formerdancer.com

Category: A Dancer’s Life

  • Dancers and Horses

    Last Saturday was the 151st Kentucky Derby where I live in Louisville, KY. I don’t know that much about breeding, raising, and training racehorses or how they are treated or what their lives are like. So that won’t be the focus of this blog post. Instead, I want to make a loose analogy between top,…

  • On Dance Moms (Not the TV Show)

    When I was a child and teen in dance, I had a mother who cared about and who was invested in helping me to progress as much as possible as a dancer. But I did not have a Dance Mom. A Dance Mom goes beyond ally and facilitator and takes on the role of personal…

  • A Dancer Is Not A Person Who Dances

    What’s the difference between a person who dances and a dancer? Let’s start with a person who dances. A person who dances: Will socialize with non-dancers. Might have short hair or long hair. Listens to their body’s cues, and stops when something hurts. Will consider nutrition but does not diet. Is a “normal” person. May…

  • A Dancer on Vacation?

    What is vacation for a dancer? George Balanchine once said that “the time for resting is in the grave.” If death were really that – a permanent, socially acceptable and well-earned rest – that would be very inviting indeed. I once said as much to some gravestones in a cemetery I used to walk through…

  • What Would It Have Been Like?

    I never got to be the Dying Swan in Swan Lake. What would that have been like? To be able perform the role for an audience. But also, to be a ballet dancer who was that good. What would it have been like to have realized this life-long dream in my own, actual (and not…

formerdancer.com