Meet Your Neighbor / Fall 2010
Meet Harmony True
In the second installment of our “Meet Your Neighbor” series, SLO LIFE Magazine sat down to talk with Harmony True. She is a long-time Central Coast resident, a dance instructor at the San Luis Obispo Academy of Dance, a part-time nanny, and she makes her home in Los Osos with her husband, Sean, a history teacher at Morro Bay High School. Here is her story…
Let’s start from the beginning. Where are you from originally?
My family started off in Oxnard; my dad was a fisherman there. I’m the oldest of five children. Just before my brother Jacob, who is the second youngest, was born, my parents decided that they didn’t like the direction our neighborhood was taking. So, they went up to North County and found this little house literally out in the middle of nowhere. I was maybe 9 years old at the time.
What was that like?
As little kids we thought it was great. It was on 60 acres and just a huge playground to us. There was barley growing everywhere and all these animals. When we first moved, we really didn’t have any furniture, so we just camped out, which was fine because it was summer, and it was warm outside.
That’s a pretty big move… how’d your parents pull it off?
I don’t know; that’s actually a really good question. It was a surprise to us when we heard the news. You know how when you’re little, you usually know when your parents are talking about things… it wasn’t like that with this. We just moved. In a lot of ways it was a pretty big sacrifice for my parents, but I think they were at a point where they were going to do whatever it took to make it work. My dad continued to fish out of Oxnard and would commute three hours, and my mom did some interior design work on the side.
Do any memories stand out about growing up out in the country?
Oh, boy… there was so much. Actually, I do remember when I had just received my driver’s license. I was 16, and since I was the oldest, I would have to pick up all my brothers and sisters from school. Well, I thought I was the cool big sisterand decided that I would let Kaitlynne, who was probably 10 at the time, sit on my lap while we drove down the road of our property up to our house. So, we’re driving on the road, and everything’s going fine, and we’re about to put on the brakes when she steps on the gas, and we crash through this beautiful white picket fence that my parents had just built.
Uh, oh… What happened next?
My mom was home, and she came running out, and there was all this commotion. I was able to stop the car, and nobody was hurt. Anyway, my mom just said, “Your dad is going to flip out when he sees this…” and I could see her surveying the damage, and then she said, “I don’t want to deal with this right now. Come on everyone, let’s get it fixed before he gets home.” So we took out the hammers and nails and paint, and we filled in all of the holes with putty. It was a huge job, and thank goodness my dad was out of town until later the next day. I don’t know how he didn’t notice it, but to this day, he still doesn’t know about it [Hey, Harmony’s dad… surprise!].
Let’s switch gears now – no pun intended – and talk about dance. When did you realize you wanted to be a dancer?
When I was 7 years old, still living in Oxnard, I went to see the Nutcraker, and I just loved it. After that, I started dancing at home all the time. I would dress up my little brother, Ian, like one of the marching soldiers, poor guy. So, my mom gave me a tape of the Nutcracker, thinking it’s just a phase I was going through. Once I had the music, I did a performance that my family would have to watch pretty much every night. After a while, my mom decided to put me in lessons. There was a local community rec. center, and they had some really good classes… ballet, tap, and jazz. When we moved, I enrolled at Class Act in Paso Robles, and that’s when I really got involved and when I first got en pointe [pronounced “on point” and it means to dance on your tippy-toes].
What was your best dance experience?
I was able to go to New York for dance right after I finished high school. It was such a great experience. When I was there, I lived right in Manhattan and learnedhow to take the subway. I shared a tiny apartment that, well, it really wasn’t much bigger than this room [this interview was conducted in a 10’ x 12’ conference room] and I had a roommate who I split the $2,000 rent with. It left me totally broke, but it was worth it! I mean, I got to live in this cool building with all these New Yorkers who knew what they were doing, and I got to sort of play along. But, really, the best part of the whole thing was being able to train with the instructors and the dancers from The Joffrey Ballet. They were amazing.
So, you’re living in New York City…
Then I moved to Los Osos.
Well, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, right?
I know, I know [laughter]. It took me a while to readjust to small town life. I took a job teaching preschool and started classes in ECE (Early Children’s Education), all the while continuing to dance. It was a couple of years later that Lori Silvaggio asked me to start teaching classes at The Academy. She really wanted to start a children’s dance program; she knew that I was teaching preschool, and she thought I would be the right person to make it happen. So, Lori and I met regularly for a couple of months, and we put together a program. I wanted it to be set up like a series of stepping stones, so when the kids left one class, they would be ready for the next one. I wanted the kids to really blossom.
You really seem to come to life when talking about teaching.
I get really excited about a new lesson plan for the month. For example, we may be learning a new tap step, and I get really excited about what I’m going to teach them because I know they are ready. Take the Thursday class - they’ve been with me for a couple of years, and they catch things, even though they’re just 6, 7, 8 years old. They’re like little sponges soaking everything up. I get so excited because they are going to come in ready to dance; then afterward they share the story of their day and what they learned… these new dance steps that I get to teach them. Then they learn a routine and actually perform, which is so, I’m sorry, it just gets me so emotional. Sorry. [We had to pause at this point in the interview as Harmony was suddenly and unexpectedly overcome with emotion… the authenticity of her passion for teaching became abundantly clear].
It seems that teaching runs in the family… tell us about your husband, Sean. How did you two meet?
Okay, San Miguel High School needed a volunteer dance instructor and cheerleader coach. They had just started an outreach program to try to get their girls more active in after school activities, and I applied. The school didn’t have a big budget, but we managed somehow to get some uniforms together and have a really nice experience for the girls. Sean was a teacher there and led a lot of the after school activities, as well. He would put on the dances and organize the games, and he would help with plays and those sorts of things. I would have to go into his classroom quite a bit to coordinate with him on all of the after school activities.
Was it love at first sight?
Actually, the first time I met him, I didn’t like him. He was very rude to me. We were talking about colleges and, at the time, I was thinking about transferring to UC Davis and he said, “Why would you want to go there, that’s a horrible school,” and he kind of got on my case about it.
I remember walking out of the room thinking, I
really do not like him at all. He is not a nice person. I don’t care how much the students love him; he is not a nice person. I just said to myself, “Whatever!”
Okay, take us from “I do not like him at all” to
“I do” if you would…
Well, some time passed and we started doing more and more after school activities together. For example, I chaperoned a dance that he had organized. So we kind of got to know each other, and it turned out that he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. We became close as friends, and I really started to like him. The test was when I invited him to come see me perform in the Nutcracker. He said “Ok” and I said, “Really?” and he said,“Sure.” Anyway, after the show, I asked him what he thought and he said, “You know I had never been to a ballet before, but you know, I really liked it,” and he told me that I was a really good dancer. And, I thought to myself, ‘Wow. This is kind of nice.’
Now we’re getting somewhere.
So, afterward we went out together for dinner. At the end of the night we’re sitting in the car, and I could tell that he was really shy. But we had such a great time, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘I know he wants my phone number,’ and was wondering why he wasn’t asking for it. So I finally turned to him and said, “Do you want my phone number?”
And he said, “Yeah, that would be nice.” So I gave it to him, and from then on we were pretty much inseparable. We’ve been together for nine years now. October will be our five year anniversary.
What does the future hold for you?
I want to teach. I’m going to continue to teach. I’m still going to school and probably always will. I love taking classes at Cuesta. I am going to stay in the area; I mean, I don’t think I could ever leave. I won’t. And, if Sean and I decided to start a family, this is definitely where we would want to raise our kids. I don’t think there is a better place, to be honest. Being married, teaching, and dancing has been so wonderful and has opened up so many doors that I don’t feel like I need to go a different route. I get to do what I love, and I get paid for it, which is a bonus. I feel very fortunate. I have always sort of questioned myself, and there have been times in my life where I think to myself, what am I going to do? Which direction should I go? But, it always seems to naturally work itself out. And, somehow I get reminded that what I am doing is all that I need to do. I don’t need anything else.
Harmony, thank you very much for visiting with us today. We are inspired by your passion for teaching.
Oh, that’s very sweet. Thank you so much.
