For the Love of Dance

Our Girl wants her pointe shoes mailed to her, so she can mount them on her wall. Patrick Swayze has passed away. I received an email today with a movie clip of Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell. Dance has always been my passion.

Patrick Swayze was an amazing dancer. His acting skills were OK. Certainly entertaining. I loved Ghost and To Woo Fong Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (where he played a drag queen and did it beautifully!) and of course, there's Dirty Dancing. I know that there are Dirty Dancing parties where people get together and make fun of the dialogue, but for me it was all about the dancing. Remember Flashdance?? Now there's a movie to make fun of.....the dancing was good, but Jennifer Beales didn't take one step on the dance floor....she had a double. So, in my mind, there's no comparison. When "Johnny Castle" took to the dance floor, well, he was sex on legs. I would have loved to have been Jennifer Grey. Dance afficionados will know that Patrick was classically trained and was a member of a ballet company, long before his acting days began. There was substance behind this guy. He knew what he was doing and man, he did it well.

What I most admired about Mr. Swayze though, was his devotion and commitment to his wife. They were married for 34 years and it was a love affair from beginning to end. I don't know anything about their personal lives, but the way she looked at him and the way he looked at her, told it all. I can't imagine what she's feeling today.

I have danced since I was three. What I didn't have was the dedication to do it seriously. I had the luck to study for a few years with a legend. Boris Volkoff (or Boris Karloff, as my grandmother referred to him) was a feisty, little Russian tyrant and he would never have made it in this "you can't speak to my child like that" generation. Boris threw his cane at you if he didn't like what you were doing. He would bounce his cane off your butt to see if you were contracting your gluteous maximus. He would humiliate you, with no concern for your ego. As a result, I learned. And knew exactly when I did something wrong and what to do to fix it, so as to not incur his wrath again. I loved it. He also showed a caring side. One day when I had a bad cold in the middle of winter, he admonished me for going out with no hat on my head. If anyone has seen any Degas paintings, you will have seen Boris. A little, old wizened man, hunched over his cane, who could glide across the floor like a swan when he needed to demonstrate.

I've had season's tickets to the National Ballet of Canada for 35 years now and still get lost in the beauty of Swan Lake or Romeo & Juliet, just like I did the first time I saw it. I've been told that when the company are taking their bows, that my head bobs, as if I'm up there with them. I wish.

My husband and I have been taking ballroom lessons for the last few years and I absolutely love it. Sometimes, for demonstration purposes, our instructor uses me as his partner. It makes my heart sing to be able to dance with someone who KNOWS what they are doing. I love my husband and I love dancing with him, but we do pretty simple stuff. When I dance with our instructor, I perform.

Our girl has danced since she was little and even though she will never be a professional dancer, at 19 she is still dancing, with her Ukrainian dance group and now she's looking into taking ballet classes in Ottawa. Her stage presence is electrifying. She just shines. She's inherited my love of dance.

Oh, and when no one is looking, I still practice pirouettes in my kitchen.

Thank you Mr. Swayze for your talent and your ethics. Dance with the angels.