Hey friends! It’s that time again for our February edition of “Who are the People on your Patreon?”. This month, I am over the moon to bring you Amanda “Daewen” Garion founder of the Stygian Collective who is a pioneer in creating an authentic online bellydance community for fusion dancers, metal lovers, creative types and beyond. She is also my dance bestie, so without further ado, I ‘m turning this over to Daewen to tell in her own words…

I started belly dance in 2012 after having surgery, and fell in love after one class. Quickly after, I started experimenting with fusing belly dance with the music that’s always moved me – metal. After finding more dancers that shared my fascination, I began teaching and performing locally… and now I do so worldwide, online and at festivals like Gothla Australia, Stone Soup in KC, Gothla Atlanta, Bayou Belly Festival in NOLA, and many more to come!

In the chaos of 2020, I founded the dark fusion dance community, the Stygian Collective, which allows dancers from all over the world to connect, share, and grow together in a unique, supportive, and collaborative online platform that feels like a true family. I believe everyone deserves a place to be themselves, and to dance to express themselves authentically. The Stygian Collective exists so I can help dancers achieve this by providing a community and learning platform that promotes inclusivity, creative freedom, self-expression, support, collaboration, and celebration of our bodies and art.

Stygian Dance offers instruction, community, and performance all rooted in our unique dark fusion style. Our Stygian Collective membership is an exclusive worldwide community of unique dancers who push the boundaries of dance, joined together to collaborate, inspire, learn, and grow! The goal of the Stygian Collective is to foster community, spark inspiration, and provide instruction and opportunities to all the dark, metal, or otherwise “weirdo” fusion dancers of the world.

Amanda is also a mom to two lovely girls, a devout Dungeons and Dragons player, a metalhead and Lord of the Lost fan. Want to learn more about Stygian and Daewen?

https://stygian.dance Social media platforms @stygiancollective or @daewendances https://www.youtube.com/@stygiancollective

My hot take:

In January of 2020 when Amanda asked me if I wanted to be a part of this idea of the Stygian Collective, I obviously said yes, but really had no idea how it would be come such an integral part of my life and what it would grow into. Fast forward 6 months and we were square in the middle of a pandemic. I had moved away to a new town with no community and no idea if I would ever have any kind of dance community again. The online (and later in person) community that is Stygian Collective really helped with my depression and feelings of isolation during the pandemic, I met some lifelong friends, made connections.

Once I moved back home after the pandemic it did not end, it was just the beginning. Daewen and I started working on dance collaborations together, helping her with the retreats, and performing, and it has been my pleasure to become friends with this fierce and kind woman who is one of the most driven, dedicated, and fun people I know as well as the entire Stygian Community of beautiful people. Thank you Amanda and Stygian, I am so grateful for you everyday!

Also I am an affiliate so if you feel called here is my affiliate link to check out all things Stygian: https://stygian.dance/stygiancollective?am_id=amiamor151

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