smileywoman's Bio

My name is Maria, but on DDN I'm known as smiley or smileywoman.



Dance because you LOVE it
don’t let the lack of support deter you.





My mottos:
Age is JUST a number…So DANCE!



Passion to dance, regardless of age.



You can find me at:

"Embrace Your Child" www.embraceyourchild.com (remember the 'www' or it won't load)

My smileywoman personae can be found at:
smileywoman.com

Twitter
twitter.com . . .

A little about me
I am a web designer, re-creator of wedding hats, veils and accessories, and an administrative services manager for a number of clients. I also love photography, architecture and I enjoy writing. So much more...a ballet dancer, mother, wife, grandmother, abuse survivor, and former model.

I also want to be a motivational speaker someday, so I can help inspire and empower women. I have a strong desire to help my fellow females at this point in my life.

I'm also writing a couple of books (hope to get them published someday).

I ADORE music as much as dance (they both make my soul sing). I particularly LOVE BackStreet Boys! YES! I said BackStreet Boys!!!!

Yeah, dancing is something I do. I do it in my sleep, while standing in line at the grocery store. I don’t listen to classical music to relax...because I find myself trying to choreograph to it!

At 49, I don’t get to dance as much as I like to do. I’m lucky if I dance 2-3 times a week (instead of the 3-5 times I used to dance). It’s harder to recover from injury, and life’s obligations take priority.

The way dancing makes me feel is a combination of spiritual, emotional, and physical. There's an AMAZING interview a friend of mine did on Tami Stronach. Tami was best known as the English child actress who played the Empress in movie entitled, "The Never Ending Story." Tami is now a professional dancer, choreographer (who also has her own small dance company). A quote of her's describes EXACTLY how I feel about dancing:
"I think that the reason I'm attracted to dance - and art - is because it's the place where the emotional life is more important than the practical life on some level. It's a sacred space where your inner world is valued and I think most of my work - and most of the reason I'm a dancer - is I want to be in environments and make environments that give people permission to express that part of themselves. In various ways, all my work ties to the fact that forces in society conspire to shut people down and take away their ability to feel. Then as life becomes harder and harder, it becomes scarier to feel because feelings are big and hard. I think emotions are like your ballet muscles. They're like your plies or tendus, if you don't practice them, you become less good at it and less good at engaging with other people. It's not something you learn and not something that in society, we spend a lot of time thinking about. I feel like that piece is a story version of what I'm describing. It's sort of saying that there's a lot of fear in allowing your emotional world to be really full and big. There's that constant fear that you'll lose your equilibrium and you won't be able to be in charge of yourself and function well."

Ultimately, I dance because it makes me incredibly happy on a deeply spiritual level. I experience a harmonious, peaceful contentment of mind and body. Moving to music is the best therapy that I could ever imagine to stave off depression or anxiety.

Pictures of Me 49 year old ballet dancer

Although I have a balance disorder, I re-started ballet about six years ago (after
a 20 year absence).



I feel blessed to have found DDN. It is a wonderful loving and supportive community where I have a lot of friends. I think I'm the oldest DDNer to be featured (dancing4joy is close to my age) in a Get the Pointe ballet interview. I think that is pretty cool!

I have many, many friends all over the world and I'm honored in particular to have Sara Michelle Murawski as a friend. Sara Michelle was born and raised in Tidewater, VA. She trained in VA Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Williamsburg. She was training at the Rock School in Philadelphia, and recently graduated from the Kirov Academy in Washington, DC. She just joined the Dresden Ballet in Germany.



Sara Michelle is an amazing young woman who I think will be a famous professional ballet dancer one day. She is now 5' 10" tall (quite tall for a dancer). Her favorite part of ballet dancing is pas de deux, but it is very difficult for her to find a male partner who is tall enough.

Friends of smileywoman

Legwarmer

etoile_et_lune

ChoCho

Luthien

hylndlas

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16 Nov 2009

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15 Nov 2009

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Comments about smileywoman

By ReddishRocks
On Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:42 PM

Thanks for the karma, and I'll be sure to pass it along to my husband.

By Smile_when_dncng
On Tue Sep 08, 2009 09:47 PM

Just stopping by to give you a great big {{{{HHHUUUUGGGG}}}}. Your lil sis is so nervous about tomorrow night's first class, but she will be fine. Thank you for your inspiration, Maria! God Bless You my friend!

By Ariel
On Mon Aug 10, 2009 08:57 PM

Happy Birthday Maria! Hope all is well on this marvelous day

By Smile_when_dncng
On Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:44 AM

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Smileywoman, Happy Birthday to You... and many more!!!! I hope your birthday is filled with lots of love, happiness, and joy my friend! *HUGS*

By oz_helen
On Sun Aug 09, 2009 05:54 AM

Happy birthday!!!

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