Any dipshit can tell just how athletic a dancer has to be. Any dipshit but me, apparently. It wasn’t until I saw “Billy Elliot” that I realized just how physically demanding the art form is. Since then dancers have scared me as much as linebackers, and maybe more because you will hear a linebacker coming. Dancers might kick my ass and be gone without making more than a little scuffling noise. You have to wonder how their bodies do that.
Some of it is training for sure, and some of it is genes. Sometimes their bodies don’t do it. On May 14, a young man named Jaimon was performing for his friends and his company. A year and a half before, he had come to Ann Dunn at Asheville Ballet and declared his intention to become a professional dancer. Not having any money, Ann took him on as a student under the condition that he do everything — everything — she told him to do. After sixteen months, he was accepted into several prestigious summer dance programs.
It looked like dancing would become his life, and he was making a gift of his life for his friends when he came down hard from a jump. A series of broken bones means that Jaimon’s dancing life is in jeopardy. It also means that he will have surgeries and extensive rehabilitation in the near future. Of course, this means Jaimon will have extensive medical bills to pay with no means to earn money through dance and, as is often the case for artists, no insurance.
There is a website set up, a place where you can read more of Jaimon’s story and share in his spirit. That he is a passionate, vibrant young man is apparent in the pictures there. The pictures also convey the beauty and power of dance. They are there to provide a small bit of thanks to anyone who would like to make a gift in support of Jaimon. You should probably check out 4jaimon.pocosa.com.