John Lowe, 92, Who Dreamed Of Dancing
John Lowe is a professional ballet dancer, although he is 92. But that’s not the most amazing part. The most amazing part is that John took up ballet when he was almost 80.
John dreamed about dancing his entire life. Every time he would go to the ballet, he watched the dancers with envy. But, he couldn’t take the leap. Finally, when he was 79, he decided to try it. John Lowe simply came to the ballet studio in his hometown — Ely, England — and inquired if he could take tap dancing lessons. He somehow couldn’t ask about ballet right away.
“Why not?” was the answer John received, and so he dedicated himself completely to tap dancing. After mastering tap within a year, John fulfilled his original dream and began taking classical ballet classes at the same studio. In nine years (as in, on the cusp of his 90th year), John Lowe started performing on a theatrical stage. Now, he has his own part in Prokofiev’s ballet — The Tale of the Stone Flower.
To stay in shape, John rehearses at the theater three times a week, and on top of that, practices alone at home every day. He even arranged a dance room for these purposes: put down a wooden floor and installed a ballet bar along the wall. Sometimes, to get his mind off of his ballet training, he roller blades.
When John Lowe turned 90, his family (four kids and eleven grandchildren) forbade him from leaping and turning 360 degrees in mid-air.
“They are afraid that if I fall, they won’t be able to put me back together, and, in a way, they are right,” he jokes. So, now John just leaps, without turning. But, he cannot keep himself from leaping. And, for the more intensive moves, John even hung a trapeze from his ceiling. He hangs on it every day, to build muscle strength.
“Find something that will completely change your life. It’s hard, I may have gotten lucky. But, I think everyone can come up with something. Ballet enables me to keep my spine straight and to trick time,” says John.
