We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie Herman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

At the age of 12. My gym teacher discovered I was destined to dance

Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello and welcome. My name is Stephanie Herman and I am the creator of “Pilates Ballet by Stephanie Herman”. I’ve named my company Pilates Ballet because that defines me as the teacher, educator and helper- that is my background. It all started when I was a principal ballerina working with George Balanchine. My fabulous career was stunted by an injury that doctors could not cure. I was determined to dance again while educating myself with alternative healing solutions. Spending many years researching and learning more kinesthetic ways to understand the body more deeply., I healed myself. At that point I realized how much knowledge I obtained from my history in ballet ,Pilates and now alternative rehabilitation techniques. I vowed to help others.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goals are always changing through my evolution of life. When I have a goal I am married to it- I fall in love with it and feel it drives me forward in my quests to achieve it. It all started in 1962, at the age of 12 when my gym teaching asked me to join her after school ballet group. I never danced before, but when I saw Erica twirl on her point shoes, I fell in love with ballet.. Erica told me she took ballet at George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. I ran home to ask my Mom to take me there. And that’s when my life truly began. I was destined to become a ballerina. But at the w age of 19, I became too tall to join the Corps de ballet in the company. That didn’t stop me, I kept auditioning through the rejections because in my heart I had to dance. Then Balanchine started a ballet company in Switzerland and off I went. After one year I was a soloist. In my life there has been ups and downs, but I always seem to follow my gut to take me where I want to go. Ballet has taught me perseverance, discipline and tenacity.. those traits help me make my drama come true. At the age of 67, after not performing for 30 years, I felt determined to perform again. The only way to make this happen was to produce my own One Woman Show-3 months later was the opening of Ballerina A One Woman Play- to a sold out audience. Overjoyed by the standing ovation. It was also filmed and won 8 Film Festival Awards. That inspired me to write my Memoir at the age of 71. I am working. with an editor now to finesse it. My dream then will be to turn it into a movie or TV Episodes.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

My mother was a concert pianist and I felt her music in my soul. I would dance about from my heart whenever she played. When I started taking ballet, technique was instilled upon me to the point of perfection. I was torn between perfection and dancing from my heart. I needed to learn. How to combine heart, soul and science in order to let go of trying to be technically correct- it was a constant battle to please my teachers with this perfection instead of pleasing me. But once I got on stage I felt I could let go of others judging me , for I was alone with myself and te music.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.PilatesBallet.com
• Instagram: [email protected]
• Facebook: www.Facebook.con/PilatesSH
• Linkedin: Stephanie-Herman-7906498
• Twitter: [email protected]
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sherman1dancer
• Yelp: The Stephanie Herman Show

Image Credits
First photo by Azita Gandjei