Ballet: Joy Williams Bell
"I've always been a jumper...we do those big flowy motions across the floor with some jumps... I really love to do that."
By Tracey Minkin
Friday, February 29, 2008
Photo by Angela Shoemaker
What's Your Disaster Plan?
No matter where you live, there's always the possibility of a natural disaster. You could spend days without electricity. You could be isolated and have no way to leave your home, or you might need to leave in a hurry.
North Beach Poet
George Tsongas lives to write and writes to live. It's a simple formula
for a feisty, full-blooded 80-year-old poet, and it works.
For Joy Williams Bell, 75, being in ballet class brings full circle a life made rich by dance. From her early days as a summer stock dancer in Louisville, to starting her own dance studio, to reemerging at Louisville Ballet in character roles (with a brief stint along the way as Miss Kentucky), Bell has always loved the grace and demand of ballet.
Through it she even made a lifelong friend, Cami Rule. As teenagers, the pair took dance lessons together and shared rides as they earned their driver's licenses. Now, after decades of lives in different cities, marriages, divorce, and careers, these women have reunited at Louisville Ballet for more of their first love.
These days, Bell loves her adult class, where until recently, five women over 60 held their own against the majority demographic of mid-40s. Bell's favorite part is the final 10 minutes, when ballerinas make leaping passes across the length of the studio. "I've always been a jumper," she says. "Those last ten minutes, we do those big flowy motions across the floor with some jumps... I really love to do that."
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