A Most Amazing Woman

She turned ninety years old in March. She was the technical director of Henry Street Playhouse when I started dancing at the age of eighteen. Taught me everything I know about lighting design during my eight years of training with Alwin Nikolais. She is always direct and clear in her communication. Occasionally I would perceive her to be a bit abrasive, but there was always this underlying hint of humour and a continuing desire to share her knowledge with me. On Sunday, the 4th of October she attended my class of improvised movement theatre and participated for the whole of the four hour class. Physically she was the equal of the four of us who were in our sixties the only thing she couldn’t match was the flexibility of the woman in her twenties. Creatively she was adventurous, equally strong as an initiator and responder to the evolving improvisations. She was a bit of a naughty student quite often interrupting my flow of instructions with her own thoughts and questions and I had great fun feigning frustration at having to deal with this mischievous individual. She made my day, my weekend, in fact the whole of my journey so far a more than Wunderful experience. I did not expect her to participate as much as she did, nor did I suspect that she would add such quality to the improvs. Seeing her took me back to my early days as an aspiring dancer at Nikolais’ studio and reminded me of how much his teaching influenced what I am doing today. She also was a blessing to my present having wanting for years to show some of my original teachers how I had evolved seeking their approval and hoping that in some way I would come to the belief that I would also receive affirmation from Nik if he were still alive today. Ooops, that brought a tear to my eye. If you haven’t noticed I am waxing lyrical about this 90 year old woman whose name is Ruth Grauert.