Transcript
Larry Lane: The thing about Skilly and her husband is they’ve traveled everywhere to really learn the dances. And they went to Cuba to learn the Latin dances, you know, back in the late ‘30s and ‘40s. They went to England to understand the dances and Skilly would go to California to learn the hustles and then she’d go to New York and learn whatever the latest dance trend and then she’d bring all that back to Tulsa and teach it to her students.
I’m Larry Lane. I’m a teacher of movement and Skilly has been my mentor for most of my life. First really came in contact with her when I was in 7th Grade, 12-years old. The girls wore dresses and the guys had to wear suits so I’d get a new suit and you would go into the studio and she just completely took control. She was running the class and you were under her charm. She had a beautiful body, firm and toned, fluid and strong and flexible and agile and it was an incredible instrument to see. You know when you visually see someone expressing themselves that way in such a fluid, effortless way, that was so exciting, you know, and as she got older to continue to watch her move and say, wow, I don’t have to accept the limitations of age gives me or what we think an aging body looks like because she was saying, hey, this is what a 50-year old body looks – this is what a 60-year old; this is what a 70-year old body can do. This is what an 80-year old body can do. That’s why so many people were drawn to her because she was so vital in that way.
Five years ago it first showed up. And I remember she wanted to learn some salsa dancing so we went to all these great salsa clubs. And here she is in her mid-80s and she’s out salsaing with all these men. She came out and her ankles are swelling. She said, “That’s really unusual. I’ve never seen my ankles swell before.” And I said “Well, maybe it’s her shoes are too tight or something,” and she had cancer, lymphatic cancer I believe it was. When she thought, “Okay, well, I’m just going to approach this and see what happens.” So she went to the doctor and she didn’t like chemo, she didn’t like radiation, she didn’t like any of that. She didn’t like – she’d never taken medicine her entire life ever and she stopped. She said, “I can beat this on my own.” And she basically did. She went into full remission. She approached it holistically. She ate really good, healthy food. She kept moving. She kept breathing. And went right back to teaching, picked kind of right up where she left off and it was quite amazing. I think everyone who experienced that with her and saw her with that were just kind of awestruck like, you know, ”Of course!”
She had five wonderful years and then the cancer came back. When she passed, she just kind of descend – like her body just kind of crashed and she couldn’t walk anymore. She was in a wheelchair which for her is just, you know, is unacceptable.
In the morning her friend was holding her hand and Skilly was kind of in and out of consciousness and sleep and she opened her eyes and she looked at her friend, she said, “Do I need directions?” And her friend held her and said, “No. You know where you’re going.” And she goes, “Oh, okay, I got it.” And she closed her eyes and she passed away.
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