Mareck Center for Dance and Focus On Health Chiropractic: The perfect match!
This week's blog takes a unique turn: we want to highlight our partnership with Mareck Center for Dance and two AMAZING upcoming events!!! Let's dive in…
I always envisioned working with professional athletes while in school. As fortune had it, my first three patients were a professional mountain biker, a professional runner, and an elite amateur triathlete.
I had a unique opportunity as an undergraduate to race bicycles at the elite amateur level. I wanted nothing more than to pursue a professional cycling career, however, after watching many of my peers crawl through shattered relationships and failed dreams, I decided to pursue my career as a chiropractor. I was quite confident with my connections, that I could still have my cake and eat it too. I saw myself traveling across the pond to provide care for the athletes of the three major tours: the Tour de France, the Giro, and the Vuelta. I could nearly feel the gentle rain dripping down my face while on the sidelines of the spring classics, the thin air robbing my lungs of oxygen at mountain bike races peppered across the world, and I reveled at the idea of spending my fall chasing Cyclocross races all over the globe. Though these visions of grandeur were likely attainable, they did not seem to satisfy the underlying desire of wanting to have a family. This is the crossroads I encountered at the beginning of my career. One that I often revisit, recant, and repent. However, I never regret!
In my first year practice, I encountered my first professional dancer. Ashley’s chosen discipline was ballroom, and a few years later, she found her self preparing for Dancing with Missouri Stars. This event is the principal fundraiser for Mareck Center for Dance, (formally Missouri Contemporary Ballet). Each May, the board selects a community member and partners them with one of the professional ballet dancers. The matches are typically made in February, which typically gives the dancers approximately 12 weeks to prepare. Each couple is responsible for two dances: a traditional ballroom dance, such as a fox trot, or a waltz, and a faster pace dance such as the East Coast, swing or the cha-cha. The professional dancers are responsible for coordinating the music, the choreography, and to add some pizzazz, the costumes, makeup and props.
One of the board members at the time, Tracy, was recruiting me hard for DWMS. Not long after I was introduced to the owner of the ballet company Karen Grundy. I think Karen fought twice as hard as Tracy to get me to come aboard! We agreed to disagree a LOT! Despite those facts, we became a sponsor of the company in 2017 and Karen was certain she had me in her clutches. However, that was a year I planned to climb Mount Rainier, and could not commit to anything in the early spring or summer. I had seemingly dodged a bullet. You see, I didn’t really have any interest in dance. I thought it was neat to sponsor a professional ballet company, and I respected the dancers immensely. I simply did not understand the importance of preserving this facet of art in Columbia Missouri.
Karen was crafty however, and made me softly commit to the 2018 edition of DWMS. As luck should have it, I tore my ACL in December 2017 (after successfully summiting Mt. Rainier), and I was scheduled for surgery the day before Valentine’s Day 2018. Karen was great friends with my surgeon, and she asked him if it would be possible if I participated in DWMS as a part of my rehab. Seth responded “absolutely not “and again I had bought myself some time.
As I saw more of the dancers in the clinic, I began to get to know them on a personal level. We are in a unique space in healthcare, where we really get to know our patient population due to planned follow up encounters. As I chatted with each dancer, I realized what really made them tick. Each person had such a unique, yet passionate reason behind their pursuit. It reminded me of my days as an elite amateur cyclist. I wanted so much to be a professional, which was not lucrative, nor luxurious. It was purely a pursuit of passion, and for the first time, I connected very organically with each of our dancers from the conservatory. You see, more than anything, they danced for their purpose. Their passion. To preserve the arts in a town that values the arts. However, they extend their reach to smaller communities, such as Moberly, Missouri, in which the arts have likely never existed or died long ago. The mission statement for the ballet company is as follows: Mareck Center for Dance is an organization that transforms our community through the joy of dance by providing exceptional performances, professional education, and unique outreach programs. I can honestly say first hand that any performance that Karen puts on personifies their mission!
Each dancer I interacted with passed on the joy of dance through their stories of how they came to Columbia and how they found Karen. I was enthralled by each message and wanted to be a bigger piece of the puzzle. Tracy and Karen’s pursuits came full circle in 2019 when I agreed to participate with Dancing with Missouri Stars. Honestly, when I accepted the role, I could hardly pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time. My partner, Maria was incredibly gracious, patient, and confident. After a few drinks, I always enjoy being the center of attention at a wedding or dance breaking it out to my favorite 80s or 90s song. But this was different. I needed to learn the steps, execute on the counts, and provide a show to the audience that would encourage votes to raise money for an incredible cause!
Over the course of 12 weeks, I am happy to say I learned all of the steps to two unique dances. The first, a foxtrot to Tony Bennett’s “Fly Me to the Moon “ in which we choreographed a beautiful piece situated in a 50s style café with two nervous lovers looking to pursue each other and a fun yet funky East Coast swing to “Footloose” that ended in an epic break dance and floss session! And this was all to Maria’s, and her soon to be husband, Joshua‘s credit! You see, I was quite talentless in dance, and only encouraged by liquid courage on a wedding, dance floor, and a break dancing environment.
So. Fast forward to today. I happened to be at Range Free after celebrating a team victory from the previous month at Focus On Health. Mareck Center for Dance is conveniently located adjacent to our favorite gluten-free restaurant of choice. I was checking in with one of our dancers, Ashleigh asking “how are your DWMS rehearsals going?" She responded to me “my partner had to withdraw and I’m out." I asked her if she had a back up plan and she said no. She returned to me and asked me if I had any solutions?
So here I am. I have found myself yet again, competing amongst Dancing with Missouri Stars. The first ride was a wild one and one I will never forget! So far, this ride has been equally as fun, and I am even more motivated to help raise money for this amazing organization that helps preserve the art of dance in Columbia Missouri!
And by the way…Ashleigh is amazing and we are personally prepared to knock your socks off at DWMS 2023!!!
I would like to personally invite you to - 2…yes - 2 up-and-coming Mareck Center for Dance Productions.
The first of which is LIVE! It is this weekend! And…you can take advantage of buying three tickets and getting one free for this exclusive ballet experience! Click the link below to take you, your family, and or your friends to a truly amazing live experience where the ballet marries the orchestra!
https://concertseries.missouri.edu/
And as far as Dancing with Missouri Stars…
So here is where you come in. You can help me and Ashleigh take the top spot by visiting https://givebutter.com/Curt-Kippenberger-DWMS
Your money not only votes Curt and Ashleigh ahead, but you protect, preserve and develop the arts her in CoMO!!!
We sincerely hope you can join us this weekend for LIVE at the Missouri Theater, and on Thursday May 11th at the Holiday Expo Center for two fun and unforgettable experiences! (click below for tickets)
https://mareckcenterfordance.org/events/dancing-with-the-missouri-stars/
