Love Letter

Dear Rachel,

You traveled from your Florida home to Philadelphia several years ago to attend a dance program. You met my mother and me for lunch, and when I first saw you—reflected in the mirrored exterior of Liberty Place in Center City—I did a double-take. You, my 18-year-old niece reflected in the glass, were a younger variation of myself: the thick hair and iridescent eyes—yours more opal than my hazel—with our heads tilted in the same direction. We had identical sideways stances and restrained smiles, our shyness often mistaken as aloofness.

During your first two and a half years in Philadelphia, you joined our weekly Saturday lunches. It took a few food-court meetings, but you slowly began talking about your classes and about dancing seven hours a day. As you described sweat-drenching sessions and the elation you experienced while performing, you spoke louder and faster. Our visits reawakened my old memories of toe shoes and sambas, but I had another, more urgent passion: writing. Dancing captivated you the way writing did me, and our shared love of the arts bridged our age gap. You and I understood each other’s core.

During the first summer, you headed to a dance internship in New York. I was startled to find myself fretting like a mother—an assumption many people made when they saw us together. Inspired by your risk-taking—and our love of dancing—I began writing about professional dance companies for major publications. A few years earlier, I had founded Artsphoria, an online arts magazine that I tried to keep up with while juggling my other full-time responsibilities. Eventually, I had left my steady job with a good paycheck and benefits to become a freelance writer, as I had always wanted.

During your junior year, Mom and I encouraged you to spend a semester at another New York college. Your hectic schedule kept you from our regular Saturday lunches, but we still exchanged our reactions to various dance performances by text messaging. You’ve started to move out into the world.

You’re beginning your final year of college, Rachel, and I don’t know if you’ll be one of the lucky ones who can earn a living in the arts. But whatever the outcome, I hope you’ll always find the courage to keep your passion alive—the way you helped reignite my own.

Love, Andrea

Andrea K. Hammer is the founder and director of the international arts magazine Artsphoria. She lives near Philadelphia.
----
Torn between tap and tango? Take this personality quiz to find the dancing style that best suits you.

Inspired by her niece, Andrea went to the Annenberg Center to watch a performance by the dancer-illusionist company MOMIX. Learn more about the international traveling troupe here.

Relate more to scribbling Andrea than her twinkle-toed niece? Find tips, job postings, podcasts, and helpful info on freelance writing at this website.

Read Complete Arti

cle