Guest Blog by Carolyn Davis Oates
I am so proud to have had the opportunity to dance with you. You far surpassed the situation you were in when we first met. Your achievement is stunning but not surprising; you always had the creative spark that drives an artist. But that was not so evident in Tallahassee in 1972.
I do not remember exactly when, but a friend of mine told me that her neighbor was a dancer. Since you lived not too far from me, a few days later I was ringing your doorbell. You were clearly not expecting company that morning. I introduced myself and said, “I understand you are a dancer!” I distinctly remember you replied, “I used to be a dancer.” You invited me in, and we talked for hours. You said you were not doing any dancing now. I was so excited to meet a neighbor with a background in dance from Juilliard, I knew right away that we had to find a way to work together.
Initially, you were reluctant. You felt tied down with two young children, and of course I was primarily a classical ballet dancer and you did modern dance, so it did not seem we had a lot in common other than love of dance. But we became good friends. We both needed to lose some weight so we exercised and dieted together. Soon you arranged to teach some dance classes at the Temple, and I assisted you. Dance as a religious expression had never before occurred to me.
During the next year, we enjoyed returning to dance together. That summer (1974) we conducted a dance camp for the Tallahassee Junior Museum. We were fully engaged in dance once more. We collaborated on a full length ballet of Midsummer’s Night’s Dream for the Tallahassee Civic Ballet (1975). You choreographed the fairies with modern technique, and I did the humans in classical form. It worked perfectly and the production was very successful.
You were especially interested in dance as therapy, which was a fairly novel concept at that time. You won a grant to work with mentally retarded children. About 10 students, most of whom were both mentally and physically handicapped, were selected for the program. We devised interactive movements to assist them in expressing their emotions. There were some very difficult sessions when our students refused to participate, but there were also some very rewarding moments when a student who had not said a word suddenly joined in and showed new capability. Colorful scarves, balls, costumes and other props were used to encourage them. Their progress during the program was eye-opening to me.
Soon you built a lovely modern dance studio on a wooded lot near our neighborhood. I had to decline your invitation to teach in your new studio due to some personal difficulties at that time. My husband and I separated and I returned to college for an MBA. When I completed my degree, I took a job in Virginia, and we lost contact, but our relationship was an unforgettable part of my life for those years in Tallahassee.
Today, at 82, I am dancing again after a long hiatus. I teach tap dancing and assist with a jazz class twice a week at my senior retirement community’s facility. Dance is still therapeutic for me as I know it has been for you. I tell my students, aged 60 to 85, that dance improves mental and physical health at all ages. I know it really does.
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