Peachtree Those were the days, and they will never come back.” These are the musings of 93-year-old local resident Ana Guiterrez, recalling her 22 years as a professional dancer in New York City.
“My mom didn’t care
for dance,” she said with a laugh, “but my aunt, she loved it. My mom was so bashful, but my aunt was the devil.”
Guiterrez clearly aligned with her aunt. At age 5, she was introduced to ballet, Spanish flamenco and classical dancing. It would become her lifelong passion.
“I loved them all,” she said, “if it’s dancing; it’s for me.”
Her aunt, an expert seamstress, patiently sewed her beloved niece’s costumes.
“Dresses were expensive,” Guiterrez said, “so when I was finished with a dress, I would donate it to the dancing school for the girls who couldn’t afford them.”
Guiterrez, an inaugural resident of Murphy Rehabilitation & Nursing, sat in the corner of her expansive room like a queen surveying her kingdom. Her back straight, her gaze unwavering, she flipped through a photo album remembering every dress, each with its own detail and flourish.
“I remember that dress,” she said, pointing to a satin fit and flare with an appliquéd lace overskirt. “My aunt made that and I loved it. It was a deep red.”
The photos, many of them professional portraits, show an elegant woman posing with her fingers snapping the castanets with such determination, her eyes almost dare the viewer to look away. Guiterrez, with her smooth movements and graceful hands, manages to maintain her poise, even with her bright eyes watching everything with fierce energy.
“When I was 16, I danced professionally,” she said.
For most of her career, Guiterrez and four other women performed Spanish dances in the posh hotels and venues of New York City. The girls became dear friends, which was a good thing because they were together five to six hours a day.
“We’d have to be at rehearsals at 8:00 in the morning,” she said, “and we’d rehearse for hours.”
They had a few hours off in the middle of the day, until it was time for hair and make-up. The dancers, resplendent in their swirling dresses, danced at the Taft Hotel, commissioned parties and the Waldorf Astoria.
It was in the Waldorf where they danced, by request, for Rose Kennedy.
“I love it,” Guiterrez said. “When I dance, I’m in another world, and it made me so happy to hear the
applause.”
Guiterrez, an ambitious woman, used her time off to model swimwear for Gimbel’s and Macy’s, back when men wore suits and women wore heels to shop.
“My mom wouldn’t allow me to model a two-piece,” she said, smiling at the memory.
At 29, she met Frank Guiterrez.
“He didn’t like me dancing,” she said evenly. “He was an old-fashioned man.”
She chose love over passion, walked away from the glamour of the ballrooms, and slid into a backstage life of marriage and motherhood. Such is the power of love.
However, Guiterrez still dances. She recently went on a cruise with her son, Alan, and his wife, who Guiterrez lived with for years before moving into the nursing home. The photo album bears witness to a then 90-year-old Guiterrez commandeering the dance floor and holding passengers captive with her intense joy.
“I’ll always dance,” she said. “Dancing is my life, no matter what. I’ll die dancing.”