I used to be a dancer.
I loved dancing. I still love dance. I ache a little when I see a performance; desire deeply to be on that stage.
If I had to state a regret, it would be this...that I gave up dancing.
There is a little part of me who would love to be seventeen again, thinking about going off to college...I would have taken that opportunity I shrugged off...applied to Cornish College of the Arts...danced my heart out...and maybe, just maybe, I would have landed it!
but.
I didn't do it. I didn't apply. I didn't try out. I didn't keep dancing.
and, oh...how I miss it!
Prompt #61: Write about the thing you've always wanted to do, but didn't.
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3 comments:
I actually went to Cornish College of the Arts for a semester. I studied Jazz Guitar. I dropped it because of misconceptions about family and touring being mutually exclusive lifestyles. I don't regret my family, but I sometimes look at musicians now, who have both touring and families, and feel pangs. I still practice guitar every day, and I'd say I'm pretty good at it, but not as good as I would have been...
Sister, if you wanna go dance, then you go dance! Nothing should stop you, ever.
Ah yes, the "road not taken." We all have one. Mine would probably be ignoring a natural aptitude for Science.
But I did the opposite and started college as a Dance major. Loved it, of course, but was shocked to discover that, at barely 18, I was already "much too old" to get into a ballet company. Modern Dance (now called Contemporary) was a bit more open to us "superannuated dancers," so I was fortunate to perform occasionally with a semi-professional company for a couple of years. Eventually, they moved out of town, and I wasn't willing to follow them to Madison, WI, of all places, especially for no salary. (No offense to WI, but at the time it wasn't exactly The Big Apple.)
But Stephan here is right: you can still experience the joy of dance. At your age, I went back to "adult" Ballet classes with the adjunct school of a local, professional ballet company, as well as classes with a new Modern Dance company, subsequently formed. Purely for enjoyment. Also, last time I heard, the well-known poet, Lyn Lifshin (whose work may be familiar to you), was still taking Ballet classes at age +/-60.
Ballet is harder on your body than Modern or Jazz, but there's always an outlet for the burning yearning to dance. In my 50s, I took to Ballroom and went coo-coo for Coca-Puffs! Others have become professional belly dancers late in life. You, darlin', are still young & healthy. Look for your niche, and step out on faith. It's not too late to dance. Truly, it's not.
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