Listen to the Interview Here: Manifesting My Dream – Victoria Hyatt
Vivien: Hello and welcome to the Schapera Show, where Viv and Neil explore this big adventure called Life. Our guest today is another colleague and friend of mine, Victoria Hyatt, who has conquered her fears to manifest her dream career. Victoria is a dancer, a Physical Therapist and an Alexander Teacher and she has put them all together in a unique way. Hello Victoria, thank you for coming on the show.
Victoria: Thank you for having me!
Vivien: Victoria, I think we should begin with some background info. What’s your backstory?
Victoria: I grew up in the Washington DC area, studying dance quite seriously. Initially I studied Ballet with the Washington Ballet and later my focus shifted toward Modern Dance. I earned my BFA in Dance from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. After completing college, I moved to New York to continue to study and pursue a dance career. In NY, I primarily studied with the Erick Hawkins Dance company and also performed with several independent choreographers. While studying at Hawkins I met Cynthia Reynolds, who was a member of the company and a teacher in the school. She was also an Alexander Teacher and she encouraged me to try lessons in the Technique. I was so impressed by the work that I knew immediately that I had to train to become a Teacher. I completed my training at the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York in 1992. I earned my Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Duke University in 2001 and now practice both as a PT and as an Alexander Teacher. My specialty area of practice in Physical Therapy is working with dancers, both to prevent and to treat injuries. Working with dancers is a full circle experience for me, as I am able to put my passions for dance, movement study/analysis, and healing together. To further my ability to work with dancers, I am currently in training with Body Arts and Sciences International to become a Pilates Instructor.
Vivien: Were you born to do this? Were you attracted to dance from an early age?
Victoria: Yes! Exactly that. My interest in dance came in early childhood. My mother took me to see a performance of Coppelia at the Kennedy Center. I was enchanted, and hooked! I began classes immediately and was a serious student throughout my childhood. In my senior year of the dance program at UMass, I took a Kinesiology course and I just loved it! I remember feeling that it was the first time in my life that I had felt so engaged by an academic topic. I wanted to find a way to use this information professionally and at that point became interested in PT. However, the requirements to enter PT school required nearly all of the coursework to go Pre-Med and I had done very little of it during college. I felt intimidated, especially by the requirements to study Chemistry and Physics, so I put it on the back burner. I continued to study and pursue dance.
Vivien: Then, what was it about the Alexander Technique that caught your attention?
Victoria: My first experience with the Alexander Technique was life changing. After spending my entire life studying movement and trying so hard to do everything right, I had developed a good bit of tension in my body. The first time I had a hands-on experience with the AT, I was utterly blown away that such a light touch could induce such profound change in me, and that I could experience myself so differently. As I said, I knew immediately that I needed to train. I also was seeking a way out of the starving artist lifestyle of waiting tables and doing temp work to get by in New York.
Vivien: But there’s always more, right?
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