Picture a tiny three-year-old girl, strawberry blonde curls and giant blue anime eyes, spinning in circles to make the skirt on her dress go “flat out”. I don’t know if this is a memory I have, or a memory I’ve been told about, but it’s my earliest dance moment.
Between the ages of three and fifteen, I trained and dreamed and breathed ballet. I idolized Gelsey Kirkland. I dreamed of becoming a principal dancer at NYCB. I performed regularly with my studio’s dance troupe; I danced en pointe; I performed at such prestigious venues as the old folks’ home, the state fair, and high school gymnasiums.
At 15, however, my family circumstances changed and I wasn’t able to continue training. It broke my heart. I behaved a little like an obsessive stalker after that – loving ballet from afar, trying to engage with it through photography, movies, books, my imagination, but I was terrified and crushed – my dream had dissolved.
As an adult, my fear was so deep that I “lost” my first pair of pointe shoes, and all memorabilia. I bought tights and shoes and a leotard, but kept them in a drawer, never going to any of the local classes that I obsessively searched for. I pursued other challenges, trying to find the thing that would bring me joy, and nothing stuck.
In 2018, I found Broche Ballet, and all that changed. I dropped every other extracurricular sport or activity and fell head over heels in love with ballet again.
I’ve been training regularly since 2018, first with Broche, then as the studio changed ownership to Blissfully Yours Ballet. I remembered my classical training. I recovered the height of my demi-point. I got pointe shoes. I started performing. I started choreographing. I stopped chasing the ballet dreams of my childhood, and began building the ballet reality of my adult life.
I am Rachel. I am a dancer. I am a choreographer. And this website is all about my work. Welcome.