This weekend we began working on George Balanchine’s Valse-Fantaisie. I found myself thinking about last year, when I also had the opportunity to perform Valse-Fantaisie. My life was full of high school, and those senior year shenanigans. I proudly told anyone who listened to me rant, that I had acquired and been treated with senioritis since my freshman year of high school… And it was true.

It is so odd for me to think that just a year ago I was preparing for applying to colleges. That whirlwind of papers, applications, resumes, forms, worries, stamps, and e-mails. If I had the chance to rewind… I definitely wouldn’t. Yet, I came across my college essay the other day, as I looked through old paperwork, and couldn’t help but reflect further on that time.

Anyway. The essay made me laugh, I don’t really even remember sending this to my colleges, but I did. And it landed me here at West Chester, however ridiculous it was…

Excerpt from my College Essay: “I cannot remember the day that I found my talent. I cannot even tell you how I happened to come upon it. But I clearly remember the day my mother saw it. I was standing in the kitchen with my left arm stuck haphazardly behind my neck, the thick shoulder bone jutting out, as my left hand wrapped around my face, nearly reaching my left ear. I thought it was hilarious; my mother on the other hand did not. “Chloe Elizabeth!!! Stop that!!!” My mother moved to help me hinge my arm back in place but I had already fixed it, my pale arm already in a normal position…”

And it goes on - detailing my life, as a girl, student, daughter and dancer with double-jointed shoulders. I obviously haven’t changed one bit.

- Chloe Montgomery

Chloe Montgomery, Brandywine Ballet Theater and Certificate in Ballet Candidate