Shockingly, the Spellbound Dancing Witches‘ busiest month of the year isn’t October. The League City, Texas-based troupe’s jam-packed performance calendar this month is only possible because of weekend rehearsals in August and September that last up to three hours. Come October, they’re locked in.
“It’s over too quick,” Spellbound founder and president Linda Marie Owens told Chron this week. “All the preparation that we put in for nearly three months-it’s over in the blink of an eye.”
In its second real season, Spellbound’s membership has tripled, which Owens admitted can create some logistical challenges. Members now hail from as far away as Beaumont and Conroe-some 85 and 65 miles away from League City, respectively-but “these ladies have family here, so they’re used to driving back and forth,” Owens explained. (Someone from Laredo also wanted in, but that was a bridge too far.)
With so many new members, organizing the group’s appearances can feel like “having to wrangle 12 cats [versus] wrangling over 30,” Owens said. “It’s been a bit of a learning curve for me.”
Spellbound’s dancers rehearse through most of August and September to be ready for a jam-packed October booking calendar, Owens said. (Linda Marie Owens/Spellbound Dancing Witches)
Still, Spellbound’s schedule suggests Owens is getting the hang of it. The dancing witches squeezed in four performances at four different Galveston locations last Saturday, doubly impressive because the first started at 3 p.m. The pace doesn’t let up much the rest of the month, either: the group is due at Texas City’s Haunted Warehouse Saturday afternoon, with an encore at around 6:30 p.m. at Galveston’s Mystical Parade of Boo and back the next weekend for the island’s Día de los Muertos festivities.
“Our hearts are full,” Owens said. “We’re just so excited, and it just goes [by] too fast.”
Shaking their bacon
Spellbound traces its witchy roots to Wolfshäger Hexenbrut, an all-female troupe of, indeed, dancing witches in Germany’s Harz mountains. A YouTube video of the group’s routine set to German rapper/reggae star Peter Fox’s “Schüttel deinen Speck”-which translates as “shake your bacon”-at a 2016 festival became a kind of touchstone for Owens.
“There are hundreds of dance troupes that sprouted just from that one video,” she said.
Owens wanted to start one herself but was relatively new to the League City area, where she and her husband had moved from outside New Orleans, and hadn’t yet met many friends. Fast-forward seven years, and she joined a local dance studio. Still thinking about the Hexenbrut women, she asked some fellow dancers if they’d be interested in forming a similar ensemble.
Spellbound’s first couple of years, Owens reflected, were all about “fun and friendship.” But organizationally, although their performances were starting to draw attention, it was “like a toddler trying to learn to walk,” she said. Two women who paid their dues in the trenches of Galveston’s Mardi Gras parades, Tutu Live Krewe founder Donna Swartz and Jeri Shivers of Krewe of Les Minous, took Owens under their wing, offering inspiration and advice.
One of Spellbound’s many fundraisers is an annual photo shoot at Galveston’s historic Kempner-League mansion. (Linda Marie Owens/Spellbound Dancing Witches)
Owens joked that, as Spellbound was getting off the ground, she and her husband had to block out enough time for her to eat dinner. Part of that involved organizing the group into a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. Beyond exchanging appearances for donations, Spellbound’s dancers often perform at area assisted-living facilities and volunteer their time at favored charities such as League City Animal Care, the Galveston County Food Bank and Bay Area Turning Point, a domestic-abuse shelter for women in the Clear Lake area.
The group has also thrown its support behind the Kempner-League house, one of Galveston’s most historic mansions and currently undergoing extensive renovation. Among its many fundraisers, Spellbound holds an annual photo shoot on the mansion’s steps.
“Galveston has been so amazing and open to having us in their events that we thought that would be one of the good ways to [give back], to help restore one of these historic buildings [that] is so iconic on the island,” Owens said. “We’re also gonna be there in the spring, working hands-on in the house.”
Spellbound’s members come from as far away as Beaumont and Conroe, but Owens said they had to turn down someone from Laredo who wanted to join. (Linda Marie Owens/Spellbound Dancing Witches)
Spellbound’s membership is open to anyone age 21 and over, any gender, as long as they can put in the time (including regular online meetings) and keep up with the choreography. Though Owens’ own background is in Egyptian Raqs Sharki belly dance, no prior dance experience is necessary. Wiccans are of course welcome, as are Christians, Jews and members of any other faith. (As Spellbound’s FAQ spells out, “our witchy theme is theatrical, creative, and inspired by folklore and fantasy traditions.”)
Those who can’t spare the time or have physical limitations are welcome to join the Black Hat Brigade, a sort of built-in cheering section that shows up for moral support and fellowship. The members once bought Owens a crystal-encrusted LED whistle-when not running the troupe, she buys and sells crystals online and at craft shows-to help her keep rehearsals on track.
“It’s funny,” she said. “It’s hard to practice because we really enjoy being around each other, but once we get ourselves serious, it is hard work.”
Spellbound’s eclectic repertoire of crowd-pleasers so far includes the R&B/hip-hop line dance “Cha-Cha Slide,” “Loreley” by Celtic-tinged hard rockers Blackmore’s Night, and the original “Where My Witches At?” by local photographer David James. Next year, Owens wants to add Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
“I tell the ladies this all the time: ‘Bring your inner child to practice-bring them out and let’s play; let’s leave our politics [or] religion at the door,'” she said. “When children are on a playground, they are just unapologetically playing, and that’s our focus.”
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This article originally published at Meet this tiny Texas town’s dancing witches with hearts of gold.