I started singing in the children’s choir at church when I was nine years old, and I took my first dance class at 20. My senior year in college I played Graziella in, “West Side Story,” and from then on I was ruined for any career that didn’t include singing, dancing, or both.
Just before I turned forty, I was doing grand jetes, came down wrong, and broke my right foot in four places. I found out that I was pre-diabetic, and that decades of poor nutrition from yo-yo dieting had contributed to my foot fractures.
I spent the next five years looking for a way to eat and train that would make me agile and strong again. I cut sugar, began to lift weights, and learned interval bodyweight training.
The same health strategy that makes my body strong helps keep my voice young and flexible too. Even better, my desire to overeat and over consume was replaced by eagerness to stay creative.
I ask myself, “How can we all experience more happiness with less harm to our environment?” The arts and athletics offer opportunities for the fun and self expression that add joy to life. My goal is to encourage people to keep doing the things they enjoyed in school in order to stay young at heart and in mind and body.
When I don’t keep up with my music, dance, and fitness practice, overeating,spending, and scrolling begin to take up way too much room in my life.
Fortunately, the less junk I eat, buy, and watch, the less I want. I wish the same freedom for you.
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