Anneliese
An email arrived with a question, "I wonder how many other students of your Mother also named their child 'Anneliese' after her!"
I know many students revered and loved my Mother. The respect and following she has is well deserved. Her artistic ability, her knowledge of ballet and her ability to transmit her art to her students is amazing. A large number of students have come to me and told me that she changed their lives for the better. I have always been in awe of her charisma and influence on her students.
I had experienced the hundreds of times my Mother had spelled and repeated the German spelling of Anneliese to confused Americans, and still her name had most often been incorrectly written. I decided to change the name enough to make it easily understood to the American reader when I gave that name to my first daughter..
She would say to me, "But my friend, Phyllis, her daughter named her first child, Anneliese, and spelled it correctly!"
"Mom, there is really no right or wrong. Annalisa is not the German spelling; it's the American way to write the name. It is the same name."
"Well, it is not the way, I spell it!"
From the day my daughter was born Mother insisted on pronouncing her name with an American accent, and using a German accent for other spelling. She had a way of seeing life in black and white, and she determined what that was.
I recalled living in her shadow for so long, yet hearing others tell me she complimented me when I was not around. I know she believed that it was never good manners to compliment your "child" because she or he would get a fat head. On the other hand, Mom criticized her children so readily, I do not see how she could ever believe we would dig ourselves out of the hole she dug for us.
It is interesting to realize that each person has several faces to their being. My brother and I did not benefit from the artistic inspirational face of our Mother that influenced so many of her students throughout the years. We saw a different face, the face of a stressed single parent, were we behaving at school, our grades, the continual concern that her work took her away from us daily when we needed to be guided and disciplined, and the ever concern over finances.
One of the first punishments I recall at about five years of age, my brother was seven, and we first had a rental house on Myrtle Avenue in Walnut Hills. My Mother walked into the kitchen, took my hand to the stove, and hit me on the hand.
"Do not touch the stove!"
I did not touch the stove. That was what she did so that she could go to work and leave my brother and me alone in the house for a few hours. That was just how we were raised. It was a different time.
After Mom had some funds she was able to hire baby sitters.
We had a line of home care workers, cooking supper, watching us play, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Jetter, Ms. Lydia, to name a few.
Today I am an older single mom and I am eager to bake with Weslee. He talked about making Cinnabons himself, looked up the recipe. We got all the ingredients, except the cream cheese.
"We don't need to use that," he said," since we won't eat it." I guess he just decided it was off the chart for kids, regardless of what the great chefs had in mind.
Weslee and I worked the recipe together, and came up with delicious buns. I added a little extra butter, unsalted butter instead of the cream cheese.
"These are better than the Pillsbury tube buns," he proclaimed proudly. I am so pleased with the confidence my young man has in his cooking and baking abilities. I see his spark of pride, and it is all worth it to me. I do not need to slap his hand like my mother did mine. It is a different world.
My Mother, Anneliese, became a god to so many.
How does a person of flesh and blood, with flaws and issues become a fantasy to so many individuals?
I know this happens to many famous actors, singers, people in the lime light. You see one or two aspects of a person, and use your imagination to fill in the rest of that person's character. It is just surprising to me to see this in my life, to a teacher and to my family that I believe to be ordinary.
I guess we were far from ordinary. We had come from Berlin after the war. We spoke German at home, Grandma and Grandpa lived downstairs. And there was the fact that my Father was M.I.A. in WWII, somewhere on the Romanian front. My Mother taught Ballet, and then we went to Eagle Bay, New York, every summer where my Mother taught at Moss Lake Camp, Girls' Camp in the Adirondacks.
My Mother created and inspired dancers, worked with other artists and famous sports persons. She was in the theatre and in stage productions moving through the elite social realms. She received the Key to the City, several times. She had a day of the year named for her, the Girl Scouts Woman of the Year, and I am sure I miss a slew of others. Of course, her name would mean much to many of her students, and their parents.
I am overlooking her extreme physical beauty. In Germany she had also been in the movies, as well as dance. Some of her photos show how striking her facial beauty was. Her dark hair, in her youth, her symmetrical fine features, her blue eyes and light skin came together to create a dark "Snow White" hard to forget with her strong expressive dance lines. She danced equally well in ballet, acrobatics, tap, character, modern and Spanish Flamenco dance.
Anneliese von Oettingen
She had trained thoroughly in various fields of dance in Germany, but began her work here in massage therapy, since she was not fluent in English at first. Within six months of arriving in Cincinnati, she had a small group of children she would teach in ballet and tap. Her school grew immediately, but she would always be known for her German accent. It never quite left her, or she never quite let it go. She did learn English fluently. I believe she enjoyed mispronouncing English at times, to joke around or to make fun of herself. She did have such a great sense of humor.
Her intense dedication to the Art of Ballet was her religion. She was nurturing but firm to her students, and taught young and old alike, who were "in love" with ballet. She was definitely not interested in the student who preferred Toe-Tap-Baton, and she showed derision for the dance team professionals. She believed in the Art of Ballet, not to be evaluated by points. There was a basic conflict in her mind of these values, and never could she compromise those values.
Yes, she could check off if you mastered the turnout, had good posture, rounded arms, and a long neck to spot your pirouette, but as to convey the meaning of your dance to the audience through the music in the correct technique, no points can tell if you succeeded. Only the audience would know, and the dancer through their experience of giving their all have the unbelievable feeling of reaching some connection with the audience. They will know when the message is received.
I know many students revered and loved my Mother. The respect and following she has is well deserved. Her artistic ability, her knowledge of ballet and her ability to transmit her art to her students is amazing. A large number of students have come to me and told me that she changed their lives for the better. I have always been in awe of her charisma and influence on her students.
I had experienced the hundreds of times my Mother had spelled and repeated the German spelling of Anneliese to confused Americans, and still her name had most often been incorrectly written. I decided to change the name enough to make it easily understood to the American reader when I gave that name to my first daughter..
She would say to me, "But my friend, Phyllis, her daughter named her first child, Anneliese, and spelled it correctly!"
"Mom, there is really no right or wrong. Annalisa is not the German spelling; it's the American way to write the name. It is the same name."
"Well, it is not the way, I spell it!"
From the day my daughter was born Mother insisted on pronouncing her name with an American accent, and using a German accent for other spelling. She had a way of seeing life in black and white, and she determined what that was.
I recalled living in her shadow for so long, yet hearing others tell me she complimented me when I was not around. I know she believed that it was never good manners to compliment your "child" because she or he would get a fat head. On the other hand, Mom criticized her children so readily, I do not see how she could ever believe we would dig ourselves out of the hole she dug for us.
It is interesting to realize that each person has several faces to their being. My brother and I did not benefit from the artistic inspirational face of our Mother that influenced so many of her students throughout the years. We saw a different face, the face of a stressed single parent, were we behaving at school, our grades, the continual concern that her work took her away from us daily when we needed to be guided and disciplined, and the ever concern over finances.
One of the first punishments I recall at about five years of age, my brother was seven, and we first had a rental house on Myrtle Avenue in Walnut Hills. My Mother walked into the kitchen, took my hand to the stove, and hit me on the hand.
"Do not touch the stove!"
I did not touch the stove. That was what she did so that she could go to work and leave my brother and me alone in the house for a few hours. That was just how we were raised. It was a different time.
After Mom had some funds she was able to hire baby sitters.
We had a line of home care workers, cooking supper, watching us play, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Jetter, Ms. Lydia, to name a few.
 |
| Weslee 's homemade cinnamon buns |
Today I am an older single mom and I am eager to bake with Weslee. He talked about making Cinnabons himself, looked up the recipe. We got all the ingredients, except the cream cheese.
"We don't need to use that," he said," since we won't eat it." I guess he just decided it was off the chart for kids, regardless of what the great chefs had in mind.
Weslee and I worked the recipe together, and came up with delicious buns. I added a little extra butter, unsalted butter instead of the cream cheese.
"These are better than the Pillsbury tube buns," he proclaimed proudly. I am so pleased with the confidence my young man has in his cooking and baking abilities. I see his spark of pride, and it is all worth it to me. I do not need to slap his hand like my mother did mine. It is a different world.
My Mother, Anneliese, became a god to so many.
How does a person of flesh and blood, with flaws and issues become a fantasy to so many individuals?
I know this happens to many famous actors, singers, people in the lime light. You see one or two aspects of a person, and use your imagination to fill in the rest of that person's character. It is just surprising to me to see this in my life, to a teacher and to my family that I believe to be ordinary.
I guess we were far from ordinary. We had come from Berlin after the war. We spoke German at home, Grandma and Grandpa lived downstairs. And there was the fact that my Father was M.I.A. in WWII, somewhere on the Romanian front. My Mother taught Ballet, and then we went to Eagle Bay, New York, every summer where my Mother taught at Moss Lake Camp, Girls' Camp in the Adirondacks.
My Mother created and inspired dancers, worked with other artists and famous sports persons. She was in the theatre and in stage productions moving through the elite social realms. She received the Key to the City, several times. She had a day of the year named for her, the Girl Scouts Woman of the Year, and I am sure I miss a slew of others. Of course, her name would mean much to many of her students, and their parents.
I am overlooking her extreme physical beauty. In Germany she had also been in the movies, as well as dance. Some of her photos show how striking her facial beauty was. Her dark hair, in her youth, her symmetrical fine features, her blue eyes and light skin came together to create a dark "Snow White" hard to forget with her strong expressive dance lines. She danced equally well in ballet, acrobatics, tap, character, modern and Spanish Flamenco dance.
Anneliese von Oettingen
She had trained thoroughly in various fields of dance in Germany, but began her work here in massage therapy, since she was not fluent in English at first. Within six months of arriving in Cincinnati, she had a small group of children she would teach in ballet and tap. Her school grew immediately, but she would always be known for her German accent. It never quite left her, or she never quite let it go. She did learn English fluently. I believe she enjoyed mispronouncing English at times, to joke around or to make fun of herself. She did have such a great sense of humor.
Her intense dedication to the Art of Ballet was her religion. She was nurturing but firm to her students, and taught young and old alike, who were "in love" with ballet. She was definitely not interested in the student who preferred Toe-Tap-Baton, and she showed derision for the dance team professionals. She believed in the Art of Ballet, not to be evaluated by points. There was a basic conflict in her mind of these values, and never could she compromise those values.
Yes, she could check off if you mastered the turnout, had good posture, rounded arms, and a long neck to spot your pirouette, but as to convey the meaning of your dance to the audience through the music in the correct technique, no points can tell if you succeeded. Only the audience would know, and the dancer through their experience of giving their all have the unbelievable feeling of reaching some connection with the audience. They will know when the message is received.
Comments
Post a Comment