Grace under pressure: a ballerina finds inner strength from her vegan lifestyle - Romy Karz

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 1995 by Toni Apgar

HER WALK IS MORE LIKE a glide across the room, her hand movements soft and full of expression. But when she starts to talk, the words are less graceful. She hesitates, tilts her head a bit and says slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't really know if I would encourage my daughter to be a professional ballerina."

To Romy Karz, the road to becoming a soloist with the nascent Los Angeles Ballet has been long and hard--not something she recommends to others unless they are absolutely passionate about dance. She dances up to 12 hours a day, a schedule she has kept since joining the New York City Ballet just after high school at age 18.

Now 27, she has two knee operations behind her and a schedule ahead of her that would make anyone cringe. Dancing six days a week, she doesn't know her agenda for the next day until 9 p.m. the night before. Will she be rehearsing or performing?

Where must she be and at what time? There is almost no time for a personal life: appointments, grocery shopping, laundry--all must be done on Monday, her day off. Then there is the grueling 20-week tour that she faces this fall and winter.

Still, she is proud of her accomplishments on stage and off. "On a good day, dancing is rewarding and wonderfully fulfilling. On a bad day, it is hard and the politics are difficult," she says. At all times, though, she takes pride in her vegan lifestyle and relishes her ability to bring a greater understanding of how one life connects to another to a group that is, by many accounts, usually self-absorbed. "I think of things I can do to help the world. For example, dancers are very concerned about their makeup. I circulate information to all of them about what companies do animal-testing and which ones don't. I wrote an article in our dance company's newsletter about makeup and animal testing." If she sees someone using a product that she knows has been tested on animals, or one that is marketed by a company that does a lot of animal testing or research, she quickly falls into what may be a natural role for her as a teacher. Two years ago, with the help of her mother she assembled a small group of disabled children so that she could teach them "how to move and express themselves with their bodies. I wanted them to have an awareness of their body and what they can become and what they can express with it, without feeling judged."

She also teaches by example. Vegetarian since the age of 7 and vegan for six years, she has overcome the naysayers about how her diet affects her performance. Back injuries, ankle sprains, pinched nerves--all have healed nicely. "I have a lot of stamina and energy, and I have had to deal with a lot of skeptics," she says.