Uncovering A 'Past Life' As A Dancer

Professions can be defining, at times overshadowing any other interests or experiences. Yet a few simple questions can reveal some surprising stories and the many layers that make up a person.For associate broker Deirdre DeVita, with Brown Harris Stevens in Westhampton Beach, life before real estate meant being on stage. “I decided that I wanted to be a ballerina when I was very young. I was 4 years old when I announced this to my parents, and I never changed my mind,” she said. “I feel so lucky, because many people struggle with what to do with themselves, and I never faced that. That’s true with real estate, too.”

Ms. DeVita studied dance for several years, even graduating early from high school to pursue it full time in New York City. She got her first big break at a dance company in Birmingham, Alabama, and she picked up and moved down South. “The directors were very good, and I got great training and experience down there,” she said. “Birmingham was kind of like going back in time, and the whole southern way of interacting socially is very different. It took some getting used to.”

Missing her life in the Big Apple, Ms. DeVita returned after a year and started working for the New York City Opera. “It was very exciting and it was humbling, too, because you get on that stage at Lincoln Center and it’s just enormous,” she recalled. “You feel like you’re not going to have an energetic impact on a scene. You feel like a mosquito.”

As an independent dancer, she worked for several companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, where she assisted opera singers in telling stories through dance. “There was such an atmosphere of excellence and you’re immersed in it,” she said. “It’s a very nourishing environment.”

Working for a variety of companies allowed the young dancer to perform in a range of shows, from “Giselle” and “Coppelia,” to “The Nutcracker,” in which she might have done up to 40 performances a year. Some companies performed three shows a day, and dancers switched roles, so Ms. DeVita could dance the mother in the party scene, a snowflake, the Arabian girl, and a flower, all in one day.

After 16 years of leaps and bounds, Ms. DeVita transitioned from dance to coordinating ballet schedules in the rehearsal department at The Met, accommodating the occasionally conflicting requests of the director, conductor and costume fitters. Ultimately, she left the world of ballet to raise her daughter, Elena. And a few years later she revisited a longtime interest in real estate, which sparked when she was just starting out “while looking for my first apartment in New York City.

“I was fascinated by the relative value of things,” she said.

Ms. DeVita received her license at Southampton College and has found the self-discipline she picked up during her time as a ballerina—such as performing on stage despite painful injuries—help her in the mercurial world of real estate. Even on the worst of days, she has learned to maintain professionalism and respect, she said, trying to bring something of value to any given situation.

In real estate, “you’re contributing your service, but also your perspective and your energy,” she said. “I love my new life; I feel very lucky.”