Renaissance festival season is one of my favorite times of the year!
I have been performing at various Renaissance Festivals since the early days of my belly dance career – over 22 years now!
While my home fair is currently the Texas Renaissance Festival, I also love traveling to perform at other festivals around the US. In fact, when I first started belly dancing full-time about 22 years ago, I didn’t know any other way to make consistent money in the art form other than at Renaissance Festivals. (Though if you’ve ever performed at one, you know the money is nothing to write home about!)
So when the opportunity arose, I put all of my belongings into storage and packed my costumes in the car and begin traveling to various faires across the US. I would pick a fair that was not too far from family and connect with a local dance group there.
I performed at the Arizona Renaissance Festival with DOMBA for a few years and at the Michigan Renaissance Festival with Nommobungunte, as well as my home faire near Houston, where I sing, dance and play flute with an incredible early music ensemble, Istanpitta. I would live in my tent on the weekends and then drive anywhere from 1 to 6 hours to be with family during the week. It didn’t pay much, but all I had at the time was my car in my costumes so I didn’t need much spending money!
I did the traveling Renaissance festival thing for about three years before I became more established as a performer in Houston, but to this day I still enjoy performing at faires! After two decades, I think it’s just part of who I am.
Enjoy this clip of a performance with my favorite medieval ensemble – Istanpitta – at the Sherwood forest fair in Texas.