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About seven years ago, I attended a Spanish dance performance. I was stunned by what I saw on stage. It wasn't that I was impressed or touched by the dancers' performance. It was that I wanted to be them. If you're reading this page, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. I can do that, I thought. I have to do that. Besides, I thought, flamenco doesn't look that hard. Look, the dancers are adults. It's not something you're too old to do, like ballet. |
| Little did I know that within three years of that time, I'd be in daily ballet class in order to become a better dancer. That two years after that, I'd be on pointe. That for a couple of years, I'd become really obsessed by the whole thing in a too-too intense way.
I had spent the first two years of my dance training taking just a couple of classes a week, with teachers who gave very little feedback. Probably the teachers thought that we adults were just in there to get a little exercise and pretend we were dancers. I knew so little that at one point I actually thought I looked as good as the professional dancers. The eye takes quite a while to learn how to see! When I began daily ballet classes, I went into the opposite situation: daily browbeatings that made me so nervous that the last thing on my mind was how I felt inside, and how I wanted to move. I just wanted to do it right so the teacher would stop belittling me. After a while, I learned what kinds of teachers and classes were best for me. That I needed something very challenging, but in a setting that didn't kill my spirit. I'm continually learning how to let my emotions out through dance, as well as how much my body can still do.
After sustaining a mild knee injury, I began working with dance physical therapists who taught me more about correct movement and the real workings of the body than any dance teacher I've had. As you may have already found out, adult students really have to do a great deal of the learning process on our own. And it has to be that way, since our bodies weren't molded for dance as children -- and as adults, each one of us has our unique structural quirks gained over a lifetime of using our bodies. I'm learning to work smart -- remembering ruefully how I used to drag myself through 15 classes a week, beating myself into a pulp. What else am I learning? Stretch. Stretch. And stretch. The older I get, the more advance preparation has to go into everything I do. First there are the strengthening exercises from the physical therapist. Then, the pre-class stretching that used to be somewhat optional, and now seems to be the heart of everything for me -- because what was stretched out yesterday is not still stretched out today, unless I work at it. Are you wondering, gee is it worth all that preparation? Well, if you're a person who needs to move to feel alive, you know that it definitely is! All my best memories in life involve dancing: from going to a polka club with my husband and being the youngest people there to performing onstage at a gala and being the oldest dancer in the show.
You may be thinking, "Folk dance? Big deal." But it was a pleasure to perform on a series of nice big, proscenium stages rather than the small venues that our flamenco group usually gets -- not to mention the frequent outdoor festival stages on the back of trucks ;-) . Not only that. What other dance form do you know of in which dancers are encouraged to "yip" and howl while polkaing into and out of Busby Berkeley-like formations while wearing 20-pound costumes?
I encourage people to look for niches they can fit into. For example, I've often gotten dance jobs that, apparently, no one else wanted. I've been considered too tall, but gotten the job anyway, since the director couldn't find enough shorter women. I've probably been considered too old (though no one's said it to my face yet), but gotten the job because I could make the rehearsal schedule while other dancers had conflicts.
So, if you want to do more than just dance in class, I think my story is typical of what any adult dance student may expect. We do have to work incredibly hard to achieve what a younger, gifted dancer might do with much more support and ease. But, if you're ready to make some sacrifices of money, time, and energy, you just may get somewhere. Exactly where, who can say? Maybe you'll end up in dinner theatre, a tap ensemble, belly dance, or in flamenco. But it will be a great adventure. |
Last updated 13 January 2001
Obviously, I'm a stickler for detail and proper technique. When you start ballet at age 29, awash in a sea of adult students who never improve year after year, you have to do something if you really have a dream to dance professionally!
If you, like me, have the burning desire to dance well as an adult ballet student, and if, like me, you need more than you're getting in class, you may want to subscribe to Blue Diamond, my bi-monthly newsletter specifically for adult ballet students. Click here to learn more about it.
And be sure to visit our secure-site store for all kinds of items tailored to the needs of the adult dance student, from ballet and relaxation CDs to resist-a-band exercise/therapy bands, ballet skirts and t-shirts, and much more.
Most recently, I've toured five cities with the Lira Ensemble Christmas Gala. A group of twelve dancers joined a much larger professional Polish ensemble of folk music, song and dance, including live orchestra.
To the right, you'll see a bunch of photos from the show. Most are of me and my partner, with a shot of the dancers as a group at the end.
And it was great to work with the New York choreographer who set the dances for the show. The choral ensemble (which you don't see in these pictures) had unbelievably beautiful, classically trained voices. All in all, a terrific experience to work with this unusual company. Wonderful to dance to live music, which is all too rare an experience these days. And, of course, great to get paid -- while learning on the job about Polish dance. It was like being paid to take character class -- albeit on a wood-over-cement rehearsal floor.
Here we are in the show finale. (I'm in the front row, right.) Very kitschy. "Holly Jolly Christmas" played by the orchestra, and sung in Polish and English by the chorus. Check out the ultra-cute costumes! And the next photo is the end of the same number. I'm the one in the air with the Christmas wreath. Tres chic!
So, here's the point of all this stuff about me (and there's even more about our flamenco company below, if you keep on reading). These are the kinds of jobs that it's realistic for the late-starter to aspire to. The rare person may be able to do even more.
And, back to flamenco. A small group of us who have been involved in flamenco formed Sueρos de Fuego, and it's a huge thrill to perform with a group that is our own, where we can make the creative decisions and grow together! So another option, when it comes to growing as a dancer, is to put together your own group and handle the bookings yourself. To the right, you'll see a couple of photos of the group performing in 2000: dancing are myself and Al Alvarez, singing and playing guitar is Mike Cuchna, and playing palmas is Maria Ponticiello. I'm very happy to have the opportunity to work with these artists.
Where does the ballet come into all this? Well, I never expected to perform in the ballet idiom, beginning as late as I did. But the discipline and technique of ballet informs everything I do, and without ballet, I wouldn't have the performance opportunities I have now -- because what you learn in ballet about movement and execution, you don't learn anywhere else.