Pitzer Alumna Finds Balance in 2/4 Time

For years, Johanna Siegmann '79 pursued balance in her life. Exercise, meditation and diet helped, but the Los Feliz, Calif., resident never truly felt happy in herself.

Not until a chance encounter with a 100-year-old dance.

Siegmann was born in New York, but was raised in Mexico. She and her family took part in celebrations in their small town and she never forgot the kindergarten recital in which she danced the twist in front of the community.

She returned to the U.S. for her college education, receiving her B.A. in English and American literature from Pitzer. She went on to study philosophy and psychology at Cornell. She also studied creative writing at Hunter College and playwriting at The New School.

Siegmann returned to Mexico as an advertising copywriter, but her career brought her to New York. After four years, she was drawn back to the stage and pursued acting.

Following a divorce, she took up the Argentine tango in 1995. The dance not only helped to change her life, but it also led to a renewed career in writing.

"I did not originally set out to 'write a book,'" she says. " My experience with tango in the very first minute of the very first class I ever took was so extraordinary that I went home that very night and began to take notes. These evolved into a sort of journal because I was applying what I was learning to life and experiencing enormous personal change."

"The Tao of Tango," published last year, is Siegmann's method for achieving balance in one's life. Even if a person cannot dance, they can learn to bring together their opposite -- or male and female -- energies through simple exercises and Siegmann's insights.