Misty Copeland, Vail
Three years ago my mom passed away. She had been suffering from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) for some years but it got much worse in late 2012. Between Christmas and Valentines day I went home 3 times to be with her, the last trip to pass her final days at her side. While my mother had made peace with her journey coming to an end, there were things we talked about in those last conversations that changed me after she passed. The sentiment of things she wished she had never stopped doing but somehow did in the tangle of time, and in those idle days before she left this world she remembered them passionately.
As soon as the catalogue for the local college’s summer semester was published I scoured it for an adult dance class, and I found one……….sort of.
I danced from third grade until I graduated from college, ballet, jazz, modern, ethnic, and even a brief foray into tap before my mom took the shoes back and said ‘no more tapping!’ I transitioned to snowboarding as my main athletic pursuit post college and supplemented with other typical ‘mountain activities’, hiking, snowshoeing and of course, dancing the nights of my 20’s away in the techno soundtracked ski-town bars of the late 90’s/early 2000’s. But I still missed ballet.
At 38 I started a ballet conditioning class lead by an absolute energizer bunny of a woman! This was NOT a class by that chain studio, this was different. Although my body remembered the movements of ballet, snowboarding shortened and compacted my muscles, and my tendons, while still flexible, ached at their first split in 16 years! We sweat in this class, we bent our bodies like CRAZY and worked the bejeezus out of our core muscles!! Since the instructor had been a dance major in college she and I would dance little combinations one of us remembered, usually her, since she was a decade my junior.
After 2.5 years of regular, once a week, ass kickings in this awesome class, I happened to find a proper adult ballet class. What a blessing, what an absolute JOY!! Now there were two days a week to DANCE =)
Now I must add, that while I remember, with fondness, my ballet classes of old, it is not without some subtle ‘rose-tinting’. When I was taking ballet in my younger years I _wanted_, desperately, with all my heart to be a ballerina. However, as I was often told, girls my ‘size’, rarely made it to the professional level. Mind you, I was not over weight, just poorly proportioned with a long torso and short, thigh ‘heavy’ legs, not the long, willowy women I aspired to be. When I was eighteen and still trying hard to be ‘perfect’ I burnt right out on ballet, and jazz, and pointe, every freaking day, 5 days a week, including Saturdays. In college ballet was merely a welcome distraction from my course load.
Frankly, walking into a new ballet class with only the memories of my adolescent experience to guide me, I was scared silly! What if I forgot what everything was called, what if my turnout sucked, what if i just plain couldn’t do it anymore??!! YIKES. The room was full of other ladies, some my age, some older, some younger and they were all smiling, happy to be there just like me. That helped my inner turmoil subside. But the one thing that made it the BEST?! The one thing that helped me forget I really am 41 trying to do things I haven’t done in 19 years? Morgan!
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She is not my ballet teacher of old (who I love, but the woman studied with the Russians, she was tough!). Morgan has a passion for movement that comes from every corner of her being. Her demeanor is calm and pleasant, but she challenges us and works us hard, all the while getting us to do more than we did the week before, before we know we have done it. She makes everyone in the room feel like they ARE a ballerina, modifying for ability and joining in our floor exercises so everyone has a partner. I asked Morgan if she would enlighten us a little in the ways of someone who truly spends every moment MOVING through life. Here are some of the pearls she shared:
1. What lead you to dance and then from dance to yoga arts?
A. I started dancing when I was four years old. I loved it from the beginning. I have always been a student of dance, although my path and training has been diverse. I’ve studied many dance styles, from classical western styles and methods to Japanese Dance and Somatic Movement techniques. I was introduced to Yoga in 2005 at Chicago College of Performing Arts. I resonated with the practice immediately. Yoga put into words what I had already been experiencing through dance. Dance is one way to access that divine inner self that remains mostly hidden within the context of day to day life. Dance, to me, is a spiritual art form. So really, I had already been practicing yoga for a very long time.
2. Your favorite part of what you do?
A. Putting movement on people. Choreography is my heart’s art. I ‘teach’ through sequences that build – flow – restore – ignite. I like to give a dancer or yogi/ni the opportunity to learn through movement – rather than through my projection of the movement. My favorite thing is to see a person fully invest in the present moment through their body and mind and share their unique expression. My favorite part is giving it all away and learning time and time again that everything is temporary.
3. Things you do everyday to improve your life?
A. At this point, I consider everything I do a practice and an opportunity for growth. I am always learning. Yoga has taught me this. In general, each day I practice yoga and meditate, I keep myself and my surroundings clean, I cook 90% or more of what I eat, I read and write. I also actively participate in therapy and study with my teachers because we all need guidance and support. My teachers and mentors are the people I look up to for insight when times get really tough. I don’t have to talk to them, I only have to think about them and the way in which they live. The people I study with are not celebrities, but people who live and breath peace, justice, and love.
4. What is your favorite activity, outside of this subject?
A. I love to swim and spend time with the people I love.
5. What is your ‘Life ROI’ from doing what you do?
A. Happiness. It’s something I’ve had to work HARD for. Happiness does not come from the external forces in my life, it is a choice and it comes from within. Everything else in life is temporary. The work we do involves living from a deeper awareness. An awareness that involves detachment to the material world and to the ego. This detachment equals freedom.
If you want more information about Morgan’s current class offerings (they started this week!!), I invite you to experience her website: morganflahiveforo.com
Adult ballet started tonight, and I couldn’t be more excited, ooh how I have missed it!
The next session of classes will run from March 21-August 18, 2016
Vail Valley Dance Academy of Dance is located in the
Edwards Commercial Park
210 Edwards Village Blvd Unit C-205
Studio D
Edwards, Co 81632
Dance on everyone!!
=) Irish