The Dance

I am going to ramble and be disjointed and disorganized in my writing. Please forgive me.

Dance. Ah, sweet dance. One of the great constants of my life. I didn't actually start taking ballet until I was 12 years old, pretty late for an aspiring ballerina to start dancing. At my first class, however, I was bit by the bug and have been hooked ever since.

I have been blessed to study under some very talented dancers, some of whom were great teachers and some of whom were not. Regardless, being in their presence and knowing what they had accomplished as dancers greatly inspired me.

I was strictly a ballet dancer all through junior high and high school. I was never a great dancer, but good enough. I did, however, have incredible arches in my feet and teachers loved them while other dancers were green with envy. One of my teachers nicknamed my feet The Golden Arches.

My freshman year of college I received a scholarship and did an apprenticeship with Ballet Oregon (which later merged with Portland Ballet and became what is now the Oregon Ballet Theatre). That was also the same year that I took my first Modern dance class.

I think that the Modern dance class threw me into some kind of an identity crisis (for lack of a better term) with regards to my thoughts on dance and the dance world. I was so consumed with ballet for so many years that the modern classes tripped me up and spun me around on my head, literally and figuratively.

By spring term that year I had quit my formal ballet training and just took dance classes at the college. Who knows where I might be today if I would have stayed at Ballet Oregon and continued with my apprenticeship at the professional level.

"Just taking dance classes at the college" opened up some doors for me and gave me some experiences that I might not have otherwise had. I got paid $25/hour for several photo shoots modeling ballet garb. That was a lot of money to a poor college kid back in the late 80s. I was introduced to "liturgical dance" and performed with a troupe that recreated religious and folk dances from the Middle Ages. We performed all around town during Easter. We filmed the whole performance at Cable Access in Portland and to this day it can sometimes be seen on t.v. during Easter. Dance of the Angels; look for it. There were several other projects/performances that I got to be a part of that ended up being on t.v. and received write-ups in the paper. I even dabbled in jazz and folk dance.

When I transferred to the University of Oregon I immediately enrolled in ballet and modern classes. I received a minor in dance so I not only took dance classes, but also dance history, theory, staging and lighting, etc. I have so many fond memories of my dance experiences there.

So, fast forward 15 years, 2 kids and 40 pounds. I've been missing dance like crazy the past few years. I keep putting it off because 'I am too fat', 'I am too old', 'It is too expensive', 'I don't have consistent child care', or insert whatever other excuse you can come up with. However, I bit the bullet and signed up for a modern dance class at the YMCA. It is just a 4 week summer session class, so it is a good way for me to get my feet wet and see if I still have it in me. I have discovered that I definitely still have it in me.

It does kick my ass, though. What happened? Never before did I drip sweat or get winded in a dance class. Nor did my thighs jiggle. I am like a beginner on so many levels, which is humbling, yet at the same time I am relishing it. I am not there to compete with anyone or try to impress anyone. I am there because of my love of dance and because it is amazing exercise.

I am so looking forward to the fall when there are more classes available. I can't wait to touch a ballet barre again and continue to caress the floor with my Golden Arches, which I still have, by the way, and, thank you very much, it was one of the first things that the 20-something-year-old teacher noticed about me.

I caught wind of an Eastern European folk dance class in Salem that is supposedly free. Anyone know anything about it? Anyone want to take it with me?