Donna Duffy, who is known professionally as Sahaila, is a professional belly dancer and teacher in Renton.

She has performed all over King County as well as Canada, Hawaii, and once in Japan. Sahaila performed last month at the Great American Casino in Tukwila and is scheduled there again in December.

A North Dakota native, Sahaila has lived in the Seattle area since 1977 and moved to Renton 10 years ago.

“I love Coulon Park. I have a home near there so I can walk there every day,” she told me.

Sahaila said, “There are different styles of belly dancing – Egyptian, Arabic, Turkish and fusion combinations. I pretty much free style. Based on my training, I do a unique blend of Middle Eastern and American. I like to go with what I feel with the music and in the moment. I also do alternative dancing.”

I met her in my Writing for Fun group at the Renton Senior Center. She shares her beautifully descriptive poetry as well as her memoirs and short stories. She also keeps us laughing with spontaneous, non-stop puns. Sahaila’s husband, Darrell is also a talented entertainer and I was fortunate recently to see him doing celebrity impressions. They are heading to Richland, Wash., soon, where they will be doing Steve Martin’s King Tut spoof from Saturday Night Live.

Sahaila said, “Belly dancing is an ancient art form and beautifully graceful. It has changed since I started. Many new dance styles are being incorporated. It is really exploding on the entertainment scene – more classes and more events.”

As a child, she remembers that her entire family would turn on music in the evening and dance around the living room. That love of dancing continues to this day. For years, she would spend much of her free time in local places with a dance floor, and dance the night away. These were the disco days, and Donna was a dancing queen!

Then one day, she attended a banquet with the Boeing White Water Rafting group and was mesmerized by a group of belly dancers. She wanted to be up with them on the stage. They told her they had learned belly dancing at the Aqua Barn in Renton.

Sometime later she stood in a long line at the community center to sign up for a microwave cooking class. Unfortunately, the class was full. She asked, “What else do you have?” When they mentioned a belly dancing class, it was kismet.

She never did take any cooking classes. But she learned to belly dance and took more lessons with professional teachers from all over the world – including Egypt.

She taught herself to make her own glamorous, beaded costumes. Her first dancing performance was for a birthday party at The Spot tavern in Renton. “Even though I loved to dance, I was shy. Being in the spotlight made me so nervous, I looked down while performing and then rushed off the stage.”

She’s come a long way since then. One person in our writing group who saw her perform last month said, “Donna really knows how to work a crowd!”

I visited Sahaila recently at her home. She has a lot of awards and trophies and I got to see some of the costumes she made. There were gorgeous, vibrant and shimmering cloths draped here and there accented by beaded head bands, beaded bras and fringed skirts, all in so many colors. She told me women love to visit her and try on everything like little girls playing dress-up. I admit I tried on one of the head bands.

One of Sahaila’s students said, “Dance has taught me how to entertain, reach out to people and communicate without words, drawing them into my world.” Another student said, “Dance is my celebration of life!”

One of her reviewers has written, “Sahaila’s spontaneous, dramatic and fiery style, combined with her playful and flirtatious sense of humor, bring warmth and fun to her audiences.”

Are you ready to give this a try? Belly dancing is expressive, and quite a workout! If you’d like some private lessons, you can email her at sahailadance@live.com. There is also a belly dancing class this fall at the Renton Senior Activity Center, if you’re interested.

As for me, I think I’ll stick with the writing group.

To contact Jaris English with feedback or suggestions, email Renton.creativeside@gmail.com.