Finding time for renewal is no easy task for full-time physician Dr. Shaun J. Gillis, a married mother of three children, aged 9, 6, and 3.
That's why she looks forward to her 2-hour dance rehearsals every Thursday night, which she began 3 years ago as an outlet for exercise and stress release.
Dancing “is almost like yoga for my mind or meditation—it's a chance to step away from what I do every day, all day,” said 39-year-old Dr. Gillis, who practices ob.gyn. in Bozeman, Mont. “I'm not mom, and I'm not the doctor. I'm just dancing, minding what my feet are doing. It's relaxing mentally, a chance to step away.”
A Montana native, Dr. Gillis starting dancing competitively as a freshman in high school and went on to join the dance company at Montana State University in Bozeman, where she specialized in lyrical and tap dancing.
Her dancing days were put on hold when she enrolled into medical school at the University of Washington, Seattle. “It was very sad,” she recalled. “With medical school and residency, I was too busy.”
When she relocated back to Bozeman she joined Tanya's Dance Co. in Belgrade, Mont. (www.tanyasdanceco.com
Tap dancing “has become my new favorite. But I also like lyrical dance; it's more expressionistic,” said Dr. Gillis. She's also adept at clogging, which she described as “an American version of Irish folk dancing. It's all about the footwork. There is not a lot of arm movement or upper body motion, but the steps are quite different from Irish folk dancing.”
She also admires the work of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a New York City-based company that tours extensively.
Tanya's Dance Co.—whose members range in age from 18 to their early 50s—competes with other dance groups in Montana during March and April and stages a local performance in June. Right before the curtain went up at last year's performance someone's child yelled out “Go Mom,” which caused the dancers to erupt with laughter, she recalled.
In the spring of 2007, Dr. Gillis and her teammates received the honor of having the No. 1 tap routine in a statewide competition. Such events represent a chance “to take an individual talent and turn it into a team sport because we compete as a team,” she said. “The judges score you on costumes, makeup, and hair—so everything needs to be very uniform.”
She said she enjoys such camaraderie with other women from all walks of life. “I interact with people that I would never interact with on a daily basis,” she said. “Nobody else in my group is a physician or in the medical profession.”
Dr. Gillis initially worried what her patients would think about their doctor performing dance routines in public, but she is over that now, and explained that many of her patients showered her with support and encouragement.
In fact, some members of the dance team are her patients. “This is a small town, so it happens,” she said.
Her goal is to keep building her skills and to keep dancing as long as she is physically able.
“There are some incredibly difficult tap moves that I watch my teacher do and I'm just in awe,” she said.
Adding that, “I'm constantly striving to see if I can get my feet to move like that or learn a complicated series of steps. It's challenging.”
Dr. Gillis noted that it saddens her to think she went 10 years without dancing, “because it was such a joy to get back into. Being a physician you have to maintain balance and things that you enjoy outside of medicine.”
Dr. Shaun J. Gillis described clogging as an “American version of Irish folk dancing. It's all about the footwork.” Courtesy Dr. Shaun J. Gillis