Broche Banter #34 -- Harmony
Today, I chat with Harmony, who recently achieved her goal of her first pair of pointe shoes before her upcoming 50th birthday!
We talk about her absolute undying love of ballet, what it was like for her to take her very first ballet class a little over a year ago, and why she thinks anyone with dreams of ballet should just get started and hop in with us!
Follow Harmony’s story on instagram @ballet_harmony.
Enjoy!
Julie: Welcome to the show, Harmony. I'm so excited to have you on this week to talk about your story with ballet. Thanks for being here!
Harmony: I'm thrilled to be here with you. Thank you so much for asking me. This will be fun.
Julie: So we met… I mean, I don't know how long I've been following you on Instagram, probably since the beginning of your ballet journey because you post such fun stuff. And then we really got to know each other over this lockdown situation when you were dancing all the time and we share a love for peloton… we share a love for the peloton instructors and the whole peloton family. And now you got en pointe with me for the first time, we got your first pair of pointe shoes now you're all up en pointe, doing all this fun stuff. So we really came to get to know each other this year. I'm excited to actually get to hear your story and sit down and actually listen to how it all started.
Harmony: Okay, where do you want me to start?
Julie: Okay, let's start with ballet. So you started ballet very recently. Is that true?
Harmony: I started last year. Let's see in the spring, I guess I did like stumbled upon adult ballet videos. And I was just like, wow, how long has this been a thing. Because I was one of those little girls who was just obsessed with ballet with like seeing ballerinas and male ballet dancers and just thinking they were all the most gorgeous things I'd ever seen. I love… I remember even loving their athleticism, that you that you could see their muscles, their costumes, of course, tiaras and tutus, and all that stuff. But I never had a chance to take ballet.
And honestly, I was thinking about this earlier, because I thought you'd ask. I don't even remember knowing that little girls took ballet like that, that just wasn't in my universe growing up. So I didn't do that. But I stumbled upon videos last year, early 2019. And started gently, taking some classes and I'm sure there were a million of your videos that I followed as well during that time. And I was trying to get the nerve up to take a live ballet class. And that's super intimidating, because you can fake some things. But you cannot fake going to your first ballet class. Because, I didn't know anything. I didn't know if you walked in and you were assigned to place at the barre or anything. So anyway, we were on a trip to Alaska, my husband and I to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, and we stopped in Vancouver afterwards. And looking back that was one of the greatest things because we met my mom and stepdad in Vancouver for a couple days. It was Canada Day Weekend and there was this… they have a wonderful ballet studio there. It's called ballet lounge. And that was my first… I finagle that so we would take ballet together my husband and me… my very first ballet class in person, June 30, 2019. And it was super fun. Love … I just loved everything about it, and came back to Sarasota and finally got the nerve up to go to Sarasota Ballet, the Sarasota Ballet’s Ballet School in their adult program. So, yeah, that's how it all started.
Julie: I have so many questions. What is there not to ask about that? So first of all, you took your first ballet class on vacation. And second of all, you brought your husband to it. You made your husband take ballet with you.
Harmony: Yeah.
Julie: Oh, my goodness.
Harmony: Well, okay, I have the kind of husband who is game for anything. He's fantastic. He's super supportive. So he didn't even bat an eyelash. And I was trying to tell him like, there'll be other guys there. You know, there will be other people our age there …. not really…. Vancouver is a very young city. So it was all females and almost everybody looked like they were in their 20s. And some of them were really good. You know how it is when you go to adult ballet classes, you're gonna get a whole range.
But yeah, it was it was really fun. And on our cruise, I practiced every day in the cabin, on our cruise ship, and I wanted to be ready.
And this is how little I knew when I got there: the check-in lady looked at my ballet slippers. And she was like, I guess those will do. They were huge on me. I didn't even know how they were supposed to fit. But you know, I had a bun in and I had a black leotard, and I was like, I'm ready. Let's do this. I have not locked back.
Julie: Okay, so you, you show up in a ballet class with perhaps clown sized ballet slippers and your husband? And does he know anything about ballet at this point? Has he been practicing at this point?
Harmony: No, he knew nothing.
Julie: You didn't even give him a crash course you prepared and then threw him into the deep end.
Harmony: And like I was exposed to ballet as a child. It was actually in pop culture a lot. There were some famous ballet dancers on TV. I think somewhere on the Muppet Show once in a while, you know, there were there was ballet movies. He really had not been exposed to ballet much at all. And now I have a barre and a dance floor, but I didn't have anything like that. So no, he went in with no no understanding of it at all.
He's almost six foot eight. And it was looking back, I'm sure people were like, “Oh, my God get a load of these two, They're like, they don't know what they're doing.” But we tried and we had a great time, you know, and that's the thing about ballet. If you can relax into it, you can feel like you're expressing yourself in the music, you know, even in the most simple exercises.
“That’s the thing about ballet. If you can relax into it, you can feel like you’re expressing yourself in the music, even in the most simple exercises.”
So I think secretly he really really enjoyed it. But it was a fun day. And it was nice to have him there because he took pictures like it was documented. I have pictures. My very first family pictures on my Instagram are of that day. It's nice that we have it so. So anyway, that's how it started a year ago, about a year and a half ago was my first class.
Julie: Oh my gosh, this is um, this is amazing. Is this. Okay, so you did? You posted on Instagram that you guys did my 500 rélevé challenge together? Is that why he has ballet slippers?
Harmony: He has ballet slippers because he doesn't do a little valley with me nowadays, once in a while Oh god. I don't want to make it sound like it's even regular. But once in a while, like if I'm doing an exercise and some music has a good beat. And it's an easy tendu to exercise. Or like we do Madame Olga’s dégagé and Swan arms exercise together. So we do that together. So yeah, once in a while he does do some exercises with me. And if you do any ballet ever, it's better to have ballet slippers than anything else. So you know, when I saw they were in his eyes, I was like, yep, click buy.
Julie: You guys are amazing. That's just That's hilarious. And and also, I mean, I think ballet is great for everyone. And he's a runner too. So it's great for me. It's great for anyone to develop that level of muscle control and body awareness and everything you learned in ballet. So that's awesome.
Harmony: Yeah. And he has great respect for it, too. He's a very strong, ultra athlete. But he looks at what I do, and he's like, holy cow. How do you guys do that? Like, ballet dancers are amazing. But you know where he respects everything we do, which is nice.
Julie: So you took that first class have you just basically been going ever since then?
Harmony: So okay, I started last summer in Sarasota so summer 2019. And I was working and the pandemic has changed a lot. The biggest change for me is that I'm not working. For the last five years before the pandemic started, and we will never go back to this, but my husband and I worked would work frequently, regularly 17, 18, 19, 20 days in a row. That's just not healthy. But there are times in your life when you want to do that, for whatever reason.
So anyway, that's over. But I was working so much that I really only got to the studio once or twice a week, maybe once in a blue moon three times a week. And I was taking like absolute beginner, level one, and I would dip my toe into level two once in a while, once the pandemic started, and we had like a big two week shutdown here, we thought it was going to help a lot, you know, didn't help enough, unfortunately. But it was it was a major shutdown here.
I thought, “Okay, this is my chance, I'm going to find ballet classes online, and I'm going to take like a full class every single day. And then maybe when I go back to the studio, I won't be like, so nervous about the combinations.”
Because I could never really get the combination, I was always watching other people, or thinking about it so much. And it was so frustrating, because I felt like I couldn't really dance. Because I didn't grow up with learning choreography. And it's tricky if you haven't done it. So that was my goal to get to where I could just go to ballet class and not worry so much about the combination, at the bar in the center, you know, everything and for me are shut down lasted much longer. I'm no longer working. And I don't even know when it was, but I do remember saying to my husband one day like, “Hey, guess what I don't, I don't even worry about the combination anymore. Like, I can pick it up.”
So if anybody out there is struggling any adult ballet dancers, I really was awful at learning combinations. I would have to be in back of somebody at the bar and not at the end. Because then when we turn around like I wouldn't have anybody. And it if you practice enough, it does come naturally.
So that's that's been just wonderful. Because I do feel like I can start dancing right at the beginning of class. And that's not to say I don't mess up like you see me mess up. But it's, it's usually because my mind has wandered not because it was too tricky for me. So it does come with time and practice.
“So if anybody out there is struggling any adult ballet dancers, I really was awful at learning combinations. I would have to be in back of somebody at the bar and not at the end. Because then when we turn around like I wouldn’t have anybody. And it if you practice enough, it does come naturally. ”
Julie: Isn't it a funny phrase in ballet, if you that is what you just said, If you practice enough, that comes naturally, I think that people often hear the last part, it comes naturally and forget the first part: “if you practice” the message, because it's true, if you practice enough, it does come naturally. But naturally is such a funny word. Because it's natural only because you've practiced it so much.
Harmony: Yeah, exactly. Interesting. I put in a lot of hours. I mean, I there hasn't been a day since the second week of March that I haven't been in my ballet slippers for at least two hours. But you know, my husband works a lot. He's an essential worker. So he works a lot he works nights he sleeps during the day, my children are grown and gone. There's only so much cleaning and cooking you can do. So I just jumped all in. And it's really been wonderful. I mean, not to diminish the suffering going on in the world. But for me, the pandemic has been really a wonderful time here in my little home studio. In my house.
Julie: Yeah. And I think, as you said, you know, when you're working so much, and you're kind of forgetting the things that life is about this has been a reminder for many about taking it down a notch and really remembering what the little things are about remembering the joy of doing something for you.
Harmony: Yeah, it's been a real eye-opener for us. And like I said, there are times in your life you want to do that, work a lot, but like my husband never does that anymore. He's still working, but we just said no to the two weeks in a row without a break. It's ridiculous. It's not good for anybody, you know? So..
Julie: A lot of stress.
Julie: Yeah. So that's a lot of time dancing. That's amazing. Do you feel like you need motivation? Or is it just easy to put on your slippers every day?
Harmony: Nope
Julie: No, no, no, motivation needed. You just love it and you want to dance all the time?
Harmony: Oh my god. So don't make me cry. It's like, I'm so in love with ballet. It's such a gift to be able to do it and really to be a part of your online studio is it's just it's the best thing in the world. Like, I go to bed at night thinking we have a peloton you know about peloton so I go to bed at night thinking about my Peloton workout the next day so I'm always really excited and thinking about what my ballet schedule is. And like, if I have a shorter class with you, then I'm already sort of scheming what other class I'm going to take or I don't need motivation for it, I love it. I love every single part of it. I love it when it's challenging. I love it when it's easy. I love it. When when I know the music, I love it when I don't know the music, I just love everything about it.
Julie: I love it. I obviously feel the same way about ballet because I'm obsessed with it. And, you know, we love all the outfits and having fun with all of it? Is there anything in your life that you do feel like you need that motivation for that you have to push yourself to to get up and do?
Harmon: Well, I mean, not really cleaning is not my favorite, but when it comes to athletics, and because I've been an athlete my whole life, so that that's almost like brushing my teeth. I wake up and I run, or I wake up and I go for a really long power walk, I do my weights and, and ballet just sort of folded its way into that routine. And I love being physically active. So I don't struggle with that.
Of course, I do have bad days, like we all do. But I learned that even on my worst…. no matter how bad I'm feeling, I'm going to feel better if I go for that run or if I jump on the bike, if I do some yoga, if I take my ballet class. You're never going to get through that and think, oh god, why did I do that? Now I'm really miserable. You're gonna feel like yeah, okay, that's progress. The day's getting better. You know, I did something.
Julie: Yeah, that's true. What would be a bad day? Like, what would what would it is that is like, not in the mood? Like not feeling so great. What would be a bad day for you? Where you'd have to?
Harmony: I guess if I haven't slept enough, that's really the only thing but that's been going really well. Because the more you move, the more tired you are. There are nights when, and my husband's very active as well. They're nice. We're sitting on the sofa at like, 7:05. And we're like, are you ready for bed? Because I am. We sort of walk to the bedroom like zombies, we’re so exhausted. So that's a good thing about being physically active as well. You're sort of spent at the end of the day and can have a good deep sleep.
Julie: Yeah, I hear you on that for sure. If you need to sleep just exercise a lot, and it's easy. Yeah, yeah.
Harmony: Yes, exactly.
Julie: Do you have dreams with your ballet journey? Or is the journey the dream?
Harmony: Julie, my dream was to go en pointe and you help me get there. I still can't even believe it. And it's hard to make goals because I don't really know what I am capable of. When I first got my pointe shoes, which was just a few months ago, maybe less than two months ago. I felt like I couldn't do anything. I mean, they they feel like bricks on your feet, basically. And you're like, I'm not making any goals because I can't even stand in them. But as they get broken in, and as you get more used to the feeling… you know, I don't know, I, I'm just happy to be en pointe. And my goal is to just keep progressing as long as I can.
But, you know, one thing people who come to ballet later in life have to realize.. most of us have some kind of limitations. And I certainly do. I was in a car accident when I was about 12. So I have a lot of asymmetry in my legs and feet and ankles, and the strength is different. It's just not the same as starting ballet when you're three and putting your leg up here and being super pliable. But I'm going to work with what I have. And as long as you don't let those limitations get you upset, if you can still progress or, you know, maintain. Sometimes maintaining is good! Sometimes maintaining is fine. So I just want to keep working on it and keep having that feeling of being one with the music.
“One thing people who come to ballet later in life have to realize is that most of us have some kind of limitations.
And I certainly do. I was in a car accident when I was about 12. So I have a lot of asymmetry in my legs and feet and ankles, and the strength is different. It’s just not the same as starting ballet when you’re three and putting your leg up here and being super pliable. But I’m going to work with what I have.
As long as you don’t let those limitations get you upset, you can still progress. Or, even just maintain. Sometimes maintaining is good!
So I just want to keep working on it and keep having that feeling of being one with the music”
Julie: Well, and I think part of the thing with kids is that they just have so much time. A life of a child has way more time in the life of an adult. The life of a child has three to five hours to dedicate to ballet ballet every day, whereas we need a pandemic to happen for us to have 5 hours to dedicate every single day. So I think that does make a big difference with the kids progress as well. Yes, they do have more pliable bodies for sure. But they also just have like just a ton of time.
Harmony: Yes, you're right. You're definitely right. But the flexibility I mean, I would do anything to go back in life and like, practice the splits from age three, because it's really… You know, you see me I do my best and there are parts of me that are flexible, but others just aren't and you just have to keep working on it. And hope that you can maintain it. That's an example of maybe maintaining maybe not getting too much better, but when I'm stressing always think Well, yeah, I'm stiff at the board. But think if I didn't stretch. How would I be? So then I'm like, yeah, I'm doing okay.
Julie: Definitely, taking that time off of stretching is really painful.
Harmony: No, I stretch every day. Like, are you kidding? All the work I've put into stretching. If I stopped, like, I don't want to lose any of it, I don't want to lose a millimeter. So yeah, I'm pretty adamant about stretching every day.
Julie: You seem to have a really positive outlook on your life and on your capabilities and on working hard and believing in that capability. How did you come to that? What led you here? It doesn’t often come by accident, it comes by working through challenges. I mean, how did you come to this? Or have you been like this as long as you can remember?
Harmony: I haven't really coward at challenges. And I don't know why. I think, um, you know, my parents weren't perfect. But my mom made me… she definitely gave me confidence, you know, as moms can do. My mom still around, I talk to her every day. But she still makes me feel like the most gifted child. And I'm not!
But I think that's a really important thing that. It's a very powerful thing that a mom that parents can give to children. And I tried to do that with my own as well. But yeah, my mom definitely gave me confidence. And the adult ballet community is so welcoming. For the most part, it's just so welcoming. I would say to anybody out there who's considering it a little bit, come on in, it's so much fun!
We are ballet dancers, we have every right to call ourselves that, you know, not to take away from professional ballet dancer to of course, I like obsess over and I love them, and I just adore looking at them. But you know, my neighbor plays tennis once a week, and he's a tennis player. So we're ballet dancers. And I love that about the adult ballet community, how we're super inclusive. Whatever you look like… you have a body? that's a ballet body! Come on in, we can we can all work together and figure something out that's going to be beautiful. And I love that.
“We are ballet dancers, we have every right to call ourselves that. Not to take away from professional ballet dancers of course. I obsess over and I love them, and I just adore looking at them.
But, my neighbor plays tennis once a week, and he’s a tennis player. So we’re ballet dancers. And I love that about the adult ballet community, how we’re super inclusive.
Whatever you look like… you have a body? that’s a ballet body! Come on in, we can all work together and figure something out that’s going to be beautiful. And I love that.”
So it hasn't been that hasn't been a challenge for me. Once I opened the door and saw what was going on. I was like, Oh, yeah, that's me. I'm there, all in.
Julie: You make some really good points around not cowering against challenges, right? So you see a challenge and you go after it.
And I mean, also, totally different topic in terms of the adult ballet where it's like, very accepted for someone who runs a lot to call themselves a runner, or someone who cycles let's call them a cyclist. You see people out there on the road with the cycling outfit the whole thing and you're not like, oh, that person is not a cycler. You you see them in the outfit and you see them on the side of the road at 6am on a Sunday. And you're like that's a cycler? Like they're putting in the work. it’s just a little bit different when it's such a…. I don't know, for whatever reason, ballet has a little different of a stigma to it, let's say.
Harmony: I don't know why that is, I guess, you know, you probably feel the same as me, but professional ballet dancers, they are special. They are the most special humans in the world. So maybe that's why. Because when there’s sort of a bigger gulf between us, I don't know. But I call myself about a ballet dancer, a ballerina. When I was just at the doctor for my foot. I told her I'm a ballet dancer, I'm en pointe, so can I continue? She was like, Oh, yeah.
So I think we maybe sometimes are more self-conscious about saying it than….? You know, I say it to people nobody's ever been like, really? Like, what company do you dance for? They're just like, Wow, that's cool. So we need to embrace that.
“I think we maybe sometimes are more self-conscious about saying [that we’re ballet dancers]. I say it to people nobody’s ever been like, really? What company do you dance for? They’re just like, Wow, that’s cool. So we need to embrace that. ”
Julie: Yeah, I think that's a really great point where the question is who said you weren't?
Harmony: Yeah.
Julie: If it was just you who said you aren't, then you can tell that voice to be quiet? Because that's your own voice?
Harmony: Exactly. You know, if you're doing something every day and think about how much you spend on ballet, I mean, we're definitely ballet dancers. So and that's been a real thrill to, to see myself as a ballet dancer. It's just it's been such a dream come true. I love it.
Julie: It's so magical. I think ballet has a certain magic about it that other types of sports don't have. Like it is super cool to watch them run a marathon in three hours or whatever, because you're just like, how is that even possible? But it doesn't quite have the same like magical effect I think as ballet has on people.
Harmony: I know, because to somebody who doesn't dance ballet, like when I used to watch ballet before I started taking it. Literally every single thing looks like a trick. How’d they do that? How did they like I just want to do that one step and you try it. And you realize like, it's almost superhuman. Yeah. So it's been fun to learn, you know how it's all put together and the steps to get to that strength or flexibility or musicality.
“To somebody who doesn’t dance ballet, like when I used to watch ballet before I started taking it. Literally, every single thing looks like a trick. How’d they do that? How did they like I just want to do that one step and you try it. And you realize it’s almost superhuman.”
Julie: Right, pull back the curtain a little bit.
Harmony: Yeah, exactly. It's fun. Right. On the other side.
Julie: Yeah, I think you made a good point. Like everyone gets it that if you ran a lot, you'd probably get really good at running, because it is kind of a natural activity. It's not natural to be that level of it. But it's a rather natural activity.
Harmony: Yes, exactly. And I have read that and it is true…. nothing about ballet is natural. I don't think that the way, the way we try to contort our bodies… but somehow we do it and we come back for more.
Julie: You know, sometimes beginners will come in, and I'm teaching them something like let's say a passé or something. And they're like, why can't I do it? I should be able to do this already. And I'm like, why? Why should you be able to do this? I'm asking you to do something crazy. Why you do you believe that you should be able to put your leg in this position naturally. Because it's not natural.
Harmony: It's not natural. And then on top of that, we see professional dancers doing it. But they make it look so easy. Like that's their job. They just look relaxed. And you know, no big deal at all. But yeah, it's all hard. Every part of it is hard.
Julie: And we have to smile while we're doing it.
Harmony: And I do.
Julie: Yeah, it's wonderful.
And so you and I have also connected on the topic of mindfulness and meditation a little bit because I've recently gotten into it. And if you guys listen to the podcast a couple of episodes ago, I talked with Tom and his journey with mindfulness as well. Tell me a little bit about your journey with meditation.
Harmony: When I was about 15, I was living on my own. And I was always broke. And they there was a Hari Krishna house near where I lived. And they would give you a free meal if you came to their house and meditated and chanted with them. Now, I really don't know much about Hari Krishna, I don't really see them around anymore, but I can tell you, they were lovely people, and they made beautiful meals. So I would go weekly. And it was it was fun. I mean, we'd meditate. And then we chant, somebody would like play a drum, and we chant the Hari Krishna song, I guess, whatever it is, and then we eat. And I noticed that I just felt so good afterwards. It's a way of sort of emptying your mind. And I learned it from them.
Then I spent some time in India when I was 18. And was enchanted with all this stuff going on there in Hinduism and the people meditating. I've been doing it ever since. There are times when I've done longer sessions. Now, I pretty much stick to the 10 minute meditations daily, but I love it. What I found is that the more often you do it, the more regularly the better it is, because you can just like *snap * that you can be back in that mindset, which is relaxed, just letting your thoughts flow across your brain not worrying about it. And so it definitely is for me, it's part of being healthy, mentally healthy, and I do love it.
Julie: Do you find so you've been an athlete as well? Do you find that it's helpful in your athletic endeavors as well to have that meditation mindset? Is it similar in any way helpful, complimentary?
Harmony: Well, when I was when I was competing… so I was a competitive runner for a couple years, back in the day, I used visualization more than medication for my running. So that's when sports psychology was sort of just coming to the forefront and I was super interested in it.
But certainly, when you're training hard, and you have a life on top of that, meditation just helps you balance it all reset yourself. So you're ready for you know, whatever you're doing next. So I didn't really use it for running but just I've always been super busy. And that was always something I could come to and know… reset is a good word, actually. It is sort of like a reset. I don't know if you find that when you do it. But whatever else is going on in your mind. I got to do this... I got to call this person… I have four appointments tomorrow…. I got to take care of my kids... How am I going to pay for this…. meditation, sort of just smooths all that out. It's gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay, man, just breathe. And when you do that every day, it makes a big difference on not just that part of your day, but the whole rest of your day, because you know that that feeling is accessible whenever you need it, as long as you have time to sit and be with yourself and with your thoughts. You can do it and it makes your whole life better, I think.
Julie: Well, the ironic thing is, you know, you said if you have time, but the thing is, if you're that stressed, and you take 10 minutes off to meditate, you will be more productive after those 10 minutes than if you had just floundered around and not taken the time. I find that with myself, when if I feel like I have too many things to do, or I'm like, you know, just like buzzing around, not sure which task is the most important to start on. And then it's like, Alright, let's start on none of these, take a sec, go meditate, and then come back and start with a fresh mind. That's kind of that's, that's how I currently use meditation, probably doing it more often than regularly, like you do would be beneficial to do as well. But currently, I use it when I just feel my mind getting out of hand. And I'm like, Alright, let's just take this down a notch, and then come back fresh.
Harmony: Yeah, well, you know, whatever works, and everybody's different. And I did really enjoy Tom's interview, he had so many great things to say about mindfulness. And he taught me a lot, actually. So even though I've been doing it forever, I'm not an expert, I know that it makes me feel good.
But you know, it's a great thing, if you can figure out how to insert that into your daily routine, I think it's really beneficial. And with the pandemic, I'm sure it's helped me just stay you know, centered. Because my family's in six countries, I've had some tragedy in my life in the last year. And if you can come back to that feeling of, you know, just thinking about what's important, cherishing others, whatever, whatever that is, for you. feeling connected to every living being on the planet, or just emptying your mind. It does help make your life better, and it can help you cope.
We’ve just had a rough year, everybody, but that's a bit of a comfort to me that we're all in it together too. And thinking about that does help. I'm not the only one… just 2020 has not the best!
Julie: And I think everyone's gonna come out of it with new coping skills, right? I was thinking about, as I kind of have been reflecting this year on on my journey, and all of that… You think about how you've developed confidence and how you develop self esteem and how you develop a thick skin. It's not by having everything go well, right. That's not the time now developing it. It's when your back is against the wall and you really like need need it that you actually learn it and develop it. It's not like you don't learn this stuff when you're just like having a great day. That’s not when you learn it.
Harmony: No, you are so right. It's and we can learn from every lesson. And I think 2020 has taught everybody a lot of lessons, as long as we're open to hearing them. But yeah, our lives will never be the way they were. And we have to get ready for the new normal. And that's another thing that we'll have to cope with: adapting, because we don't know really what that looks like. But you know, as long as I can move my body, take my ballet classes, meditate, sleep well, I'm going to be okay. And that's what's gotten me through the last eight months.
Julie: I think it teaches you what's important in life, because it teaches you that those are the things that matter that you have food on the table, that you have a roof over your head that you have your health that you have your body and your family, and anything else was just icing on the cake that we had the wonderful ability to have in the past. And hopefully we'll have some of those things again, but we know what matters, because everything else has been taken away, in a sense.
Harmony: Definitely, yeah. And another thing that's helped me through the pandemic is just having sort of a schedule every day. And I have heard from other people that that's helped. Because every day feels every day before. I think it would be easy to sort of just watch Netflix for eight hours straight. I mean, why not? There's nothing going on, really for a lot of us. But having a schedule has helped. So ballet’s been a big part of that too. Because it takes time. It's not something you can't just do a barre in five minutes. It's a chunk of time you need. You need to pencil it in.
Julie: Well I remember the first time I lost a family member, my grandmother passed away, I was in my early 20s. And all of the older people in my life all told me just keep busy. That was like the number one thing that they kept saying was just like, keep busy, make sure you're busy. Make sure you're doing stuff. And that then you'll be able to process it later when you're feeling better or like just stay busy for right now. That was always the advice.
Harmony: Yeah, I think that's true. Because even for people who haven't lost a loved one recently, it's hard to think about the numbers of you know what's going on. It's just it's mind boggling. So yes, learn what's going on, be aware. But keep yourself busy so that you're healthy, and you're being productive and not just wallowing in it all day.
But you know what, I will never, never stop dancing at home. I mean, why weren't we all doing this before? But you see my cute studio like it's so easy. This was the guestroom, just move the furniture aside and turn on the computer and take a class. It's been it's been so great. And I'm sure a lot of people feel that same way. I mean, so many professional dancers were taking their company class online, why not? You know, there's a you can't do everything at home. I do miss the big corner to corner, not that I was ever very good at that, and I'll be even worse when we go back. But I will never stop dancing at home. Because it's just it's too easy. You can roll out a bed and do it. It’s great.
Julie: Yeah, it's I mean, it's it's funny, in many ways, being at home is for me very natural with ballet because I've been doing it at home forever since I started dancing. When I was a kid, when I was 17, I got rid of my bed and got a smaller bed and like put a little thing [barre]. I didn't know what I was doing. I have no idea what I did to practice!
Harmony: Who needs a big bed?!
Julie: I know I was like we don't need this bed. Let's get a smaller one so I can have the space. And then I had the same stepladder for the whole time I had that I lived in New York.
Harmony: I love your step ladder. It’s so cute.
Julie: It's like my barre, it's my trusty barre. I've been using it since the beginning of time because a lot of times in New York, it takes about an hour to commute to ballet class. So you know, you go an hour commute and then you have ballet for an hour and a half and then you have an hour to commute back and that's your entire day.
Harmony: Yeah, it's crazy.
Julie: Yeah, you can't quite make it just always dancing at home. Something like that. I wish I had all these classes to take at home all that time ago.
Harmony: Yeah, it's a new world. Definitely. But yeah, I love your barre. And I'm so impressed by the barres that people are using. I mean, basically any counter any windows, still any balcony railing. Some people's laundry drying rack. That's the one that impresses me the most. Hats off to the people we know who use there's a drying rack.
Julie: I saw a doorknob once.
Harmony: I love it. But it works. You know as long as it's stable enough it works. So I love seeing how creative everybody has been. I'm lucky I have a spare room and not everybody does. And, my goodness, they're doing it anyway. They're figuring it out, man. I love it.
Julie: Totally, a lot of people in their kids’ room because the kids have the small beds.
Harmony: It's great to see.
Harmony: I want to ask you one last question, which I always ask everyone at the end if you have any words of advice for people in your boat, let's say either thinking back to like harmony and her husband of the past going that first class, or people kind of looking ahead to their ballet goals. What last words would you want to give out to your fellow dancers?
Harmony: Okay, I like i said if you're out there thinking of joining adult ballet classes somewhere, an online studio, an in person studio, just do it! Yes. It is going to be awkward at first.
For me, I mean, I had so many mortifying moments in the first few classes and then truly once I took a class that was like a level up and I wasn't ready, and I cried in the car actually after that, but it doesn't matter, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other and it's so much fun.
There's no reason that this wonderful feeling of being beautiful and at one with the music… it's not just reserved for professionals who have perfect turnout and awesome flexibility. Because that's not me! But I still love it. And it's, it's such a wonderful feeling. So, come on over and join us. We will be super nice to you and and we will celebrate everything you do.
“This wonderful feeling of being beautiful and at one with the music is not just reserved for professionals who have perfect turnout and awesome flexibility. Because that’s not me! But I still love it. It’s such a wonderful feeling. So, come on over and join us. We will be super nice to you and we will celebrate everything you do.”
Harmony: And I wanted to tell you, I don't know if you know, when I went to the my local dance store for my pointe shoes. That people that made me feel like, this was the biggest accomplishment anybody had ever, you know, accomplished. It was so it was so nice to see. Because, you know, most of you watching know that most people who go on point are like 12 or 13. Right, Julie, like how old are people when they go on point.
Julie: Yeah, 12 1314.
Harmony: And here, I was trying to do it by my 50th birthday. And they just made me feel like it was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened. And it was awesome. So you can have those magical moments too. We didn't really miss the boat. And there's there's a big benefit of being an adult learner in ballet. We don't have the pressure that professional ballet dancers have and my heart goes out to them, that's not always the easiest life that's all a lot of you know, not damaged your body, but they're really hard on their bodies. And they have a lot of pressure to find the right job and we don't have that like, this is fun. This is this can be what you want it to be you know whether it's joining an online studio and in person studio or just following YouTube videos by yourself. This can be whatever we want to make it and it's not dictated by anybody else. So definitely come on over we we would love to have you in our community.
Julie: Oh my gosh, that was amazing. I think you're I think you're so right on all of it. It's super special as an adult. I don't think we missed any boat. I think we got on the boat at the exact right time in our life when we were ready for it, when we have the time for it, when we have the space for it, when we had the mindset for it. I think we all got on the boat the exact right time in our life. It's not, it's never too late to do anything that you had in mind. I mean, adult life is very long. So get just get on the boat whenever and then there's still the rest of the journey in front of you to go.
Harmony: Yep, lots to look forward to.
Julie: Well, thank you so much harmony for being on the show today. What fun to chat with you about how much fun you have dancing. It's so much fun to be a part of your journey and to be able to share this podcast episode with you.
Harmony: Thank you, Julie. It was it was super fun being here with you. I've seen you online forever. So every chance I have to talk to you. It's just like talking to an old friend. So it was really fun.
