She never spoke in class. She stayed home instead of going to school dances. And the only reason she didn't fail public speaking is that her dad taught at her school. "We thought you would be a librarian," her Milton Academy classmates told her. 

Well, she's not. 

Alicia Sinicrope is a belly dancer. You know, those folks who are perpetually half-dressed, wearing teeny bikini tops with their midriffs exposed? The ones who sway their come-hither hips and beckon with bedroom eyes? Hardly the wallflower-at-the-party types. But there was always more than met the eye with Alicia, who never was psyched about being shy or too scared to utter a peep. Most of those nights she spent at home instead of school mixers, she was fantasizing about being the life of the party. But how do you just switch out of being shy? Her father never had the problem — Bob Sinicrope was a famous jazz musician and teacher; her mom, Dianne Peterson, competed in ballroom dancing competitions! Alicia could dance, too — all her mom's friends told her she was a natural, but…er…that would mean performing in public. Social anxiety, hello? 

At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Alicia embraced one sole mission:  becoming not-shy Alicia. She joined a hustle disco team and the ballroom dancing club, and she studied Latin and salsa dance. Little by little, she became more comfortable not just with moving her body (she was always fine with that), but moving it in public. Dancing was healing her. When she discovered belly dancing, she knew she had found her groove. To her, belly dancing was a healing expression of opening up your heart and spirit. Plus, it transformed her into an object of beauty and love. (That ain't shy.) She's won half a dozen awards for her ribcage circles and rolling hip moves, and she teaches a full-time schedule of belly-dancing classes. On the side, she performs throughout New England and offers psychic readings, reiki, and matrix energetics. It all goes hand and hand with belly dancing, Alicia says, by showing others how to feel more joy and love in their lives -- and becoming the real life of the party.