marilyn. I just wanted the "feeling" of what she would have been like belly dancing.  But in Summer of 2002 I decided to start impersonating Marilyn full out for this routine.  I am now getting requests to perform this dance all over the United States. People have bombarded me with phone calls and praise about my Marilyn routine, always seeming surprised that they enjoyed it so much.  One man at KISMET Belly Dance Festival in Utah told me, "When I heard of your act as Marilyn Monroe I thought it would be kind of stupid.  But, you do REAL dancing…some of the best I have seen and yet, you are Marilyn Monroe while you are doing it!  It's one of the most incredible, funny and sexy performances I have ever seen in my life.   Plus, I almost peed my pants laughing so hard."