Tammy

But Finis makes a living teaching adult beginners and teaching ballet teachers how to teach ballet, so why shouldn’t I share my carefully crafted combinations with teachers whose strong suit maybe isn’t ballet? He teaches dancers how to use connecting steps to dance beautifully, and his use of isometrics allows the muscles to work in a functional, elastic manner. His classes bring in Broadway stars and leading dancers from NYC Ballet, American Ballet Theater, the Joffrey Ballet, Eliot Feld Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, the Twyla Tharp Dance Company, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. https://finisjhung.com/shop/memoir/ Subscribe to his YouTube channel for videos with titles such as Ballet for Beginners, Teacher Talk, Turns, Jumps, Stretch (includes Self Massage with Finis Jhung, Age Defying Therapeutic Stretches for Older Adults, Meditative Stretching, and 10 Minute Stretch Break), Finis Jhung Ballet Technique Series (levels 1 through 5), Finis Jhung Classic Classes, and Behind the Scenes.

Fortunately at that time my weight was right where it was expected to be, and I didn’t have to think about it much. When I was a young dancer I had heard about people being anorexic or bulimic, and I was aware of the heightened sensitivity in the room whenever a teacher made mention of someone’s weight. At that time, I went to the campus health center for a sinus infection and was very abruptly introduced to fear, handed on a platter full of desserts and whole milk (just kidding) from the doctor who threatened to put me in the hospital because I was under weight. For dancers today, I would recommend making healthy decisions if you feel you have a weight problem.

I had the pleasure of receiving a pre-publication copy of Eva Maze’s memoir, With Ballet in My Soul: Adventures of a Globetrotting Impresario to review. Never having heard of her before, Eva Maze’s life story is one I read about in wonder. Eva didn’t get to pursue a career in ballet as she’d dreamed due to a childhood illness, but her love for ballet propelled her into an association with world-class artists as a booking agent. In this book I learned that she had danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and she, along with Anton Dolin and John Gilpin were the first dancers Eva Maze ever booked—in 1953 and in India, no less!