Mizilca is the heroine of a Romanian folk legend about a beautiful young daughter who disguised herself as a man and spent a year in the Sultan's army, taking the place of her ill and elderly father.

Knowing that focus and determination would be the deciding factor between life and death for her, she quickly emerged as the swiftest and surest in the army.

The Sultan suspected her femininity because of her scent and her nimble wrists, but his various attempts to trick her into revealing that truth always failed, for she had given her "self" entirely to the task at hand during that year.

When the time of her service was up and she went to the Sultan for her honors and dismissal, he felt that he finally could take the liberty to ask directly if, in fact, she were a woman.

Indignantly, Mizilca hopped upon her horse and replied, "I have fought side by side with you for a year, bravest, strongest, fastest among you. I have ever stood guard in your protection, and indeed saved your very life! You ask me NOW if I'm a WOMAN?"

As she rode off toward the gate, she turned to the court one last time and pulled open her tunic for all to see. The answer was obvious.... Who else?

This story was told by Jane Yolen in the remarkable collection of stories called Not One Damsel in Distress.

Years ago, when Brandi Hubiak was beginning to develop a stage persona for her dancing, she read this story to her young daughter Aurora. It so resonated with her that she decided to take the name for herself!

Like Mizilca, Brandi dons many a costume through life, in order to give herself fully to the task at hand as if it were the entirety of her being...at least for that moment.

In the context of performance, especially of such a feminine and intimate dance form, Mizilca accompanies Brandi to the stage as an internal bodyguard, a paradoxical jest, a veil of mystery, and a reminder not to drop that scimitar that is balanced so precariously atop her head!

Brandi, under the name Mizilca, has taught workshops from New Hampshire to Mississippi, and performed from Pennsylvania to the Gulf of Mexico. She has worked with Baraka Mundi, Asheville's premiere Tribal Bellydance group since December of 2000 (in the final days of its incarnation as Tribe Om).

In this time, she has come to be recognized by the name Mizilca. But beneath it all, she is Brandi: mother, mystic, dancer, teacher, musician, gardener, artist, author, activist, learner, and friend.

She grew up moving between Pennsylvania and California, somewhat seasonally, and studying the Western classical forms of dance, as well as theater and gymnastics wherever she was at any given time. Later, she devoted several years of study to karate and tai chi. From the time she was 18 she has studied various forms of yoga.

Known for her non-stop boogying at festivals, in her early twenties Brandi hitchhiked all over Alaska and Canada. She spent five years living in tents and tree houses in Alaska, where she freebirthed her daughter.

The tribal quality of dance gypsy life brought her to the study of international folk dances, and Dances of Universal Peace, and finally to her childhood fantasy-come-true: bellydancing. Brandi has also lived in several intentional communities and eco-villages, managed several organic farms.When she says "Dance as the Earth Herself" she is not just using groovy language! Her love for the Earth is as deep as her passion for dancing. Her desire in teaching is to help more women connect with that Divine Earth Magick Mama inside of each and every one of us, and to let her flow!

She has been blessed and privileged to study with many incredible dancers, including Onca O'Leary of Baraka Mundi, Zi'ah of Awalim, the lovely ladies in Safira and Khafif, Maja from the Nile, Audrey Elizabeth of Dance Without Borders, and Jill Parker of Ultra Gypsy.

Thank you all! And to those not listed explicitly, thank you, too! And to my students, thank you, especially...you drive me the most!