AND HER LEGACY CONTINUES.....

I couldn't teach yesterday. I couldn't stop crying. Tessa taught my classes yesterday. Today I am feeling joy as I look into their smiling faces and listen to their giggles.  Oh how she would have loved to have taught this class of little ballerinas!  In honor of Ms Leanna I taught them swan arm movements with the help of a video from one of our past performances and my assistant since my shoulder is still injured. I wish I had recorded them focusing so hard to be so lovely and graceful Swans! Today I am peaceful.  I love you forever Ms Leanna!  Until we meet again....

IN MEMORIUM.....

Leanna Joyce Gomez   3/5/49 - 9/27/17  It is with deep personal sadness that I share with my ballet families and friends the passing of my own ballet teacher and mentor, Ms Leanna Gomez, after a battle with cancer. My deepest condolences and love to Ms Leanna's children and grandchildren. Her son, Kip Gomez and her daughter, Heather Sanders are family to me. They have always been her pride and joy and I know she will be watching over them.

I will continue to do my best to pass on her legacy and her love of ballet and teaching that she instilled in me. I am eternally grateful for the many years of encouragement and incredible knowledge that she shared with me ever since she came into my life when I was 6 years old. Her loss is immeasurable to me and I am heartbroken. The world has truly lost one of the greatest women I have ever known. I adored her. I know she is in a better place and I know I will see her again... but today I need to grieve. 

My last visit with her was almost a year ago in October. We had a wonderful visit and she was in a delightful mood and we talked for hours. I wish I had known it was our final visit. She influenced my life in so many ways. In the same way that I hear my mom's voice as I parent my children.... I hear Ms Leanna's voice as I teach my dancers. My heart is hurting and my emotions are so close to the surface right now. Every year I have sent her the DVDs of our performances and she has called me after, just bursting with joy and compliments. I will miss that so much! 

I know she will be sitting in the front row to watch our performance of Swan Lake next June. I won't have to wonder.... I know she will be there. I am grateful to know our spirits and our relationships continue beyond this life. I am so thankful that she lived and that I had the blessed opportunity to know her, love her and learn from her. 

These pictures are from when she was young and still performing when she was in the ballet La Boutique Fantastique which is also about a doll like Coppelia.