Sunday, June 04, 2006



Back in the late 70s Rosemary and I alternated driving our daughters Ale and Hilary to the Vancouver School of Music for ballet lessons. We did this from Brentwood in Burnaby. We would pick them up at their French schools in Coquitlam and then we would drive the stretch. During that time I took Ale and Hilary to every performance of every international ballet company that came to town. The only one I remember was the Alvin Ailey performance of Revelations where the dancers wore long white dresses, white parasols and the men white suits. Everything else is a blur. And I know why. Our daughters took ballet because that was the "correct" thing. I took them to the dance performances because I felt the obligation.

All this has changed with my granddaughter Rebecca and, I hope, with her sister Lauren. I take Rebecca to dance performances because I enjoy dance and I want to see it in the company of someone who also emjoys it. It hasn't been all easy as taking Rebecca to EDAM to watch contact improv dance can be difficult to stomach. But she has managed. Tonight we all go to watch Rebecca dance in the end of term program of the Arts Umbrella. I am looking forward to it and I am not going with the expectations that Rebecca might someday become a ballerina. That is not important. I find that ballet gives an individual grace. A prime example is Bif Naked. In one of the poses in my studio I asked her to place her hand on her head. I commented, "You're tough but you must have taken ballet some time." Her answer was, "Six months, does it show?"