As a child, she remembers going to a ballet class dressed in red tights. The class was sort of like charm school and taught manners instead of movement. She was mortified to be in the class, wearing red tights that had been unwittingly purchased by her mother who did not know pink ballet tights were de rigeur. She wanted to dance, but was told she would be too tall. Her parents didn’t see any value in ballet and guided her to learn how to play the piano, viola and violin. Despite the early kibosh on her desire to learn ballet, Marywilde shares idyllic memories of her childhood as if they were as fluid and as lilting as a classical waltz. Recalling her many Sunday afternoons spent at Volunteer Park in Walla Walla, Washington, she fed multitudes of ducks loads of Wonder Bread. Her summers on the Oregon coast hinted of the magic of the seals who swarmed in a public tank and waited for people to feed them bags of little fish. The seals would jump in the air and clap, the same way an audience clamors for more from its performers. She adored the Oregon coast, especially the sight and sounds of waves crashing on the beach and the fresh burst of wind and salty ocean air. Movement in nature, especially water and the majesty of mountains, has always captivated her, the same way ballet has beckoned her to reach for something higher in herself.
She moved to Bellingham and graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in education. Later she obtained a Master’s degree in Library Science at the University of Washington. Her career has been an eclectic blend of teaching in school and working for attorneys and bankers. She worked for the President of a Bank and also the Head of the Trust department in Banking. At one point, she worked as the Director for the School at Calvary Temple in Seattle. Marywilde said she hopped around in work until she got into ballet. “All I ever wanted to do was dance,” she said.
The opportunity to dance did not come until later, when she was in her forties. She happened to be at a women’s prayer meeting and was asked what she had wanted to be when she was growing up. All she ever wanted to be was a ballet dancer, she told the group. Coincidentally, within a week she spotted a woman who was dressed in ballet garb who told her she had just come from ballet class. Until then Marywilde had no idea that there were ballet classes for adults. She immediately found the class and enrolled. It was so hard that she could hardly do anything. She had no athletic background or natural coordination. Week after week, she forced herself to go back and train. Even though she was in a beginning class, she felt herself unable to do even the simplest pas de bourree.
Her love for movement was so profound that despite the difficulty she initially encountered, she was not discouraged and did not stop training. Soon she found out Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) had an open program. Her first teachers, Terry Sparks and Vivian Little, were her instructors. Marywilde mentions Vivian Little’s extraordinary eye for placement and how she gave every student generous attention and thoughtful corrections.
Through the years, Marywilde stuck with ballet and began to thrive. She fell in love with the challenge and continual quest of striving to perfect technique. The process of ballet dancing completely meshes with who she is as a person, self-described as persevering, principled and utterly faithful. She loves the look and feel of ballet, the way the technique shapes the body. She also loves moving to classical music and sees how her early training in music enriches the way she has been able to dance. “Ballet inspires me to listen deeply to music, connect with it and to move to the music to the best of my ability,” she said.
Ballet took her to a higher place in herself and to a world where she was creating beauty. Eventually, the ballet training led to another career as a Pilates instructor. Marywilde trained in Pilates with the highly regarded Romana Kryzanowska, who had been a Balanchine dancer, and later became a muse to Joseph Pilates, the original creator of this method. Romana Kryzanowska was chosen to by Joseph Pilates to carry on his work. Soon Marywilde had a full-time career teaching Pilates at the Washington Athletic Club (WAC). Her career in Pilates, combined with so many years of being a familiar face in the closely knit dance community, has led to many friendships. “This is my tribe,” she said.
Marywilde dances because she literally has to dance. “Even as a recreational dancer this is who I am. I cannot imagine my life without ballet classes and I don’t think I could live unless I had ballet classes as dramatic as that sounds.”
It’s not too dramatic for her to proclaim her deep, abiding love for ballet as a way to inspire her to thrive and to live. She is now facing one of the greatest challenges of her life. She is living with Stage IV metastatic mucousal melanoma. Despite the demands of the medical treatment, she has been instructed to exercise and because of all of her years of extensive training, ballet is the one thing she can do. When her strength wanes, she can sit down or leave the class to take a break. What keeps her going? In ballet class, she is surrounded with beautiful music, and the stimulation of artistic combinations given by positive and skilled teachers who encourage her to keep moving. “If I get to the point where cannot dance, I will still come to class and sit and observe.” The art lifts her up and transports her to a higher, more peaceful place, where there is everlasting beauty, infinite tenderness and a sense of wonder. “This is my place to be,” she said softly, “and I will always cherish it.”