Dance major

I loved rehearsing, and I loved performing even more. It was wonderful and exhilarating. It’s why I did it.

Julie Segall ’09 gave herself two years to dance in New York City while she took prerequisites for physical therapy school. The experience wasn’t a matter of failure of success, but just an opportunity to dance and sometimes get paid for it, she says.

After her two years, Segall returned to school and became a physical therapist for Neurosport Physical Therapy, where she works primarily with Broadway dancers. Her insider knowledge helps her identify why a dancer’s form is skewed or aid a dancer’s recovery from injury. 

Segall crafted her plan before she left Goucher, majoring in dance as a non-performance major with a concentration in dance science.

When she arrived in New York, just after graduation, she got a job at the front desk of a dance studio that no longer exists. A friend told her to put herself in the center of the dance world, even though thatmeant she wouldn’t be on stage right away. And when she did find the stage, the term “professional dancer” felt off base to her because dancing wasn’t paying all of her bills, she adds. “Working at the dance studio, I ended up meeting a lot of choreographers and getting to know different dancers and dance teachers. I ended up getting more jobs by meeting people and becoming friends than by auditioning,” Segall says.

Segall is glad she made a two-year pact with herself to do what makes her heart soar. “I loved rehearsing, and I loved performing even more,” she says. “It was wonderful and exhilarating. It’s why I did it.”