Third in series
Re “Even for the Dance Doctor, Moving Is Not Always Easy“
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Mr. Cassese and his dance partner Jenelle Wax
Now what?
Once professional dancer John Cassese, the Dance Doctor, decided early in the 1980s that he was moving here and permanently leaving behind his beloved New York City, he looked a conundrum in the eye.
How would he support himself?
Time to turn to family.
He dialed – remember, this still was the ‘80s – his favorite cousin, Maria LaMarga, and asked, “What shall I do?”
Single and starting over, he needed to shortly to find a way to pay his bills since his bank account was blushing.
The Dance Doctor Studio, 1440 4th St., downtown Santa Monica, and his reputation as Dance Doctor to the Stars, still were years into the future.
In the distant background opn this serene spring day, yards away from Mr. Cassese’s slender,unpretentious office, a piano tinkled a dance tune that melodiously formed a relaxing setting.
“I was living in a one-room apartment on South Beverlyglen, a little single, they called it,” Mr. Cassese said the other day. Speaking at a soft, deliberate cadence, his style, “I was wanting to try something that was different,” he said. “Maria told me, ‘Do what you do best – teach people to dance in the privacy of their home.’”
Of such an innocent, unadorned suggestion, a golden career, as a dance teacher to the celebrated, was born.
Teaching had not been on his mind.
“The field was less competitive then than it is now,” Mr. Cassese said. “I am fortunate that Maria kind of reinvented me. Calling me the Dance Doctor was her idea.”
How does one get started in such a free-form field?
Announce yourself to the community.
In 1984, “I placed a little tiny ad in the back of Los Angeles magazine,” he said. “It cost me $70. ‘Door-to-door dance,’ it said. I left my name and ‘phone number.”
But the tone didn’t scan in Mr. Cassese’s nimble mind,
“I called Maria back. ‘Door to door dance’ doesn’t sound so good, I said. ‘Do you have anything better?’”
Maria was in a hurry.
“Oh, call yourself the Dance Doctor. I have to go.”
(To be continued)
