Choreographer's Cuisine

Left to right: Andy, Monica, Roger Roger, I will never forget the first ski night. You and Andy were such a great team. You were the first men who shared skiing with me. Thank you, my friend for giving me the experience of freedom first.  Flying down that hill at top speed (well maybe a little slower!!) with you and Andy, it felt like I didn't have a disability. You saw me for who I was. You never focused on the negative. You were always positive. Some of my favourite memories are when the three of us were on the chair lift together and you would tease Andy and I about this or that...and yes I know we teased back! You took it so well!!! Did you ever get an air-conditioned bathing suit to go with your heated coat?!! Roger you didn't just stay a skiing friend.  You came to my show with Propeller Dance the year we were at the Shenkman Arts Center in Orleans. It meant so much to me that you thought I was worth the ticket price and the long drive to Orleans. I remember th...

Have you ever wondered what your life would like if you had done things differently? What would you be doing if you'd gotten a different college degree? What would life be like if you married someone else? On and on. I often ask myself questions like these. What would my life be like if the trauma hadn't happened? Would I have gone to college/university? Would I enjoy dance the way I do? Would I be as close as I am to my family, both immediate and extended? Would I have the time I have to spend with my 10 year old sister? Would she even know me? The reality is I have a handicap. I'm in a wheelchair. God has allowed this to happen for a purpose. We do not know what His exact purpose is, but I am content. I have a wonderful family, I have had and have fabulous workers, I have been given remarkable opportunities with work including being chosen to choreograph a dance that had it's first showing last Spring. (See A Choreographer's Story for details on this.) The t...

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalms 139:13-14 I would like to invite you along on a journey. This journey will be unlike any you've ever been on. But any journey, like any story, needs to begin at the beginning. At the beginning of July, I had an appointment with a man who facilitates a special program called the, Davis Program, to help people who have dyslexia. When someone has dyslexia, it basically means they're disoriented. One cause of this disorientation is what's known as trigger words, words that don't have a picture, like the, and, as...   There are 216 trigger words. What the Davis program does is two-fold:  it helps the person orient by giving techniques to see things from a different perspective, and also has the person take those 216 trigger words and using a dictionary create a clay model of each...

I have no picture for this story. use your imagination!! ! On Monday my Cyrus and I had a little adventure. I take physiotherapy at a clinic on the second floor of a building in Bells Corners. It was a cloudy day and looked like rain as I arrived with Cyrus by Para Transpo. I realized I was half an hour early so I decided to take my beauty for a walk. As I walked down the road I had a sudden urge that I needed to try to get Cyrus to relieve himself before I went into therapy. So I entered a little park I'd seen on one of our other walks. I have to confess I  was doubtful he'd go. If it's a new space it takes quite a bit of persistent persuasion  to get him to go and most times that doesn't work. This makes taking him anywhere new kind of stressful.  Joy of joys he was able to relieve himself.  We went upstairs. My physiotherapist was ready for me. After therapy, I discovered a slight hiccup in my routine. The only elevator in the building was broken. I had ha...

I recently choreographed my very first dance. I'll admit to feeling overwhelmed  at times during the process, but I persevered.  I always knew I loved dance and choreography but as I choreographed this dance, something happened. As I told my colleagues a few weeks after the show, I don't think I've ever had so many emotional moments  in a year as I've had during this process. Why? I think it's because it was a real subject for many including myself.  As the choreographer, I was faced with some tough choices. Did I want to dance in it too? How vulnerable was I comfortable going? What did I want for music and which of Propeller's five musicians would be the best to give me what my dance needed? The question of whether or not to dance my choreography was probably the easiest one to answer. I decided to be in my piece for two reasons. First I COULD! God created my brain to be able to flip. This means I can be in a dance, while at the same time I'm watch...

Have you ever really looked at a blurry photo? If you're anything like me, looking at a blurry photo makes you want to quickly look away. Or better yet get rid of it!! I was going through my store of photos on my phone the other day. and came across one of my cat, similar to the one above, that was out of focus (not quite as much as the one above though!) You could tell what it was, but some of the details were missing. It all of a sudden hit me that this is how we see God. When we first accept Him, our vision of Him is blurry. We can tell Who He is, but the details are missing. We accept the truth of His existence, love, power, kindness and holiness; but we see each one of these things dimly at first. Sometimes when we're looking at God and the things He is doing we see so out of focus that we just want to give up and turn away like when we are looking at a blurry photo. As Christians, we are told to seek the Lord with all our hearts and search for Him as we wo...

One word. That was the assignment from church. We were encouraged to ask God for one word for this year. The word I've received was perseverance. Little did I realize how perfect that word would be this year. I recently got a pair of full leg braces.My physio therapist recommended them because she has had great success with them with someone else. However, my feet aren't your "normal" feet. Apparently this other person has feet like mine (extremely high tone) and they worked. Sigh. Yes, I'll try them in therapy. PERSEVERANCE!!! My new braces and shoes. Scripture mentions perseverance. In James 1:2-4 it says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." We all face things in our lives. As we go through whatever it is that we go though day to day,...