Blaise Ferrer (8:44)

That was Katie Rivard. Katie's a product designer and a soccer enthusiast who enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, dancing, and being outside. She currently lives in New York with her husband. We were curious if Katie continued to dance and if the lessons she learned stuck with her. Here's what she had to say.

Katie Rivard (9:01)

I continued taking dance classes for a while and dabbled with a lot of different styles. But I recently moved and there aren't a ton of dance classes available for adults where I am right now. But I do really hope to find a studio in the future. It was just such a fun community to be a part of. That said, I still frequently dance in my living room and I keep working on my turns. Someday I will land a clean triple someday. Taking up dance classes as an adult really taught me a lot, primarily how to be at home in my body, which has helped me just overall to feel more at home with myself. When I first started taking the dance classes, I was worried that my lack of skill or the fact that I had 10 plus years on the people I was dancing with could lead to humiliation, but it was actually quite freeing. It gave me the confidence to try new things. The despite my fears, which actually led to me putting my name in the hat at the moth Story slam.

Blaise Ferrer (9:58)

After the break, we'll have a story that's on point. Or rather on point more soon.

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Blaise Ferrer (12:34)

Dancer, certain things can lead you to recall an old phrase or movement. The texture of a sweatpant, a song on a playlist, the smell of a wooden floor. Gestures locked inside our muscles and nervous system can awaken with just a breath of familiarity. Our next storyteller is very familiar with those memories. Jessica Ribera told this at a Seattle story slam, where the theme of the night was wonders. Here's Jessica live at the Moth.

Jessica Ribera (13:06)

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up. And I think a lot of kids want to do that. But I was, like, really serious about it. And luckily for me, even though I'm from a kind of small town in Texas, there was a good set of teachers there who had sent three daughters, these like, legendary daughters, off to the New York City Ballet. And so I stayed really serious about it. And as time went on, it mostly became that I just wanted to get out of my small town in Texas and wind up in a city, and preferably New York City, because I had become obsessed with the New York City Ballet because of these daughters. And their portraits were on the studio wall. And my teacher would tell us these, like, they were almost like, you weren't really sure if they were true stories or if he was just trying to, like, Aesop's Fable us somehow, you know, like these. And that's why you should never be late for a rehearsal or, you know. But one of them that he told was about Alexia, who you could tell, like, they were the most proud of. And I don't think you're supposed to do that, but that's what they did. And he said, you know, Alexia, she wanted to learn so much. She would stay in the back of the rehearsal and she would learn all the parts in the ballet, not just the one that was hers. And she would practice. And one day the ballerina was injured and the rehearsal director said, does anyone know this part? And Alexia was like, I do. And then it became her part. And then she was like this big moment of jump up in her career. So I always tucked that in my mind as, like, that's like the dream, right? That's like, I want that to happen to me. As I was obsessing about New York City and getting out of town, I read every book I could get from, like, the Tri State library system about New York City Ballet and George Balanchine started New York City Ballet. He's credited with, like, bringing ballet to the United States. And I was obsessed with him. I really loved reading about him, just artistically. And I found out, like, it seemed like maybe he was a little bit obsessed with, like, Western, like, Texas culture. He choreographed a few ballets that are set in these, like, Silver Saloony Town, like, Wild West. This man who grew up in Russia. And I thought that was so cool. I felt like it legitimized me that I was this girl from Texas. But if he liked it, then that was still okay and I could still be a dancer. He died the year I was born, but I went to his school, the School of American Ballet in New York City, and it was fantastic. And I learned about this ballet, learned more about it. Called Western City Symphony. It's the saloon ballet, fast forward. I came here to dance as a student of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and my first year in the program, I got cast to understudy in Western Symphony. And I was thrilled. I stood in the back of the studio doing my best to learn. And the policy at the time was that understudies had to come to the theater and check in backstage. And when the curtain went up and everyone was on stage, then you could go home. Well, I didn't go home because I was new to town, I didn't have a lot of friends, and I was obsessed. And so I would just get a ticket and go sit in the audience. And I was watching Western Symphony, and I saw a girl go down on stage. She was clearly badly hurt. Her partner, who was actually her real life boyfriend, too, picked her up and had to run her off the stage. And I was just like, oh, man, that sucks. And it wasn't my position. Like, I had learned a different spot in the ballet. And within, like, I swear it was like 30 seconds, I feel this tap on my shoulder, and they're like, come backstage. We need you right now. And I was like, oh, my gosh, it's happening. So I go running with him backstage stage, and they're like, we're, like, putting my hair up into a bun. And, you know, I like, no one ever would have thought that, like, a peon like me was actually going to go on. And so I didn't have you wear black pointe shoes for that ballet. I had to borrow someone else's pointe shoes, which, if you know anything about ballet, that's just, like, crazy. I had. I strap on these black pointe shoes with, like, black fishnets, this little, like, saloony looking outfit for this classical ballet and neoclassical, but still. So I'm standing in the wings and my friend's like scrawling lipstick on me, and the director of the ballet herself comes to me and she's like, jessica, do you feel like you can do this? And, you know, I was like, totally.

Katie Rivard (17:51)

I can totally do this.

Jessica Ribera (17:54)

And so I went on and you know, later on, three years later, I was badly injured in an accident on stage. And it was career ending and totally a sad end to the long story. But that moment, doing Western Symphony, doing these steps, it was like one of the most wonderful moments of my life. It was Balanchine, it was Texas, it was all my dreams coming true. Thank you.

Blaise Ferrer (18:28)

That was Jessica Ribera. Jessica is in Seattle, happily parenting four kids, writing novels and completing a master's in creative writing and the performing arts from University of California, Riverside. Her ballet memoir, the Almost Dancer, is available now. We asked Jessica if she ever got back into dancing. Here's what she had to I have danced in smaller companies since then, taught children, and been a rehearsal director. The physical injuries required several years of healing. The emotional wounds needed decades. I wrote therapeutically about the process of rediscovering myself as an artist and eventually organized it all into a book. Right now I'm the overjoyed choreographer for High School Musical, Junior at my kids high school, and a writer with many projects on my Google Drive. When I work with students, I tell them that their ambitions are precious and priceless, but today is what we're here for. My dancing life gave me grit and courage. Losing it gave me the opportunity to learn compassion, find new joys, and appreciate the gift of being present. That's it for this episode. From all of us here at the Moth, we hope the next week is filled with as much dancing as your heart can handle.

Blaise Ferrer (19:34)

Blaise Ferrer is an interdisciplinary choreographer and performer who is also the staff accountant at the Moth. Born and raised in downtown Manhattan, Blaise has performed and created work at Judson Memorial Church Pageant, the Collapsible Hole, and countless dance and DIY venues across the city. His work has been funded by Pioneers, Go East, Immediate Medium, Brooklyn Arts Council, nyfa, and the foundation for Contemporary Arts. This episode of the Moth podcast was produced by Sarah Austin, Janess, Sarah Jane Johnson, and me, Mark Salinger. The rest of the Moth leadership team includes Sarah Haberman, Christina Norman, Jennifer Hickson, Kate Tellers, Marina Clouche, Suzanne Rust, Leeann Gulley, and Patricia Urena. The Moth Podcast is presented by Odyssey. A special thanks to their executive producers, Jenna Weiss Berman and Leah Rees Dennis. All moth stories are true, as remembered by their storytellers. For more about our podcast, information on pitching your own story and everything else, go to our website themoth.org.