BACK OF THE BOOK
pASHions
In this edition, Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, discusses
her passion for ballet. Dr. Stegmaier is an associate
professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School,
vice chair of pediatric oncology research at Dana-
Farber Cancer Institute, and co-director of the
Pediatric Hematologic Malignancy Program at
Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute.
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Dr. Stegmaier performing in The Nutcracker (at left)
and rehearsing a pas de deux (bottom right).
Raising the Barre: Kimberly Stegmaier, MD
What was your first experience with
ballet?
I grew up in Long Island and my dad’s
job as an architect brought him into
Manhattan quite often, so, from a very
young age, I was able to see American
Ballet Theater and New York City
Ballet performances. Watching them, I
thought, Wow, I want to do that! Being
on stage looked like a lot of fun – you get
to be a different character, whether it’s a
snowflake or a fairy princess. And I was
attracted to the tutus and tiaras.
When did you start dancing?
When I was around 5 years old, my
mom enrolled me in a ballet class at a
local studio. I enjoyed it but, because I
was the youngest child in the class and
I missed my mom, I cried all the time.
I vividly remember telling myself when
I got dropped off at the studio, I’m not
going to cry this time. But then I’d miss
her and the tears would start.
Eventually, we stopped going, and
ASHClinicalNews.org
I switched to gymnastics when I was
around 7 years old, and I didn’t cry! I
started doing gymnastics more serious-
ly and competed at the Junior Olympic
level. I didn’t completely leave ballet
behind, though; when I was about 8, I
started doing ballet again to comple-
ment my gymnastics training.
At age 12, I started having increas-
ing problems with gymnastics-related
injuries and found myself drawn back
to the performance aspect of being on
stage. Eventually, I stopped gymnastics
and transitioned into dancing ballet
more seriously. I auditioned for The
Nutcracker, was selected for a part, and
then I quickly found myself dancing five
days per week. I became completely
captivated.
Throughout high school, I danced in
a company called the New York Dance
Theatre, where I received a Balanchine-
style training and performed often. As
I neared graduation, I had to decide if
I was going to go to college or pursue
ballet as a career. I was not willing to
give up the academic part of my life
to dance full time, and, as crazy as it
sounds, age 13 was a little late to start
ballet seriously.
Did you have to leave dance behind at
college?
I looked for colleges that had strong aca-
demics and some access to ballet within
the campus life. I went to Duke University,
where there was a strong dance commu-
nity and a terrific ballet teacher named
M’Liss Dorrance. Throughout those four
years, I danced with her company in
Chapel Hill and participated in several
performances on campus.
As graduation got closer and I was con-
sidering medical school, I had to ask myself
again, Is this going to be it for dance?
How did you stay involved with the
dance community once you started
your medical career?
Although I had performed a lot as a
child, the first time I danced profession-
ally was in medical school! Between my
third and fourth years of medical school,
I did a Howard Hughes Fellowship and
fell in love with the lab. It was the most
important year of my academic train-
ing, because that exposure to labora-
tory research changed the direction of
my career. I was doing serious science
that year, but also performed with José
Mateo’s Ballet Theater of Boston, which
is the second largest company in the city.
We did about 50 performances of The
Nutcracker, and I was in Cinderella and a
series of neoclassical pieces that he cho-
reographed. It was amazingly fun time.
How did you find the time for both
interests?
I had more time back then – I didn’t
have clinical work and I did not yet have
a family of my own. My now-husband
(then boyfriend) also understood my
obsession with ballet and my need to
perform, so I was lucky in that respect.
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