This is the first post in a series about how Principia College dance alum, Emily Maixner (C'08), conquered her fears and got back into dancing.
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I couldn’t believe how long it had been since I’d gone to a
dance class. My friend had been
encouraging me to go with her for months.
My body had been practically begging for movement, being forced to sit at a
desk all day long.
And yet, I'd had a million reasons NOT to go:
“We just don’t have the budget!”
“I want to lose weight first.”
“I was never that good anyway.”
Then a friend, who’d known my performance past and
aspirations, came into town for a weekend.
She had gently, lovingly, but firmly
said, “Emily, if you don’t get back into performing soon, you’ll never do
it. And you MUST do something creative
for yourself every week.”
I foolishly admitted to her that I’d been toying with the idea of
dancing again. She jumped on it. “That is fantastic. You MUST go!
It will feed your soul.”
“But,” I protested, throwing my reasons for not dancing back
at her.
But saying them out loud made me stop short. I suddenly realized that they were pathetic
reasons.
I certainly could find the budget to dance once a week.
My weight was absolutely no different from a few years ago,
and – duh! – dancing could only help me become more fit.
And it really didn’t matter if I’d been brilliant or
terrible, since this wasn’t about being the best.
I realized, in that moment, that for me, dancing was only
about expressing myself – in joy. And that I needed that in my life. That despite having a steady and satisfying
job, a loving husband, and a wonderful home life, there was a hole in my heart,
a gaping void that made me curl up once or twice a week, staring out my bedroom
window at the New York City skyline for literal hours at a time in a listless
depression and occasionally dissolving into tears.
In fact, I’d been spending months trying to figure out what the
problem was with my husband and family members.
“You know what it is, Emily? You need a hobby! Find
people who like to do what you do, and take classes! How about a book club? Or bridge?”
“Emily, you should try working out more – clearly you’re just not active
enough.” “I know, Emily - try taking an hour to
just be quiet when you get home, so that the noise of the commute and the
stress of the day can wear off before you jump into other activities.” Eventually, I’d given up trying to figure out
what caused those sudden attacks of melancholy and despair.
And here the answer was, staring me in the face as it danced
a jig.
“You’re right,” I said quietly. Then, looking up at my friend with a small smile, I committed myself. “I’ll go to
dance.”
Check back soon for Part 2: "How I Survived the First Class"!
Sports? Oh, yes! Football. Baseball. Golf. Waterskiing.
and showed her the essentials – and from there, she was off and running. West Coast Swing, a slotted dance derived from Lindy Hop and danced to modern music, wasn’t Molly’s first time dancing – she performed on the Principia Upper School Poms squad in high school, and on the Principia College Dance Team during her freshman and sophomore years of college – but as she says, it’s “where I found my heart.”
It certainly pays to get your foot in the door early in the world of dance. That's what I'm learning from Emily Wakeling, who, like many of her dance contemporaries at Prin, began practicing 
Like other Principian dancers who have been profiled in this newsletter, she went through a period of intense classical training before she attended the college. Nicole says her love of dance began when she was about three years old. According to her mother, she was watching "Swan Lake" on TV when she pointed to the screen and said, "Mom, I want to do that." Her mom enrolled Nicole in dance classes in a small studio near the family's home in Bellevue, Washington.
focus. She began taking ballet classes when she was just six years old. Her parents also signed her up for ice skating, music classes, and gymnastics, but, she says, "ballet was the thing" for her. She was so taken with it, in fact, that after spending several years taking classes in Oklahoma, where her family lived, she made the decision to move to California so she could continue her training under specialized instruction. She was in eighth grade at the time.
Mr. Parker taught French, Literature, Aesthetics, Music, Art and Drama in addition to Dance. After Frank’s retirement in 1966, Principia College was not yet ready for a Full-time Dance Faculty position to be filled. The 1970 Principia Sheaf reports “students with previous ballet experience instructed their own course in classical ballet, modern jazz and interpretive dance“ under the watchful eye of Judith Miller, P.E. Instructor. (See photo to the left.)