Queens of the Air

PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE PARKE

You’d think that these two were connected at the hip, so in sync they are when they perform together, whether on the trapeze, or silks, or lyra (the hoop), or any other apparatus they use to move their bodies through space. You’d think they were twins, or at least sisters. Certainly, they’re queens of the air. They go by the portmanteau Satarah, a combination of Satya and Sarah, and they’re best friends, soulmates, performance and business partners. But when they first met at the Carolina Renaissance Festival thirteen years ago, they were anything but.

Sarah was performing with her longtime belly-dance troupe, while Satya, new to town, showed up to dance solo. Feeling territorial, Sarah went to watch Satya perform, commenting to her friends that the radiantly beautiful, enormously talented dancer could not possibly be a good person too. Later that day, Satya stopped by and asked Sarah’s troupe if anyone wanted to dance with her in front of the stage. She was so nice, Sarah says, that she found herself feeling even more suspicious. But once Sarah accepted the reality of Satya’s talent and charm, she decided that the two of them could be friends anyway, and that was that. Soon everyone thought they had known each other for years. It felt that way to them too.

They got lucky, they say. Sometimes you meet a friend and everything clicks. And sometimes those new friends are two women who support each other unconditionally, so that both can bloom into the queens that they’re meant to be, without the rivalry and undercutting that can sometimes plague female friendships.

The two began collaborating in numerous ways—taking aerial classes, team-teaching belly dance, and then eventually planning and putting together a sixteen-act show to bring the North Carolina artistic community together, with a spotlight on fire and aerial and belly dance acts. The event, which debuted in 2012, became known as Bloom Festival and has been held nearly every year since.

The duo has also debuted a number of different classes and shows, and even opened a brick-and-mortar studio, Bloom Movement Artistry, in Charlotte, North Carolina. They teach private and group classes, provide open gym sessions, and host student showcases—all while continuing to perform together. As business partners, they find that their strengths complement each other: Satya is the logistical one, Sarah the organizational one.

Bloom Movement Artistry has, in a sense, become an extension of their own friendship—a safe place where students can come and learn to develop the magic in their own bodies and in the air, nurtured by the community around them. Every year they put on a variety of events: student and instructor showcases, shows called Ice & Embers and Critters & Tea, and something darker and very wonderful—Shadows, which Satya and Sarah created in 2018 to allow performers to use dance and the aerial arts to explore their own pain and trauma, their shadow selves. Through their routines, they release those stories to an audience in a space that’s completely safe. Creating this kind of forum, Satya and Sarah say, has allowed them to push through trauma that they couldn’t process in their own talk therapy. Each Shadows show begins and ends with a meditation to create a healing experience for all the performers and attendees. There are plenty of tissues to go around.

And in welcome news for Enchanted Living readers, it is possible attend Shadows virtually as well as in person. This might be just the kind of ceremony Autumn Queens hold in the forest at night, with the moon shining above them and creatures watching from the branches and the leaves.

Learn more at bloommovementartistry.com. You can also drop in for a studio session if you’re in Charlotte. Find tickets to upcoming Satarah productions, both in person and online, at events.humanitix.com/host/satarah-productions.