Dancing Through It: My Journey in the Ballet by Ringer Jenifer

Author:Ringer, Jenifer [Ringer, Jenifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Dancing Through

James and I continued dating throughout January and February. My life was settling into something of a routine; I took ballet class with Nancy Bielski in the mornings and worked at All Angels’ in the afternoons. I taught regular New York City Ballet Workout classes at various New York Sports Club locations. I was no longer in therapy and had finished all of my course requirements at Fordham; I would be graduating in May. James popped up in every area of my life—he visited House Church, picked me up after work, took my Workout classes, and came to All Angels’ with me on the alternating Sundays when we were not visiting his Catholic church. Since he was making such an effort to come to me on my turf, I also wanted to make an effort to share in his traditions.

I was also working as a dancer again. James had asked me to be the Juliet to his Romeo in Francis Patrelle’s production of Romeo and Juliet at the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse. I was thrilled to be asked, since I had always dreamed of doing a full-length Romeo and Juliet. Francis had founded his own company, Dances Patrelle, in 1988 on the East Side of Manhattan and specialized in dramatic dance. He wanted to see me before agreeing to cast me, since we had never met, and after I’d taken a class with him, he told me that he would like for me to be his Juliet. He said that he would love it if I lost some weight, but even if I remained at the weight I was, he would enjoy working with me. Francis was extremely kind to let me be in his production after my history, and was the first person from the New York professional dance world to take a chance on me after my “disappearance,” for which I’ll always be grateful.

Indeed, I was still overweight for a dancer, but I’d made so much progress with my weight loss and, more important, my general relationship with food. Somehow, through all the many different areas of my life in which I was changing and growing, God was slowly healing me of my eating disorders. My compulsive episodes were dwindling, and I was beginning to feel that I could handle whatever life threw at me with God’s help, not with food’s help. I knew where my identity and true worth lay, with Christ, and I had a rich life with good work to do and good friends to laugh with. Plus, for the first time in my life, I had a boyfriend.

James was fun and smart and gentlemanly, full of integrity and honor. We spent time together both as two normal people in love and as dancers working on the various gigs James found for us. Though he was Catholic and I was Protestant, we went to church together, and many of our discussions revolved around God and our faiths.

One of our favorite places to spend time together was Riverside Park.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.