Rings on her fingers, bells on her toes

Well, maybe not bells. Toe rings, for sure.

OK, I know it's a cliche, a belly dancer wearing toe rings. But seriously, when your poor feet take the abuse of practicing and performing* (not to mention normal wear and tear) it's nice to thank them with something pretty.

I bought my first (well, I may have had one as a kid) toe ring at Smile Herb Shop in College Park, MD soon after I started classes. It's just a plain silver band and I've been wearing it on my middle left toe ever since. Today I was at a local jewelry store and I picked up two more rings. One is a thick silver wire that has two curlicues on the topside with a small silver ball set in one curl. The other has two stylized almost paisley shaped curls decorated with chips of hematite. I'm wearing the silver wire one on my right middle toe, I'm saving the fancier one for . . . later? A special occasion? Something like that. Either way, this is one belly dancer cliche I'm happy to live up to.



* Just ask, I can tell you about what happened the first time I was leading our student troupe. It was a total "I should have known better" situation.