From ballet to real estate, and why I became a Fort Worth agent

I've been dancing since I was two years old. My parents ran a dance studio in Naperville, Illinois, and my brother and I both grew up in it. Dance wasn't something I chose so much as something I was raised inside of.

I went on to spend fifteen years as a professional dancer with Texas Ballet Theater, dancing the Nutcracker every single year until I was 34. Long enough that even something as magical as the Nutcracker can start to feel like a lot. But retiring wasn't really about being tired of it. It was a combination of things: fifteen years of injuries adding up, wanting to step outside my comfort zone and try something genuinely new, and the arrival of our daughter two and a half years ago, which made me think hard about financial freedom and having more time with my family. COVID also gave me a strange kind of pause, a forced stillness that got me really thinking, for the first time, about what might come next.

If I'm honest, it was hard to walk away. I danced alongside my wife, and I still miss getting to see her all day and make work together. That's not nothing to give up.

Moments I'll Never Forget

A few performances still live in me. Dancing the Snow pas de deux and Without Borders on stage with her, more than once, were some of the most memorable nights of my career. There's nothing quite like sharing that stage with the person you love most. I also had a solo in Minus 16 that involved fifteen minutes of pure improvisation, an incredibly hard, incredibly fun piece, performed in the same rep as Without Borders and Voluntaries, another longtime favorite of mine. Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated was another one I loved dancing.

But the single biggest moment of my career was dancing the title role in Ben Stevenson's Dracula. It was a dream role in my absolute favorite ballet, and getting to actually perform it is something I still carry with me.

What Ballet Taught Me That I Use Every Day Now

Discipline, mostly. And adaptability. This work asks you to learn a new lender's process one day, adjust to a change in a client's situation the next, and show up prepared either way. That part feels familiar.

Why Real Estate, Why Now

My wife and I bought our own first home without an agent, straight from the couple we'd been renting from. It was a lot to take on with no one guiding us through it. That experience stuck with me, and it's a big part of why I do this now. I want to be the person who makes that process feel manageable for someone else. Being trusted with something as significant as someone's home, at such a pivotal moment in their life, is genuinely rewarding.

What I Hope You Take From This

I want you to know that I come from an unconventional background in the performing arts, and I think it gives me a different perspective on the things that actually matter in this work: discipline, presence, and showing up fully for the people I'm working with.

If any of this resonates with you, or you're just curious to talk to a former dancer turned Fort Worth Realtor, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out anytime.

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