In a parallel universe I’m a ballerina. I imagine myself flying effortlessly through the air, my every move graceful and light. That I didn’t realise I wanted to be a dancer until I was about 28 is one of life’s great disappointments, with another major one being that hardly anyone bothers to teach inflexible, rhythmically challenged “old” people like me dance. One expection is Lynda Raino, a dancer and choreographer who has a dance centre for adults in Victoria, Canada. She also started Big Dance, a company for large women and famously said “You don’t have to have a dancer’s body to dance, just a body that dances”.
When I lived in Victoria I took classes with Lynda and did everything from modern technique to floor barre and even tried ballet for absolute beginners (which was actually rather boring once I realised it just wouldn’t happen, I would never be a Darcey Bussell). Lynda helped me create a bridge between my mind and my body and this played a huge role in making me aware of myself in space.
But although my “career” came to an end in '98 when I moved to the UK, in a parallel universe I am a ballerina and so I go to pilates, because that’s what all dancers do. I’m comically inflexible and considering I am approaching 40 I’m starting to wonder whether my pig-headed stubbornness will ever pay off and I will one day be able to do something resembling the splits. But I adore my teacher Ruth, who incidentally was a ballet dancer with the Scottish Ballet, and so I go every week and dream of at least one day retraining and becoming a pilates instructor.
Categories:
If only...
3 comments:
16 years ago, I was a dancer. Then I got bronchitis and pneumonia which kept me out for a month and my mother refused to send me back. (sigh) who knows what I could be doing today if not for that...
Oh, you were so close... I don't know what's worse, to never have had the opportunity or to have grasped it only to see it slip away. Do you still dance?
I begged my mother for ballet lessons as a child but in the wilds of rural MN there were no classes. I, too, finally pursued this on my own, in my late 20's. It was going well, considering my age, until I slipped on some wet leaves and sprained my ankle. I never did get back to it.
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment! I'm happy to hear you like the idea of a Commonplace Book; I started it for myself and had no idea if anyone would even read it. I picked up the dance quote above to add to the collection.
Post a Comment