Dance Today, Knit Tomorrow

An excerpt of Ann McCauley's interview by Mel. Edwards for Votre Vray Creative Women.

Ann McCauley is late coming to her knitting career, by way of 20 years of dance at the Denver Center Performing Arts, 14 years of choreographic adaptation of a Christmas Carol. “I joke that I’ve been in the arts and now I’m in the crafts,” laughs Ann, although knitting has been part of her life since the 1980s. She notes knitting and dance have a good deal in common. “They’re interrelated: shape, content, rhythm, design. They are similar. There is order, repetition. It is all about movement -- even if knitting is more intrinsic and less athletic.” In 1995 Ann did her last major dance performance, and now at age 56, she’s still in “really good physical shape.” Ann admits that “I knew one day I’d be in another market. Still, I have a vision of doing a dance about knitting. I can see it….” She goes on to describe her vision, but I will not steal her thunder here. Instead, I fully expect she will develop it, and when she does, I will let you know.

Ann says her creative spirit is given information at those soft moments that are connected to her truth. “It may not inform on the literal level, but maybe in some abstract way. You must learn to get out of the way. Open yourself to the deeper reservoir inside. Focus away from the daily routine. Let surface thoughts fall away. That is when I know I’ve found it.”

Where ever you find your joy and life’s work, it is not too late to learn to knit, or be creative in another medium. Whatever you do, Ann says, “Be true to your inner self.” So she is.
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Ann McCauley has been a knitting author since 2003. More about her and her books can be found at: http://www.annmccauleyknits.com/