Choreographing a Vision for my Life
by ELIZABETH DUGAN , MD This essay was a submission to the 2024 Richard Spear , MD , Memorial Essay Contest .
The music on the radio as I drive between emergency departments at 3 a . m . revives my exhaustion , and my mind is transported to another life , just for a moment . In this dream world , I am in the dance studio counting beats in repetitive counts of eight , emphasizing the accents I hear to a cast of dancers as they move . Their bodies match the fluidity of the melody as they practice the choreography I demonstrated minutes ago . Suddenly , the traffic lights turn green again , and I turn my attention back to the patient I ’ m about to see in the emergency department .
In another life , I would have been a choreographer . Choreographers are the masterminds behind the movement that dancers of all styles perform . Television shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars gave audiences a mere glimpse of this process at the height of their popularity . From the Christmas classic The Nutcracker to the biggest pop star world tours , choreographers design the spectacle of the show through dance . They conceptualize a sequence of movements that fit together with a piece of music and teach the dancers how to bring their vision to life . The choreographic process is a back-and-forth between them , with constant alterations in movement and formations until the final product is rehearsed to perfection for performance .
As a teenager , I was a classically trained ballet dancer who seriously considered a career in professional ballet , and I was also drawn towards choreography for the creative and leadership fulfillment . My choreographic process began with a piece of music , an assignment from a dance teacher or a concept I wanted to explore . For the latter two options , I would spend hours with my mother ’ s classical music CDs on my old boombox ( or on YouTube years later ) searching for the perfect piece of music . I would then dissect that music track , finding the threads of the melody and the rhythm that sparked ideas for movement . Hours were spent in my bedroom , my parents ’ basement and the dance studio before class following those movement ideas and listening to how the music was telling me to move my body . My cast of dancers and I then experimented with those movement sequences , changing details and formations to better suit their strengths . After weeks of rehearsal , the dancers
22 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE