A Girl Written Off as Sick Was Told She Was a Dancer
After one doctor watched her move to music, she was sent to dance school instead of being treated as a problem.
TED · Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TEDThe 8-year-old kept her hands tucked beneath her for 20 minutes on a chair at the far end of an oak-paneled room, while a doctor described her school troubles to her mother.
Her name was Gillian Lynne. Ken Robinson, an educator who later helped govern the Royal Ballet and who recounted her story, described her as hopeless at school in England in the 1930s. Her school wrote to her parents with its own verdict: "We think Gillian has a learning disorder." She struggled to concentrate, fidgeted, distracted others, and turned in homework late. Robinson added that today a child who acted that way would probably be said to have ADHD, a term for persistent trouble with attention and restlessness.
Robinson told her story as an example of how a strength can be mistaken for a flaw. Lynne went on to choreograph Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, two of the most successful musicals in theater history.
After talking with her mother for 20 minutes, the specialist sat down beside Gillian and said he needed to speak with her mother alone. He asked Gillian to wait, said they would not be gone long, and switched on the radio on his desk as he left.
Once they were outside the room, he asked her mother to stand and observe the girl. Alone with the music, Gillian rose and began to dance. After watching briefly, he told her mother, "Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick. She's a dancer. Take her to a dance school."
Her mother enrolled her. Robinson said Lynne told him over lunch how wonderful it felt to enter a room full of people like her, saying, "We walked in this room, and it was full of people like me," youngsters who could not keep still and needed movement to think. There she trained in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and contemporary dance.
She earned a place at the Royal Ballet School, became a soloist with the Royal Ballet, and later started her own company before working with Andrew Lloyd Webber. In Robinson's telling, her work gave pleasure to millions, and she became a multimillionaire. He added that another doctor might simply have medicated her and told her to settle down.
Questions people ask
What would a doctor today say about a child like Gillian?
Today a restless, distractible child who fidgets and struggles to finish homework might be evaluated for ADHD, which stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is a recognized condition involving patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. It is usually managed with school support, behavior strategies, and, for some children, medication.
What are Cats and The Phantom of the Opera?
They are long-running Broadway and West End musicals with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Cats is built around dancing cats, so choreography carries much of the show, and The Phantom of the Opera is a romantic spectacle set in a Paris opera house. Both became among the most commercially successful stage musicals in history.
What did Gillian Lynne do after those musicals?
Lynne worked for more than 60 years as a dancer, choreographer, and director across ballet, film, television, and musical theater. She continued to choreograph new productions and revise her famous shows well into her 80s. She died in 2018 at age 92.