Seattle’s Miriam Landis is an author, ballet teacher with the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and publisher with Rhododendron Press. Landis recently authored a new middle-grade book, Lauren in the Limelight, a coming-of-age dance story. Learn about Miriam Landis…
Follow at: @mirlandis
Hometown: I grew up in Salt Lake City, UT, and have lived on Mercer Island, WA for over a decade.
First job: Professional ballerina with Miami City Ballet.
Favorite ways to spend your free time in WA: In the audience at a Pacific Northwest Ballet performance or in the garden with my family.
Your biggest accomplishment and why: My family. My husband and I have four elementary-school-age kids. We struggled through infertility for many years, and now the joke is on us! Seriously, my husband and kids are my pride and joy. Watching love grow is what I consider the best accomplishment.
The biggest obstacle you overcame: After spending the first 20-some years of my life utterly devoted to ballet, leaving that world and learning to redefine my identity outside of being a dancer was a form of death and rebirth.
Someone who inspires you and why: My husband is a radiation oncologist and has spent his life supporting cancer patients. Many people don’t know that he’s very creative and an incredible gardener, handyman and dad. He’s the most generous person I know, and living my life beside him makes me strive to be my best every day, too.
Advice to someone pursuing a career path in what you do: If someone tells you that you can’t do something and it’s genuinely in your heart to do it, remind yourself that the naysayers don’t understand the mission and keep going.
Favorite quote: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” –Henry David Thoreau
Something someone would be surprised to learn about you: I have scoliosis and had to wear a back brace for several years as a kid. I was dangerously close to the level where they wanted to surgically put metal rods in my back, which would have made dancing impossible. All the ballet helped my spine tremendously as a kid and kept me from needing that surgery.
What makes someone fabulous: Their passion, drive and willingness to give back.