Leigh Brockman Horowitz shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Leigh , we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: When was the last time you felt true joy?
When I’m not in the Ballet Studio, I’m a Mom to a 9 year old and an Early Years educator of kids ages 2-5. My life is FULL of laughter – big, deep, surprising belly laughs – from all the children in my life and their humor brings me so much joy.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Leigh Brockman Horowitz and I’m currently an Adult Ballet Teacher in St. Louis, MO. My Instagram handle, which was created as a tongue-in-cheek personal dance-related page is “Sassy Southern Ballet Mama,” and when COVID hit and I had to pivot quickly to teaching online, I used that page to launch – and now it’s how people find me! But mostly I abbreviate the title to an acronym: “SSBM.”
SSBM Classes are offered during the academic year, with classes for Absolute Ballet Beginners who have never set foot in a studio – or haven’t since childhood – through to more Advanced work like Choreography Classes and Pointe Work. We also offer a Winter Intensive every December for any dancer interested AND have an annual performance in August.
What makes our SSBM classes unique in the Adult Ballet field is that I follow a ballet curriculum (Vaganova) which I adapt for adult students. The curriculum is extremely intentional and builds from one class to the next and one year to the next, just as it does in any school for youth dancers. This makes it tricky to just drop-in to our classes, but for the serious Adult Ballet student, the scaffolded approach to learning ballet allows for deep technical understanding and helps to prevent injury.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
A lack of listening and/or of feeling heard breaks bonds between people – and it is building relationship between people that can restore bonds.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There have been so many times in my life where I’ve almost given up, but perhaps the hardest time was living through Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 and then through the aftermath and rebuilding from 2005-2016 (when we moved to St. Louis).
There are not really words to describe that kind of prolonged trauma, loss and the huge amount of death that followed the storm, but as it’s the 20th anniversary this year, it’s definitely much on my mind.
I’d say for about two years, the city of New Orleans – and definitely myself personally – was in a black hole. We went about life, but it was like walking through a very dense fog. The will to keep going was so very hard to come up with, but somehow we all did. But it was definitely touch and go for me many, many times in that period.
I was teaching at a small, rural studio about 45 minutes outside of New Orleans at the time, and it was those students and their families that really got me through to the other side.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The biggest lie the Ballet Industry tells itself is that tradition is paramount and sacrosanct. That’s a tough point of view to hold onto, because it doesn’t allow for meaningful and/or necessary change – and often, keeping tradition comes at a very detrimental price to ballet’s dancers.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
In the Ballet World, it’s that Adult Ballet dancers have so very much to bring to the ballet and performance table. With solid training and the right opportunities, Adult Ballet dancers have so much to give to an audience – and because they have lived entire lives, their depth of experience makes their storytelling, performance and artistry so incredibly rich.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sassysouthernballetmama?igsh=MXIzMHkya2ozaDNhaw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Other: Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Jennifer Rose Goldenberg
Leigh Brockman Horowitz
