Dancing Through Her Grief

June 5, 2012

Dancing through her grief.

That's how everyone describes Ashleigh Adamec.

Words are not the 21-year-old Sarasota native's forte. Words are for confirming your next rehearsal, or clarifying a ballet step or chatting with fellow dancers, not for making tangible your demons and desires.

And tears? Those are to be shed in seclusion, if at all.

Yet here she was standing before unfamiliar faces, her cheeks wet and strangled words coming from her mouth about the dance she was about to perform, a dance dedicated to her mother, Susan.

Her mother, who passed down her inherent grace and flawless Filipino skin to her only daughter. Her mother, who sat in the front row at every performance since she began ballet lessons at the age of three.

Read the full Herald-Tribune article by Carrie Seidman