Me and some pals posing in the hallway outside of Ballet Arts located on the 6th floor on the 7th Avenue side of Carnegie Hall, sometime in the 80s.



That is Yolanda's foot in the air. Lily is the Chinese girl in front. Dorinda in the back was our class pianist. I am on the right in, what else, teal ballet clothes (dig those warm-up skins).

Down here the schools think canned music providing seasonal fare (Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer was one selection for the plies) has something to do with ballet. Definitely not inspiring. Class is hard enough without dull music and indifferent instructors.

So I give myself exercises and I listen to Chopin on my CD player.

That was then and this is now.

xx, Teal