I started my ballet training in a small local studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina run by a tireless soul who worked long hours and made little to no money. That soul was Paul Wallace and without people like him there would be no Baryshnikov’s or Kirkland’s or dancers in the corps de ballet at American Ballet Theatre. And, again, like many ballet dancers, before finishing high school I was leaving home and moving to New York City to train at The School of American Ballet. My professional career began a couple of years later. When I was eighteen I was offered the role of Tadzio in San Francisco Opera’s production of Death in Venice. Subsequently, I joined ATER Balleto, in Reggio Emila, Italy, and in 1980 was offered a job at American Ballet Theatre by Mikhail Baryshnikov, the company’s new director. After six years in the corps de ballet at ABT I left to dance more important roles with Ballet du Nord in France. Once those satisfactions were behind me, I returned to New York to dance with Feld Ballet then worked at a succession of dance jobs in New York, Boston, and abroad. At age thirty-four, after sixteen years as a professional I retired as a dancer. Since 2004 I have been a regular contributor to Ballet Review, a quarterly dance publication in New York. I currently live in Miami where I make my living as a massage therapist.
