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My childhood dream was to be a ballet dancer

My childhood dream was to be a ballet dancer, Dame Margot Fontaine was my hero.  Once I turned 16, I realised that dream would never come true.  Musical Theatre replaced dancing – watching not performing!

ADHD month brings full circle my passions of ballet, musical theatre, and neurodiversity in the form of Gillian Lynne Choreographer.

Gillian Lynne has been interviewed many times and asked how she got into dancing.  Back in the 1930’s when ADHD was referred to then as ‘a defect of moral control’ Gillian was taken to the doctors by her mother who was concerned about her schooling.  Gillian talks about how the doctor turned the radio on and asked her mother to step outside.  What they witnessed through the window was Gillian dancing, smiling and being totally focussed on the music.

That doctor, you could say saved her life. He suggested her mother took her to dance school.  Later Gillian was diagnosed as ADHD.

Gillian’s mother enrolled her in dance school and Gillian states ‘everyone was just like me, they needed to move to be able to think’.  It must have been the right move as Gillian continued to have an incredible career with the Royal Ballet School.

Following her meeting with Andrew Lloyd Webber she turned a corner in her career and later went on to be responsible for choreography on some of the most successful theatre productions such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera.

The learning – ADHD needs movement!  Think now how you can build movement into your day.  As an employer, how can you build movement into your employees’ day? As an assessor, how can you make recommendations for movement – and I am not just talking about a rise and fall desk!

Let’s learn from ADHD month and do something different. 

Cheryl Winter – Lead Neurodiversity Coach and Trainer Creased Puddle