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13 Things My Dance Teachers Said
“You just have to want it more than anyone else.” “Just get rid of it!” (extra weight after vacation) “Don’t look at the ground – this isn’t California – it’s not going anywhere.” “There is a three-year-old in California who can do that combination better than you.” “Be strong!” (chest thump) “If you get through…
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Searching for Good Pain
When I was dancing full time, I sought out what I thought of as good pain. Physically, good pain was pain in the center of a muscle that you wanted to make stronger. It was an achy, tired pain. It was not pain in a joint, or a tendon or ligament, and it was not…
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Seeing Dance in Cats, Trees, and at the Edge of the Ocean
Feeling the dancer inside means feeling a heightened sensitivity to fluid movement, grace, and rhythm. It means feeling and living within, and sometimes against, the pull of gravity, wind, and the ebb and flow of tides. George Balanchine, the neoclassical ballet innovator, choreographer, dancer, musician, and co-founder of the New York City Ballet, told his…
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I See Dance Everywhere
I know there is still a dancer inside me because I see dance everywhere. Even in things that might not look or feel like dance to other people. This winter I have been watching college and NFL football with my husband. When a player gets a touchdown there is often a burst of joy. And…
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Where Did the Dancer Inside Come From?
When I hear music, even if I am in my car or in the grocery store, I want to move. I want to swim in it and be carried along with the melodic line. I want to accent how I am moving either with the beats of the music, in counterpoint or answer to it.…
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The Day I Stopped Dancing
When I was a full-time dancer, I never thought about the day when I wouldn’t be able to dance anymore. Injuries or illness, or a family vacation, would cause temporary lapses in dance training. But even these never brought me to a complete halt. If I injured my Achilles tendon, for example, I could still…
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When It’s an “On” Day
When I was living a full-time dance life, nearly every waking moment was consumed with benchmarks. How close is my side-split turnout to a 180-degree line? How many pirouettes can I do to the right (spinning clockwise on my left foot with my right toe at my knee in passé) before looking balance? How many…
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When You’re A Dancer
When you’re a dancer the first thing you do upon awakening is a body scan. What is sore? What is tight? How is my energy? What do I need to eat? How should I begin to move today? You may know right away that more stretching and a gentler lead-in than usual will be needed.…
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Introduction to Former Dancer: Keeping the Dancer Inside Alive
The motivation for this blog is to share some reflections on my striving to keep the dancer inside me alive, even though in some ways the dancer I was died after my body stopped dancing. I spent 10 years from ages 6-16 training for a career in professional ballet. Today, about 50 years later, I…