For three weeks the old woman sat in a corner of the dance studio during our adult class with a pen and pad in her hands. She had a serious look on her face but she was not severe looking. I glanced at her only once in a while, when we did stretching exercises on the floor, and wondered if she was aghast at our uncoordinated movements and very out of shape bodies.
She was an innovative teacher and administrator, according to our teacher, who studied under her supervision in China when he was a boy. Retired now, in her late seventies, she walked with a cane.
She took a lot of notes but never shared with us. There was no way to impress her with our stiff shoulders and arthritic knees even if we tried. At the end of class we gathered around her to have our pictures taken. All smiles—her American “grand-students”.
