My "stage" name is Xenia, my real name is Laura.

I am nothing like the woman in the painting by John Singer Sargent, cool and poised. Im slightly crazy and love to dance. I've been dancing, at this point, for 14 years. I dance pretty much all the different styles, but the majority of my experience is in ethnic Ghawazee dance. I've had the pleasure to be in a the award winning Camels USA 1998, and the award winning duet Al Magnounateen (two crazy femal persons). Im a firm believer that you dont have to be thin to perform this dance style, all you need is a desire to have fun, and to be a bit of a ham. I currently teach bellydance in Nashville, TN. For class info please visit www.xeniaraqs.us.

I even now have a fan tribe! If you haven't learned about tribe yet, its a great online networking and information community http://tribes.tribe.net/thegoddessxenia

I also have some performance videos online at http://www.youtube.com/group/xenia

Madame X is one of my many artistic outlets. Im a professional artist and educator.

Madame X grew out of my desire to costume the bellydance world. After several days at a not too little dance compatition, and being amazed at how substandard the costumes were, I decided I needed to make costumes. After the time and cost of making a few costumes for consignment, and disappointed in how long they took to sell, and for how little, I realized I needed to provide costuming direction: patterns!

The first pattern was developed for a troupe performance. We were still short 3 dancers when it was time to start sewing,. Not knowing who would end up in the costumes I decided on a multi-fit approach. The baladi dress was so successful I realized I had found my first pattern.

Why the name Madame X? I played around with hundreds of names (256 to be precise). My favorite ones just were not appropriate: "Absidian Maid" from Khubla Khan, it means Ethiopian. The other top choices were Aphrodites Closet, playing off of Veronica's Closet, which is a play on Victoria's Secret, but thats for under wear.
"Madame X" is a combination of a play off the famous Egyptian designer Madame Abla, and of ficticous fortune teller names : "the Mysterious Madame X", that and my stage name is Xenia.