“Ballet for the Older Body” by Andrea Webber

“Ballet for the Older Body” by Andrea Webber

I am a retired staff physician from a busy city hospital in the Bronx and in two weeks’ time I shall be 79 years of age.

Over a decade ago, I left the intensity and art of medicine for the intensity and art of the barre. My local Y on East 92nd Street in Manhattan had advertised an absolute beginner ballet class “for the older body.” I had loved watching my two kids (now in their fifties!) in their ballet classes and performances and admired how they had developed beautiful and strong bodies and mental discipline that was helpful in so many areas of their lives. Luckily for them, they had inherited their father’s natural turnout and flexibility while I had ZERo in either department.

I am so very glad I did not let my completely unsuitable ballet body hold me back and at the Y I was happy to discover other grey haired “older bodies” at the barre.

These thirteen years at the Y, thanks to teachers who insisted on strict technique (Cecchetti) to avoid injury, have been a life force. They have made me straighter, stronger, better balanced, more flexible and more fulfilled in my fantasy life. I float home after each class, uplifted with the joy and sense of mastery of moving to beautiful music.

Had I known the physical and psychological benefits of ballet class I would have prescribed it for my patients in the Bronx!

And, WHO takes a ballet class after age 65 for the first time? A subset of the most free-spirited, adventurous, interesting and generally artistic people who are now friends as well as co-dancers in ballet.

Although there is so much my body and brain are unable to do, I try to do what I can with the best possible technique and placement as I have been taught. I press the tips of my shoulder blades downward, keep my chest high, my shoulders relaxed, my core muscles tensed, and the top of my head (and everything else) reaching up, up, up!  Whatever I do, I try to do it as beautifully as possible, with the music. I do this as a tribute to my kind and careful teachers, and especially to honor Ballet, the Most Gracious of the Arts.

Copyright © 2025 Andrea Bertocci Webber. All Rights Reserved.

****

Biography:

Andrea Webber is a retired physician who once specialized in internal medicine at Montefiore and North Central Bronx Hospital in the Bronx, NY. She is a former Youth Symphony Orchestra cellist and a graduate of Radcliffe College and the Cornell Medical School. In her free time, she memorizes poetry, tends to her balcony and farmhouse gardens, performs in a community choir, and reads. She NEVER misses a ballet class at the Y. Last but not least she is the mother of Aili Whalen, this blog’s host.