Dreams Beyond the Landing

                 

                  In Union Square’s, NYC Starbucks, all 5 feet 10 inch stretch of Taela Naomi Brooks stood on line composed with slender elegance and graceful poise. She orders a Grande, soy chai latte in her 3 ½ inch heels. Aside from the bold pumps, her Brooklyn blood radiated friendly and brave when she mentions that her belongings are left alone at the table she’s reserved for the meet. Her long twists spiraled down to the side and back making more of her willowy appeal.  She sat down and said “well, this is how the story went…”

               “Taela, Taela, Taela,” her mother, Glenda Brooks called for her 2 year old daughter to come. However, Taela was not responding. She went looking for her tot and discovered that she had been entranced by the TV. “The only channel that ever played in our home was PBS,” Glenda said. The 1977 Baryshnikov’s production of ‘The Nutcracker’ had Taela mesmerized and Gelsey Kirkland’, ‘Clara’ captivated her dancer spirit.

                  Now, she revisits that meditation whenever on stage, in the zone. “Other than those glimmering moments, remembering what friends or family members are in the audience watching me, I’m not thinking when I dance, its meditation; if you are thinking then you are not do ing your job.”

                  Her first platform was located on the 2^nd landing of the staircase in her childhood home, where her mother remembers having to participate as “the frog”. Today, she’s made a jump landing at the top of her dreams as she collaborates with Tony Award winning Bill T. Jones in the productions ‘Josephine’ starring Deborah Cox (the Josephine Baker story) and ‘Superfly’ featuring music by Curtis Mayfield. “I definitely feel an affinity to the project and woman, Josephine Baker, herself,” she said.  Modestly, Taela divulged that comparisons have been made between the two.

Up until high school she was head over heels for ballet.  Now, she says that she lives to dance any routines requiring her to wear heels with maximum height, yet a minimum of 3 inches.

                                                       

Taela Naomi Brooks with Bill T. Jones

              
                 Her friend of twelve years, Junior Henderson went to see Taela in ‘Josephine’, the preview performance last month. The two attended LaGuardia’s Performing Arts High School in NYC together, where Junior was a drama major. It was the first time that he had seen her act. He remembers a very actively outgoing and focused Taela always having a good sense of humor. However, the competitor in her “tried and really wanted to beat me at everything when we went for a fun day of bowling and playing games at Chelsea Piers,” he said. Glenda says that her persistent and positive daughter has a low tolerance for nonsense, like losing.

                     At the tender age of ten years old, Taela became fascinated by sixteen year old Ukrainian figure skater and champion Oksana Baiul. She watched her and drew inspired by her performance in the 1994 Olympics. That was when she requested her first pair of ice skates. “I got them for Christmas and they were big and plastic but, I knew I would have to use them because I asked for ice skates and that is what I got,” Taela said.

                 

                      She always looked forward to skating at Chelsea Piers ice rink. “She was really into her figure skating,” said Junior. Glenda woke her daughter up at 4:30 every weekday morning “Saturdays I got to sleep an extra hour,” Taela said. Before school she was on ice training at Chelsea Piers. Each summer she went to Lake Placid for figure skating camp. “I really looked forward to it but, it wasn’t social at all,” she said. “Now I work with my figure skating inspiration and first coach, Violet Eagan who founded Brooklyn Ice, where I teach children figure skating at Prospect Park.”

She has taken flight and been making way ever since her first dance recital was held when she was only 3 years old. “I remember one day when we had some company over Taela had gone in the house to put her swimsuit on for the pool. When she returned outside on the patio everyone started to applaud her. I remember her standing there absorbing the energy for a long time. She loved it,” said Glenda. When the curtains opened on her for the first time she was on a real stage. In front of the audience her mother recalls the baby ballerinas, including Taela being adorably frozen stuck in their positions. “Oh, they looked so cute in their little tutu’s staring at us,” Glenda said. Now she enjoys traveling to see her daughter dance and perform across the country.

                   “I knew that Taela was an excellent dancer but I didn’t know that she was also great at acting, I was very impressed with her performance in Josephine” said Junior. “I see her going to Broadway within the next few years,” Glenda and Junior both agree. Although, Taela admits that working with Bill T. Jones is one of her most accomplished dreams to date.  “I could say that I am living my dreams but the only thing missing is the paycheck,” she shared humbly.

                                                                                               

                                                                                                              Simone A. Santos