Dancing To The Stars

Do you know what today is? It's October 3rd and one of the most special dates in my memory bank. October 3rd was the date I took my first ballet/tap lesson as a young girl. I begged my parents for months to let me take lessons after I had attended my neighbors recital. I was immediately bitten! Of course, I was dancing long before I took lessons but this was the real deal! I wanted to be under the lights,wearing beautiful costumes and moving gracefully to music that moved my soul.

Being one of nine children is one of the things I love most about who I am, but when it came to being able to participate in extra curricular activities being one of nine was often our nemesis. What seemed like a perfectly normal request became a major proposition to gain approval for my lessons. "Miss Joan" taught in her home in our neighborhood. She was really a phenomenal teacher in more ways than I can count. By teaching in her home, she gave opportunities to hundreds of little prima donna's that went through her back door and down the stairs in hopes of becoming a star. When I began my lessons with her, they were only $1.00 per week, but that dollar meant a lot to my parents who were already stretching a budget tighter than glad wrap on a bowl of leftover goulash. They simply didn't have it to give, but still found a way. They even asked me if I was still interested in taking lessons if it meant I couldn't participate in the recital due to costs. I answered with a resounding "yes!" as my heart sang, "Gotta Dance".

So there I was on October 3rd, in my pink tights and black leotard standing swayback at the ballet bar with 10 other swayback ballerinas. I didn't have ballet shoes yet as it wasn't in the budget, but it didn't matter. From my first plie' to my last releve, I was hooked. This first lesson began many years of dancing that took me through my high school graduation and beyond. Nine recitals followed that first lesson and I was able to participate in every one of them. My first pair of ballet shoes were a Christmas gift that year that sealed my fate. Eventually I began to earn money to help pay for my lessons and dancing shoes I needed by babysitting as much as I could. My mother spent countless hours from year one through year nine sewing thousands of costumes to help keep the costs down too. I can still see her under her spotlight hunched over her sewing machine that was whirring late into the night making sure every stitch was just right.

Those lessons took me a long way into life by giving me an appreciation for music and dance I might otherwise have never known. Miss Joan taught us poise, grace and to smile no matter what steps your feet might be missing. That's a lesson to be used in daily life, isn't it?

No matter what your circumstances are, no matter where you are in life,


"The Show Must Go On."