Ella and I recently came upon a lovely Ballerina Mime in Central Park. I have seen her once or twice before, but this was Ella’s first glimpse. The mime stands still as a statue until a passerby gives her money and then she performs some improvisational ballet moves. Always on the lookout for a good photo op, I must admit I wanted to give her some money in exchange for her agreeing to strike a pose or two with the pup for the camera. Do you think for 10 bucks she’d be agreeable to trying some sort of lift combo with Ella?

Anyway, I realized pretty quickly that I left the apartment without my wallet which is pretty typical. I usually forget something - cell phone, Ella’s ball, etc - and frankly I’d rather forget my wallet than poop bags which I have done before and was forced to come up with some very creative clean up solutions which won’t be discussed here. Anyway, priorities in line, I did remember my camera, so I decided to try to discreetly get a few pics of her from afar. The Ballerina Mime may have done a lift combo without the cash (how far does “pretty please” get you these days?), but my morals told me it was better to steal a photo from afar instead.

I found out when I got home that apparently the Ballerina Mime is pretty well known in these parts. Her name is Therisa Barber, and she’s a classically trained dancer who moved from England to New York City hoping to make it on Broadway. You can read a really nice bio of Therisa here, and here’s a short clip of her in action: