GOLDEN DOOR SPEAKER SERIES: ANDIE HECKER

Andie spent her childhood in sunny Orange County, CA, playing outdoorsy games, writing “novels” and painting and drawing whenever and wherever she could. It was at the ripe old age of 10 that Andie stepped foot in her first ballet class, and only so because her mother bribed her with some Barbie or another.
From class one, however, she was quite literally in love. Thus, passion, talent and discipline formed a union that would take Andie from Southern California, to New York City in the span of six years, and then from student to professional in one more. They say it takes eight years to train a dancer…Andie shaved one off and made it happen in seven.
Her retirement came equally as quickly, due to a career ending surgery to remedy a lifelong struggle with scoliosis, a hereditary and incurable affliction of the spine. Post-surgery, her vertebrae would be forever fused, from upper thoracic to lower lumbar. However, because fitness and health had been a dominant part of her life for a solid 12 years, Andie healed and got back to full strength, if not anywhere near full flexibility, in no time
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No longer a performer, ballet remained an integral part of Andie’s life as she began to teach what she knew so well. First children and teens, then adults, and Andie found her passion shift into a desire to help women transform their bodies through dance and other forms of fitness such as Pilates, and personal training. The discipline of a ballerina never dies, and soon Andie was certified as a personal fitness trainer, as well as a Pilates instructor, and a full time employee of the Tracy Anderson Method in Studio City, in addition, she remained a part-time Master Ballet Teacher.
In the spring of 2008, Andie branched off to train solo, integrating all forms of workout that have kept her fit and strong since she was 10 years old. Namely: Ballet, Pilates, and even bits and pieces of traditional fitness training. Anything that keeps a person strong, lean, and injury-free is fair game in Andie’s fitness realm. No dogma need apply.

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Andie Hecker is very smart. I'm starting to get into ballet