Our Stories
JoAnn's Story
So, the name of this story is like dancing through my life. And the most vivid memory I have from elementary school in Springfield, Mass was in fourth grade, my teacher let us bring in our favorite records. And at the end of the day, I don't remember if it was Thursday or Friday, every week, he let us dance in the classroom. So, I mean, I was a good student. Everything was fine, you know, academically, but that's not what I remember.
You know? So, also, I danced in my living room at home with my mother and my sister in the nineteen fifties watching American bandstand. So, I have dance in my background. However, somehow, by the time I got to college, I forgot about all of that. And I, you know, I was required to take two semesters of phys ed, at UMass in 1966 when I was a freshman.
And so, I you can see I wasn't very athletic. In the meantime, I was assigned to a room with three people, which was meant for two people in dorm in in in Tower Number 2, which was in Southwest. And it was pretty wild. You know, I didn't get enough sleep, and it was pretty nerve wracking, really. So, I got mononucleosis in my second semester of freshman year.
And I don't know if you know what it is. It was known as the kissing disease then, but it's a virus that passes through saliva or something or rather a lot of kids got it. So, I had to go home, recover with my parents, and then I went back to school. But before I went, my doctor told me that if I didn't start to exercise, there was a danger that I would never be strong again because it's, when you have mono, you're very tired. So, he suggested I take more phys ed.
So next fall or, you know, when it was time to register for the fall, I wanted to take a phys ed class. So, I found out that there was only one section that still had space for me, and that was modern dance. And I honestly didn't know what modern dance was. I'm sorry to say. I wasn't exposed to it.
So, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. And I walked into the class in September of sixty-seven, and, you know, the first few classes were okay. A teacher from New York City, Marilyn Patton, had come to UMass. And, so I had her as my teacher, and what she did one day is she had us go through the movements that we could imagine from the time we were in the womb and then very slowly being born and learning how to crawl, learning how to sit up, learning how to eventually walk. And we spent maybe forty-five minutes going through this, what's called developmental movement, ex experience.
And when I stood up, I felt more alive than I could ever remember feeling before. It was a real change of consciousness. So, from that moment on, I started dancing. But I always took dance classes in the evening during my twenties. And then when I was about 32, I discovered an organization called Dance New England.
And what it was a confederation of dances all over New England. So, I started going to them, and I became one of the organizers of the Hartford dance, which was called Dance Hartford. And I became very close to the people who I danced with and worked with. So, it's become a huge part of my life where most of my friends over the years have come through the dance community, and that's still true. And, you know, I wish you all happy dancing.
I fully recommend it, too, to connect with people, stay healthy and fit, and be happy.