INSERT – Another Time for Change - 1980
Richard Thomas, Sr.
The Uptown #1 train pulled into the 79th and Broadway station. I sprinted out of the car; shoved a few people out of my way; and flew up the steps.
Ran from the west side of Broadway to the east.
And rolled the right ankle.
An old basketball injury. Hit the ground in pain. Stood. And hobbled to the Terpsichore Ballet Studio at 82nd and Broadway.
The first day in NYC as a professional dancer, and already injured.
Unlike the teenage iteration of myself, I refused to quit.
****
Opened the door to 2189 Broadway.
“Up a steep and very narrow stairway . . . “
Yep. Just like the number from A Chorus Line.
Signed up for the 10:30am Intermediate Ballet class. The taciturn ballerina wannabe who took my $2.50 (Yow!) and directed Yours truly to a set of stairs leading down into the studio.
Yes, down.
Walked into an enormous dance space. The barre ringed a space larger than any studio or stage of previous experience. At least 35 dancers stood, sat, stretched, talked, stared, and compulsively taped ballet slippers and injured body parts.
More the latter than the former.
“Second position!”
A voice in the upper register wrapped in southern hospitality filled the cavernous studio.
The ballet master limped down the steps.
Chatter ceased.
Dancers lying or seated snapped to the barre.
The pianist stopped working on her crossword puzzle and played the first combination, the plie. I followed the young woman in front of me.
The ballet master, a gray-haired and bearded man of 60, still lean and fit, arrived on the floor. He surveyed the studio and hobbled over to me.
He shook my hand.
“What’s your name, son?”
“George”
“Where y’all from?”
“Philadelphia.”
“Just follow along. You’ll be fine.”
“Thank you. Nice to meet you?”
“Richard Thomas.”
He hobbled away before I could naively ask if he was any relation to the actor who played John Boy on the TV series of the 70s, The Waltons.
Yes, the father of Richard Thomas, Jr. was my New York City ballet teacher.
So glad the ankle didn’t prevent an auspicious start to a new life in Gotham.
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