Gypsy Dancer (Color Pencil)

Serbians love to dance. We Roma like to dance as well. While their dances tend to be more constrained, circular dances, our Roma dances are wild by comparison. I love swishing my colorful skirt back and forth, then working up into a twirl so strong that my skirt hem rises nearly to my waist. At such moments I am lost to the world, immersed in a feeling of eternal bliss. Dancing makes me forget all the hardships and discriminations we as Roma face on a daily basis. In addition to our brass bands and this dancing, we have our own language and culture, which we staunchly seek to preserve. Recently I was asked to perform as part of the Serbian dance group Kolo. Some members of my Roma community under the Gazelle Bridge didn’t want me to join, but I see it as an opportunity to show those Serbs and others that our dance and culture is just as beautiful. Perhaps then when Serbs see our cardboard homes with plastic tarp roofs, they will see beyond our economic poverty and look at us as a real, vibrant people.

Artwork available for sale. 
Blank greeting cards can be purchased at Zazzle

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