T & T reader: Mary Hu
So, Tights and Tiaras is two years old! Hurrah! Thinking of all the stuff thats happened here on the site since I started it, I realized an important fact in the “history” of Tights and Tiaras: Everything is driven by you, dear readers. You give me ideas, you put me on the spot, make me explain and tell stories, you inspire me and are inspired by my posts. In short, you, dearest readers, are Tights and Tiaras. To celebrate the birthday, I will feature a Tights and Tiaras reader every month of 2012. Because you bunch are a diverse, great lot of people, and you keep Tights and Tiaras evolving and developing way longer than I would have ever managed alone!
So, from the bottom of my dance-loving heart: Thank you all sincerely!! Now meet Mary Hu, the first featured T&T reader of 2012!
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Mary Hu, our January reader, with her brother
Mary Hu is our first featured reader, and a devoted one she is. Mary told me she printed out our Tights and Tiaras posters and guerilla-posted them in public places for the grand public to see. That is cool enough to make the cut for the January TnT reader! Thank you, Mary and all other T&T readers, for your support!
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Mary, tell me a little about yourself – who are you? What do you do?
I’m an undergraduate business student at a private university in southern USA. I also really like economics, but unfortunately am not a huge fan of math, so that probably wouldn’t work out. J Outside of school, I play violin in my university’s symphony and love to read and travel! In fact, I just got back from an amazing winter cruise with my family—we went to Key West and Jamaica.
Besides all things dance and ballet, I’m also slightly obsessed with fashion, makeup, classical music, and Hayao Miyazaki movies. My absolute favorite ballet of all time is Swan Lake, even though I’ve never been a part of anything that has performed it, unfortunately. I really hope I can go to New York one day to see the ABT perform it—I think Gillian Murphy is beautiful and absolutely one of the best dancers ever.
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What is your connection to dance? Are you a dancer, a part of an audience, just interested in dance or…?
When I was 7 or so, I told my parents that I wanted to take ballet classes. Nothing special, really, just a typical little girl’s phase of tutus and twirling around. I ended up sticking with it for seven or so, and finally stopped taking classes right before high school.
Fast forward to freshman year of college, where I became re-obsessed with ballet: I signed up for ballet class again (thank goodness it’s part of our P.E. requirements), watched Black Swan, went to a show by the Atlanta Ballet, and decided that ballet is definitely here to stay in my life. J Right now I am all three of the above—dancer, eager observer, and 100% lover of dance.
. . How did you find Tights and Tiaras? What was it about the blog that interested you?
It’s kind of funny, actually—I was shopping for tights for class last year, so I Google searched “ballet tights”, or something like that—and I suppose your blog popped up, and I clicked on it out of curiosity. What really struck me was the simplicity and honesty of the blog; there was nothing superficial or pretentious about it unlike other dance blogs you can find on the Internet. And because English is not your first language, the writing is more sincere and to the point, and a very pleasant read to boot! I also love reading the comments after each article from all of these other people who are related by dance through your website, and that’s how I truly realized how powerful a simple little blog can be, under the direction of the right person.
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Do you have a favorite TnT post?
I don’t have a favorite post, but my favorite column is “Life as a dancer”, just because it is really fascinating to me to see what the life of a real dancer is like. You can read interviews, of course, of famous ballerinas and their day-to-day activities, but only rarely do you see the whole picture the way Henrik’s blog gives it.
Oh, and also I lied—I think my favorite post is “5 reasons to date a dancer”. Which also applies to other artistic professions.
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How long have you been reading Tights and Tiaras?
About a year and a half: it was pretty new when I first came across it, I think!
Thank you Mary, for your devotion and support! Tights and Tiaras wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you and all the other, great bunch of readers!
Check back for the other featured readers each month, and of course, for new, interesting and funny content in the new year. I can tell you, there is more than one scheme going on ’round here now 
Until next time,
Ta-Ta
