My passion for ballet

Marblehead School of Ballet marks 50 years of pliés and pirouettes!

Fall 2022

My passion for ballet began in the mid-1960s, after seeing a ballerina on television, probably the Ed Sullivan Show. The spark was lit, so it was time to announce that I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, a ballerina of course! While being in the backyard, at about age 5 or 6, with my mom hanging clothes to dry, I made the announcement; that I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up! I knew with all my being! However, my mom had other ideas, citing that she didn’t think I had the right kind of feet and that she didn’t want me dancing on my toes. Of course, I needed to prove that I could, so I began to walk around on the tops of my little sneakers, announcing, “See, I can do it! “. She was not convinced, and the sinking feeling overcame me that if I couldn’t be a ballerina, I couldn’t be anything. The memory was indelible. But my Great Aunt Hope had visions of me being a nurse, so I gratefully followed through with that.

Later in life, when I was in my early 20s, my younger cousin, Jessica, came from Texas to live with us. Not long after arrival, she announced that she was invited to the Marblehead Ballet School to study, as her teacher in Texas, had been trained at MSB. That’s the moment I knew, that someday, I would study at the MSB! Eventually, I moved to Marblehead, one step closer to my ballet dream.

I do recall my first-day setting foot at the school on Pleasant Street, reverently awestruck while climbing the long flight of carpeted stairs. There I met Miss Shiff for the first time. I was tongue-tied to explain my need to be there. It seems a wonderful providence to me that I did NOT get ballet lessons as a young girl. Knowing myself, I think the chances were high that I would have dropped out. But because I had developed such a hunger for ballet over time, and a drive to study at this particular school, as an adult I am not as easily derailed. I have had lots of starts and stops, but the passion is lifelong. MSB is the place where my dreams are continually coming to life.

I love to dance, and I wanted to learn how. It was very difficult for me, especially at first. I have some natural rhythm, strength, and musicality, but that wasn’t enough. I simply have a terrible time learning the patterns. I’ve had times of frustration and feeling stifled without the ability to express myself fully to music. With the help of Paula Shiff, over the years, I’ve turned to MSB as the only place to feed this hunger and teach me the skills needed for the depth of expression I crave.

I began on Wednesday evenings with the Adult Ballet 1 class, which is a great foundation. I really love the lower-level classes because they allow the space to feel every movement, keeping it slow enough to focus on the primary building blocks of form and art. This is Paula Shiff’s gift to the world. She is a master at guiding the learner along the path to being fully encompassed in music, form, kinesthetic awareness, self-control, and self-direction. Her depth of knowledge is vast, and her principles are clear. I’ve learned to love the process of learning as much as dancing itself. I cherish each building block, knowing that each step and each class is part of my love for life itself.

Along the journey, while in my 40’s I overindulged in fitness and dance without knowledge of the self-care needed. Often I would take spinning classes, yoga, ballet, and Dancenergy, 2 or 3 classes a day, while also working as a nurse. This resulted, at least in part, to physical illness and the loss of being able to continue with my classes. It took a year or so for that to resolve. And so, I learned something about balance, yielding to the confines and consequences of life.

Ballet is like that, it offers everything that is needed about the ordering process; what is important, and the need to work well, within the music and within the time period of the class, devoting full energy to all it’s parts. Paula Shiff at MSB has the ability to teach the very crucial layering process of classical ballet, offering the safest and most effective way to develop a deep understanding of alignment, execution resulting in success.

This time around I’ve been in the adult Ballet One class for about a year, after having been sidelined for some years due to injuries from a car accident. I have nothing but gratitude for the ability to be back in class again at MSB. There, I’ve found a beautiful approach to life, learning, and becoming all that one can be, in gracious humility. Trusting the process brings physical freedom, mental energy, and increased attention span. It provides a platform for honoring one’s own limits and those of others, of working within the music which is the guide and structure of the patterns. To me, this living art, this discipline, bringing ballet front and center at MSB is the next thing to Heaven on earth.

With Love,

Hope