Born Again Dancer

June 2012, Big Range Dance Festival Choreographer: Yelena Konetchy Music: Nathan Laningham Photographer: John Clark, who owns these photos, so don't take 'em. :) 9 feet of silk form the common thread in this series of four dances by Yelena Konetchy "A Common Thread" in Big Range Dance Festival, Austin, TX, June 2012. Choreographer Yelena Konetchy. Photo by John Clark, all rights reserved. 

October 4, 2010 After an hour of tourist toystore mania at Hamley’s on Regent Street, I kiss my husband and kids good-bye at Piccadilly Circus. I will walk toward Covent Garden while they walk the other direction in search of a bus stop at Trafalgar Square to get back to Pimlico and our hotel. “Number 24,” I reminded him. He rolls his eyes at me.  I turn to walk up Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus and picked up my pace, like a horse to the barn. Class. I’m going to class. It has been over two weeks since my last jazz class, and that one was 5,000 miles away in Austin, Texas. I’m in London. And I’m going to class! I feel elation and anticipation in my whole body as I walk to Pineapple Studios. There's  some trepidation and slight intimidation, too. What will this class be like? Will I have fun?   This vacation-induced dance abstinence actually came at a good time. I am coming off a creative binge that included producing a flashmob , perfor...

Here we go again ... my dance card is full -- full of unused classes that I must use or lose by the end of May. "But you go to dance classes all the time," you say. "How is that possible?" Because I carry dance/fitness membership cards like Lindsay Loh@n carries credit cards. Because I'm dance diversified, like a well-balanced portfolio. Tap over here , Broadway Jazz over there , hip-hop, pilates and barre classes here and there . Because almost a year ago, I stopped going to ballet every week to make more time for exercises to strengthen my core (yawn). An ever-changing schedule of work and family activities and commitments requires Advanced Dance Class Calculus to create a weekly routine. (Its expression is obvious only to me.) And it is imperfect, hence the surplus classes on my dance card. But it's happened before , and here I go again. Nine classes in two weeks? I can do that. My diverse dance schedule created a collection of dance/fitnes...

For five months, I ignored a nagging pain in my hip, lower back and leg. When three ibuprofen didn't do the trick to get me through a ballet class, I decided to see the orthopedist. I'm now a diligent physical therapy patient and pilates student, doing my clamshells, pretzels, etc. on a daily basis. Until I'm back at the barre more often, here's some of what I miss about ballet class. "Oh my gawd." "Like when you’re training a dog not to pee in the house, when they pee, you take them outside to the grass. You’ve got to train your muscle memory the same way. Finish in fifth." "It's like baking cookies…if you leave something out, it doesn’t work. Same thing – being on demi point – if you’re just partway there, it doesn’t work, you must lock in the ankle." "How do I say this without hurting anyone’s feeling or getting fired? Keep your hips forward."  "It’s okay if you do it that way, I’ll just talk about y...

Wow. I had no idea the "dance blog" community was out there in force. So pleased to meet you all! I'm grateful for all the support that put Born Again Dancer in the Top 20 at Dance Advantage's Top Blogs of 2011. I've met several insightful dancers and writers who are sharing their dance experiences -- and there's many more out there. People like Adult Beginner , who braved her first ballet class at age 32 and did not cry in class -- I can relate to that. It takes a lot of courage to walk into a dance studio with expectations, whatever they may be -- I've written about the many obstacles we face when pursuing something new, especially in dance. They are financial, mental, logistical, and physical. Adult Beginner earned top votes in the Adult Dance category, and it's easy to see why -- her thoughtful observations, sense of humor, authenticity and self-awareness are magnetic. Looking forward to more! I originally found Dave Tries Ballet on Twitte...

Wow, two cool things happened over the last week. I'm in the middle of another project and can't go into all the details right now, but here are the headlines. Antarctica rocks! First, I got called back to perform in a rock musical called "Antarctica." It will run in Austin for two weekends in February at City Theatre. I'm going to learn to be snow and perform as an Antarctic animal. And I get to practice typing "A-n-t-a-r-c-t-i-c-a" over and over (just try). Maybe I'll go watch the movie Happy Feet again... And in other news... Born Again Dancer is a finalist for Top Dance Blogs of 2011, in the 'Favorite Top Dance Blog' category and in the Adult Dance category. Thanks Dance Advantage! So here we go again: please go vote here:  http://danceadvantage.net/2011/12/27/vote-top-blogs-2011/ . It'd be great if you voted for Born Again Dancer, but if you find something else that you like -- well go for it! There are some great dance b...

I'm feeling a little shy about this. But I need your help. If you have read and liked my Born Again Dancer blog posts over the last three years, you're qualified. You see, there's a contest on for Top Dance Blogs of 2011, hosted by Dance Advantage . -- and there's a category called Adult Dancers. You see where this is going now. If you like my blog, please leave a comment on this post. What do you like about Born Again Dancer? I love all the comments and responses my friends and readers have shared on Facebook over the years, and I really love it when I see comments on the actual blog itself -- that's kinda exciting. So will you comment on this post, please, and make me a contender for Top Dance Blog 2011? Thank you, thank you for taking time to comment. For those of you who've been with me for awhile, here's a "Born Again Dancer" retrospective. First masthead - feeling a bit shy perhaps? Feeling a bit more confident here. Th...

On Friday night I stayed up late, writing and working on this blog. I went to bed well after midnight. On Saturday morning my DH asked me if I dreamed about dancing last night. I don't remember, I said, a bit groggy. Why? Because you did this, he said. And he described how he woke up to turn over, only to see me reach toward the headboard, left arm overhead, body extended, before I snapped to a sitting position and looked around the room. Then I slumped back to sleep. I wondered if your toes were pointed, he said. I don't remember the dream. I'll bet it was good. *** After two solid hours of class and rehearsal on Friday, I didn't want to leave. I was just getting warmed up. Physically I was warm exactly 35 minutes after walking into the studio. In this particular class, the warmup does not change. In the same way that Ashtanga yogis practice a series of postures in specific order, my classmates and I embrace the familiarity and routine of what we all si...

For three Augusts now, something special has happened in my life as a dancer. In 2008, I rediscovered my love of dance and committed to its practice for one-year . (+dance) In 2009, I celebrated that year -- and didn't stop. I added ballet . (+ballet) I started thinking about " getting a gig ." In 2010, I co-produced a cabaret act with my friends (and began taking voice lessons). (+singing) In 2011, I performed in my sixth stage production, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels . (+more performing) With all the excitement of Augusts, Septembers could easily be letdowns. But this September, a seed of an idea from last winter began to sprout. Over a couple of margaritas, a friend urged me -- for the second or third time actually -- to write more often and openly about my experiences as an adult ballet student. Why? Perhaps because I have some opinions on this subject (especially after a couple of drinks). She thinks that others may relate to it. Here's something interesting abo...

“Kick Lines and Drill Teams and Poms, Oh My!” That’s the headline on my newest issue of Dance Spirit magazine. Actually, the magazine is addressed to my husband. A few years ago he bought me a new pair of black jazz shoes at Capezio, a purchase that led to this glossy mag in my mailbox every month. And every month, I pour over it like it's the 1983 Homecoming Fashion issue of TEEN Magazine . Given that I'm a bit (ahem) older than their audience of aspiring dancers, I feel like I'm reading my daughter's diary. It's not exactly written for me, but I can't put it down. Kinda like men who watch Golden Girls marathons on WE tv. They can’t help themselves. One of my favorite Dance Spirit reads is a front-of-book piece called “Letter to My Teenage Self,” written by successful adult dancers to the memories of their ambitious yet insecure selves. The letters, such as this one by the enviable Broadway star Elizabeth Parkinson , often move me. Perhaps this is because I...

"You oughta get a gig." That's what he told me nearly two years ago, and I was skeptical. In the fall of 2009, I'd been dancing again for about a year. I had performed in two community workshop productions at Ballet Austin's Butler Community School, but the thought of auditioning for a "gig" sounded a little silly at the time. I processed the idea slowly. I performed in a few more workshops. I co-produced a cabaret act for my birthday in 2010. But I didn't actually entertain the idea of an audition until last May, when I learned that a community theatre in San Antonio was producing the musical "Chicago" -- a great opportunity for a dancer like me who has been learning a wide range of Fosse choreography for the last three years. So I went. I prepared a song -- "Bye Bye Blackbird" -- it has about five notes in it, perfect for my less than confident mezzo-soprano- ish voice. And a group of us traveled to San Antonio to get some...