Interview: Julia Walton, RMT Part 1

1. How did you get involved with dance as a child?

My grandma actually paid for my first year of dance lessons! My mom danced and did ballet in her childhood and received a scholarship to train at LA Escuela de Ballet Municipal de Lima (in Peru), but stopped fairly early. She also grew up learning her cultural dance, Marinera Norteña and marinera limeña. Both of their love for dance had them wanting me to take lessons. I fell in love right away.

2. What was your experience like as a dancer growing up

I had the privilege of training at a very good studio from childhood until the end of High School (Edmonton School of Ballet/Vimy Ridge dance program). I received a lot of support from my teachers, staff, and most importantly the director Mrs. Margaret Flynn. Not only were they great at what they do, they believed in me and my performing abilities. I grew up doing competitions, stage productions, and we prepared every year to do both cecchetti and RAD examinations. The school did an amazing job providing us with a variety of opportunities.

3. What sort of support did you experience as a dancer (in therms of manual therapy)?

My first experience with manual therapy was Chiropractor, after I suffered extreme back spasms starting at age 11. Looking back, if I had to guess why they occurred was due to lack of strength in comparison to my hypermobility. Later on when I began training long hours 5 days/week, I tried massage therapy. It helped a lot for muscle tension, and the regular aches and pains to be able to continue training. Essentially it felt like pressing 'reset' for my body. When I was consistent with it, my back spasms went away. I've also had physiotherapy when I badly sprained my ankle during a run of The Nutcracker during the 2017 performance season. I definitely learned a lot during my healing process.

4 .What are some of your favourites in terms of dance (ie. genres of dance, dancers, shows, choreographers, projects you’ve worked on etc)?

Ballet will always be my first love, although I grew up fairly well rounded in jazz, modern, and contemporary even into my college training. Most recently, I fell in love with pole dance, and this coming June will mark two years of training! Eventually I want to do cirque training like aerial hoop and silks. Some highlights in the start of my performing career would be dancing in the 6th Hum Awards at Ontario Centre, and performing in the corps de ballet with Canada's Ballet Jörgen Swan lake in late 2016. I also currently enjoy gogo dancing in downtown venues, and learning choreography for corporate event entertainment. I definitely love to do a bit of everything!

5 .Tell me about your non-performing experience in dance (shoe fitting)?

I started working at Dancewear Centre - a local retail store in 2017 to support me starting out my freelancing. I got hired mostly based on my knowledge and pointe training background, as they needed more pointe shoe fitters. I soon dove into training myself by trying on all the shoes in the warehouse (so many!). Fast forward to today, I have nearly 7 years of experience fitting. Whether it's someone going en pointe for the first time or someone with a decade or more of experience, it brings me so much joy when I find people the right fit. 

6. How does pointe shoe fitting and massage therapy fit together?

A proper fitting requires knowing what styles of shoes to pull based on the dancer's foot type, shape, bone structure, strength, the list goes on. In massage therapy school, you go in great depth into learning anatomy and I became a better fitter when I was able to explain to dancers why I chose certain shoes. ( Have you ever heard a ballet dancer talk about the anatomy of a pointe shoe? ;) )

There is a reason why there are so many options! Toes are very short? A long vamp might prevent you from getting up on the platform. Wings not sitting correctly at your 5th metatarsal? There will be a lack of support. (I could talk forever about this!) But the dancers and even their parents really appreciate my attention to detail. It's like a puzzle or finding that perfect, “Cinderella glass slipper” fit.

7. What are your future goals as a dancer? 

As I mentioned before, I'd love to continue pole and continue more cirque training. I see myself  performing until my body says it's had enough! I love to push my body to the extreme, to say the least. There is a thrill I get from spinning, being upside down, contorting my body into these unreal but beautiful shapes. l love the feeling of being off the ground, and flying. Most importantly, my goal is to be the dancer I want to be, rather than shaping myself into what I think I want others to see me as, regardless of the style I choose to train in. To be strong and healthy to have a lasting career.

8. How do you maintain your body as a dancer? 

Don't be like me and occasionally ghost your manual therapist(s)! Your body will not thank you (: But when I am on top of it (1-2/month), it allows me to train as intensely as I do. I continue to take ballet classes 2-3x/wk, and 2 hours of pole 3x/wk. I think of my body like a car that needs maintenance. You can't drive a car with a flat tire! (well, you could but if you did it would break and that's where injury prevention comes into play.) So this is your friendly reminder to do better than me! :)