The doctor viewed Sylvia as a problem case because the only treatment that he could recommend was that she should have Dr Scholls pads put into her shoes to support her arches. My husband and I were not happy with this because we felt that with constant support her feet would not strengthen. She was only nine years old so that treatment was not satisfactory in our view. So we saw the specialist who asked me to tell him what the trouble was. I duly explained the situation and said I hoped that he could help us to strengthen her feet. He looked at me over his glasses and said, “Most mothers who bring their problems to me are wrong in thinking they know better than their doctor. However, I see your objection. In the case of a child of her age, I agree that we should first try some other method!” So Sylvia had to go weekly to the hospital for electric shock treatment which did not help much, then exercises which did make a small improvement. When the treatment ended the specialist said, “My recommendation now is that she attend ballet classes.” This really surprised me and as money was in short supply I wondered whether that would be possible. At that time as we were thinking of emigrating we reluctantly decided that we could not afford ballet lessons, even though Sylvia had always wanted to dance right from the age of two. In 1950 we did emigrate to New Zealand, and at age eleven Sylvia found it extremely hard to adjust to moving to a new country and a totally different education system. She had already had two terms at Eastbourned Grammar School after successfully gaining her “Eleven-Plus” exams at ten years old, and would not consider being ‘put back’ into the New Zealand Intermediate School. But at only eleven when everyone else was thirteen or fourteen, she found adjusting very painful and difficult. So it was advised that she take a full Third Form year in order to catch up a little more on the social side. Sylvia is a perfectionist and works very hard at everything she does. The children in her class at Wellington Girls College were still a year or two older than she was but she still aimed to be top of the class. She managed to achieve this, and we decided to reward her for all the hard work she had done at school. We asked her what she would like, and without a moment’s hesitation she asked to learn ballet! We talked it over and decided that as we intended to reward her, we would let her have a year at ballet, thinking that this would get it out of her system.! So Sylvia started learning ballet and was extremely happy, even though she was by far the biggest and oldest girl in her class. Slowly her feet improved. What we hadn’t realised was that once a child learns ballet the grades go on year after year! Sylvia did so well at school again that year, once more being top of the class, that we felt we couldn’t take her away from ballet after just the one year. So she carried on, much to her great delight. I remember that when we moved to Auckland we had to rent a furnished house whilst our house in Howick was being built. From 5am every morning we were woken by the noise of the handles of her wardrobe rattling furiously with every move she made with her practising! With another change of school and University Entrance to sit, the only time she had to practise was before she went to school. From the age of sixteen and in her adult life she ran a ballet studio for ten years, and after she married she started a dance class for young bored mothers. I have had much pleasure helping with all these activities. They made my life interesting and creative and I am grateful for my life style. She went on to form two dance companies of ethnic national or folkloric dance which were trained for stage performances and community events. One was a junior performing company composed of ballet students through to teenagers, and the other for which she became very well known was called the “Korobushka Folkloric Dance Company.” As she was the only person in New Zealand who was teaching, choreographing and producing folk dance and staged productions of international ethnic dance, she was awarded two travel and study grants from the QEII Arts Council of New Zealand. The major one was a three-month worldwide trip arranged in conjunction with the Folklore Departments of the various governments. This was to study authentic dance, choreography and costumes in Greece, Israel, Hungary, Russia, England and the USA, while the second grant was to study Mexican folkloric dance with an ex-member of the professional Folklorico Company of Mexico. With the Korobushka company she toured around New Zealand and performed for numerous engagements, appeared on television, and as a result of all the community contributions she was awarded the QSM - Queen’s Service Medal - in the 1990 New Year’s Honours List. |
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