Choosing the non-traditional path
Dancer made her career work, despite setbacks
Joan Walton's passions are piano, singing, dancing and theater and that's what she chose for college in 1971.
Her father, a physician, raised a quiet caution at the time, but let her pursue her dreams.
Dream she did — and struggle — but she landed at just the right place, but maybe not when she expected.
More than 40 years after she graduated, Walton is a dance teacher, lecturer, and choreographer in California. She travels all over the country, and even to Russia, teaching 19th century dance styles.
Her path to her dream was not direct, but every step and setback helped.
First, she chose the safe path, studying to become a music teacher. Then she realized she didn't want to teach kids. So, she studied musical theater. She loved it, but problems cropped up when she developed vocal nodules. She dropped out of college and started a year of speech therapy. It occurred to her that she might learn voice therapy and help singers. She went back to college, graduated with a speech pathology degree, and got a job teaching speech to kids.
What of her first love? Still going strong. She involved herself in teaching choreography in high schools and that turned into a full-time profession. At age 30, she was finally a full-time dance teacher and choreographer.
Her dream didn't end there. She wanted to teach at the college level, so she enrolled in a Master's program at Stanford, graduating at age 45, making her more employable as a college teacher. Today, she teaches at two colleges and owns a dance studio.
Many life events threatened to derail her dreams; a car crash and more recently the Covid crisis, but Walton is exactly where she wants to be.
"I would totally do it again," she says. "I tell parents that no education is wasted."
