“The first steps I ever took were onto a dance floor. I grew up in ballet shoes and spent my youth practicing and performing. Nearly every little girl who enters a beginners ballet class dreams of becoming a prima ballerina—the star of the show whose perfect movements and costumes catch the eye of everyone in the crowd. I was not one of those girls. The grueling hours and sometimes constant travel of professional dance did not appeal to me. But I didn’t want to end my connection to dance and the amazing community that comes with it.
Today, I get to live my dream. I work at City Center Ballet and Lebanon Ballet School, and there I get to enjoy a wonderful community of dancers, explore the craft of dance on a more technical level than I ever did as a student, and express myself creatively through choreography. My favorite part of my job is the relationships with my students. There is something magical about watching the young women who walk through our doors grow as dancers and people. Any girl who still does ballet when they are in high school already has intense time management skills and they are usually incredibly driven. You would think that this means they are stiff and stoic, but that could not be farther from the truth. It is such a pleasure to spend time with these talented girls, and I consider many of them friends by the time they graduate and move on from the studio.
Now my own daughters are learning to dance. They are 10 and almost 4, and while my older daughter has been taking dance classes for a few years, my younger daughter just took her first ballet class a few weeks ago. I always promised myself that when I had children, I would let them decide how long dance would be a part of their lives. But I do hope they continue with it. The world of dance is small, but the support this community has to offer is unparalleled. ” – Jennifer Henderson, Plainfield, NH
