I’m an Iowa boy.  One of those thousands of Midwestern transplants who escaped to the balmier climes of Cal-ee-for-nigh-yay.  But, like most people who grew up in the Midwest, I carried the values instilled in me during the fertile years of my youth.  I came with corn tassels in my hair. 

Hard work is good for the soul.  If nothing else, being born and raised in the Midwest, you learned how to not only do hard work, but even enjoy it.  Take it on.  Help take down an immense barn and extract every last square nail in it for my Grandfather, without complaining, even though I was only nine years old.  Help dig field tile in that back-breaking Iowa clay soil in the sweltering summer heat with my 80-year old Grandfather.

Trust and be nice to people until they prove to you that they don’t deserve it.

Help thy neighbor.  Shovel the snow off your old neighbor’s sidewalks without having to be asked. 

Be grateful for everything you have, because your parents grew up with next to nothing during the Depression. 

Be modest.  Even (and especially) if you have money, you don’t act or treat people any differently than anyone else.  To flaunt your wealth is tantamount to a sin. 

I was born and raised in the heart of Hawkeye country – Iowa City, Iowa.  The University of Iowa.  Corn and hog country.  Soybeans and cattle.  I grew up like a typical Iowa boy – delivering newspapers, being a good student (National Honor Society!) and a dyed-in-the-wool jock.

Snapshot:  The frozen mornings running down College Street delivering the Des Moines Register, trying to keep warm.

I did every sport there was (except basketball – I was a small fry).  I didn’t find my sport until I joined the Iowa Soccer Club in college.

Finally a place where being quick and agile was enough to make you successful.  And, as I later learned, a good dancer.

Snapshot:  The summer neighborhood football games in our huge yard on Muscatine Ave.

I grew up going to my Grandfather’s farm in south central Iowa every other weekend for pretty much my entire childhood.  That is a part of my upbringing I will always cherish.  There is something about the time spent on a farm that is spiritually transforming.  I think back to those days of rich wonderment and communing with the Earth in a simple way.

Snapshot:  Lying in an upstairs bedroom, the sun streaming in, the curtains billowing in the breeze, the rustling of a sea of corn tassels. 

Just being around my Grandfather’s quiet wisdom was inspiring.   He showed me that a book education was not always necessary to negotiate this world.  I don’t know what Emil would have thought if I ever had to tell him I was a dancer.  Somehow, I think there would have been space in his heart and mind for it.

Life, if nothing else, is an adventure.  A journey.  A series of choices – doors, paths, forks in the road.  Some say we have a destiny to pursue.  Some believe that we create our own destiny.  I believe it’s a little of both.  I believe we are born with certain potentialities – talents, intelligence, skills, lessons learned from previous lives.  We can either ignore them and leave them lay fallow, untapped.  Or, we can recognize them, nurture them, pursue them, use them as springboards for attaining new skills, talents, abilities. 

Snapshot:  They day President Kennedy was shot and our teacher cried in front of class.   We didn’t understand what was happening.

Like many people born in the 50’s, our introduction to the world of turmoil and strife that were the 60’s began the Day Kennedy Was Shot.  Like everyone else, I was forever changed.

Opportunities are only beneficial if you take advantage of them.  The lucky ones are provided the resources to be able to do that.  I was fortunate enough to have both.  I was born with many desirable abilities – I was a good athlete, I was intelligent, I was a hard worker, I was sensitive and empathetic, I was positive and fun to be around.  I was a clown, a jester.  That is one of the reasons I eventually was drawn to Dance and my ultimate career path. 

And perhaps my most important propensity – I was always willing to try something new.  I was not afraid of the unknown.

Snapshot:  My first LSD trip with Mark Roberge at the helm.  What a ride!!

I’ve been lucky, yes.  But I’ve also taken advantage of the opportunities that were presented to me.  I just kept saying “Yes” and things kept happening.  What a great way to live.

Snapshot:  Miraculously meeting my Swedish friends walking down a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco late at night when I was completely desperate and frightened.

I made a seemingly random series of choices in my early 20’s.  Quitting college because I felt lost – no direction – no idea what I was doing or why.  Taking an Outward Bound Winter Mountaineering Course in Colorado.

Snapshot:  Surviving a blizzard at 12,000 feet in the Colorado Mountains with my Outward Bound comrades.

Returning to school.  Beginning my study of Mime and joining an Iowa City troupe.  Taking my first dance class because one of my fellow mimes said to me, “You should take a dance class.  It helps your coordination.”  The rest, as they say, is history.

I’d have to say I’ve had an inspired life.  I believe that becoming a dancer transformed me – connected me to a higher power – a higher purpose.  It always spurred me on – motivated me, inspired me, excited me, opened doors for me.  I have truly had a blessed life to be able to pursue something that I love to do and that brings me so much gratification.  After working on an assembly line in a factory, I know that it is not that way for everybody.  I am trying to give back some of this bounty to the world.  I guess, in some way, I feel like I have some things to leave behind that might benefit others.  At least, I hope so.

I didn’t stop dancing until I retired from teaching at the ripe old age of 63.  For 42 years I performed, choreographed and taught dance in Seattle, Scotland, Japan, China, Montana, Alaska and finally, California.  It was my religion.  It shaped who I am.  It was my raison d’etre. 

Snapshot:  Standing onstage at the Bumbershoot Arts Festival in Seattle with JoAnna Shaw receiving a standing ovation.

I was mostly a modern dancer, although I studied ballet my entire career.  I also danced Jazz and musical theater with a little tap sprinkled in.

At the end of my teaching career, I taught dance at Atascadero High School in California.  I had to develop a class in which I taught ballroom and social dances.  For the first time in my career, I had to learn how to do traditional partnering and folk dances from around the world.  It opened up a whole new world of dance for me and the students loved it.  It was one of the highlights of my career that after so many years dancing, I had to teach myself completely new ways of dancing and how to teach them to others.

I now live on the Central California coast – Arroyo Grande to be specific (Big Ditch) – Hearst Castle, Big Sur, the Madonna Inn.  Exactly halfway between LA and San Francisco.  A safe distance from those teaming centers of urban energy and concentration of humanity.  I don’t have to scrape my windshield at six o’clock in the morning anymore.  For that, I’m grateful.

 I met my lovely wife, Shelagh Garren, while performing musicals at the 5^th Avenue Theater in Seattle.  We had a long, meandering journey coming together.  It took many years, some patience and some forgiveness, but it finally happened.  I think in a way, it made it that much richer.  We are soul mates.  I am so lucky to have her in my life.

Snapshot:  Wedding in The Grotto in Bellevue.  The candles melting.  Irish dancing.  Wedding night dinner:  veggie burger, fries, champagne.

When I look back on my life, I can truly say that I have no regrets – and many cherished memories.  Not only did I have a very successful professional dance career, but I also designed a set of dance education posters that I sold worldwide for many years.  I was  fortunate to move to California when the small town of Atascadero was starting an arts school in their public school system.  Along with an amazing team of six educators, we put this unique program together from scratch and developed it into a highly successful Art magnet school that not only had a comprehensive arts program, but some of the highest academic test scores in the county for years.  By far, this is my proudest accomplishment, transforming the lives of hundreds of students.  In order to preserve the story and legacy of this school, I created a documentary:  The Atascadero Fine Arts Academy – A Jewel of a School in 2018.  You can view it on my website or on YouTube.

And now, in the Autumn of my life, I write.  First a young adult fantasy inspired by a former student, Ophelia’s Uncommonly Odd Odyssey, then a TV screenplay, Road Sage, and a memoir of a remarkable experience I had behind the Iron Curtain in Poland in 1980, where I witnessed a turning point in 20^th Century European history.  A mixed bag to be sure. 

One last snapshot: Playing catch with my Dad on Christmas Day.  I had given him a baseball mitt for Christmas and we went into the back yard and played catch.  It was a spiritual communion.  There were few words.  Just the sound of the ball hitting the glove, and us smiling like little kids.