Liora Neuville was just 25 when she retired as a ballerina with Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB); the job of her dreams had simply become too much for her body to bear.
Though she had hung up her pointe shoes for good, the next phase of her professional life was just getting started. In fact, Neuville discovered that being a dancer had helped her prepare for it. “When you do ballet, you have to be in tune with your body and understand how it works and moves,” says Neuville, 31, of Issaquah, WA, a city located 20 miles east of Seattle. “You develop an innate interest in health and medicine.” She is now a registered nurse.
Neuville grew up in Paris, and by the age of three, she was begging her mother to let her take dance lessons. “I had the dream of becoming a ballerina, like a lot of little girls do,” she says. “But I never grew out of the idea.” She entered the prestigious Prix de Lausanne ballet competition in Switzerland at ages 15 and 16. The second time, her performance caught the eye of the artistic director of the PNB. She soon uprooted and moved 5,000 miles from France to Seattle, where she trained at PNB’s school for two years before becoming a full-time member of the company in 2007.
A member of the PNB’s corps de ballet, Neuville usually danced with other ballerinas as part of a group, performing graceful synchronized movements. “Swan Lake was the most challenging ballet to perform—it’s so difficult for the corps de ballet—but it’s also the most rewarding,” says Neuville, referencing the popular ballet composed by Tchaikovsky.
But sometime after marrying Eric Neuville, a tenor with the Seattle Opera, in 2012, her feelings began to change. “I was having aches and pains that I didn’t used to have,” says Neuville. She tore a ligament in her right ankle that healed, but the pain flared when she was en pointe, poised on the tips of her toes. “I had the kind of chronic pain that affects your mood,” she recalls. One day in 2014, Neuville came home and told her husband, “I think I need to stop this career.” She gave her final performance soon after.
Neuville had always been interested in science and had even allowed herself to think about a career in medicine as a kid—that is when she wasn’t dreaming of doing pirouettes on stage. She had already enrolled at a community college where she was taking general classes, which she paid for with her savings and with the help of a program called Second Stage offered by the PNB. The program gives performers a leg up to fund their second acts through grants and tuition reimbursement.
Neuville obtained her associate degree in nursing while working as a nursing technician at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. The following year she was hired as a nurse in the organ transplant division of the University of Washington Medical Center. During her time as a ballerina, she had put money aside in a savings account, and with those funds (and some assistance from her husband), she earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Washington in 2019—and graduated with no student debt, she’s proud to say.
Neuville recently accepted a position as a nurse in the endocrinology and diabetes division at Seattle Children’s Hospital and continues to work one day a week at her former job. “I was excited to work with kids. I really love it,” says Neuville, who primarily cares for patients with Type 1 diabetes and cystic fibrosis.
She also appreciates having a better balance between her job and personal life. Ballet, she says, “has to consume your life in order for you to be good.” Today, she enjoys relaxing in the evening and on weekends, without feeling any less committed to her profession.
When we caught up with her, Neuville mentioned that she and Eric are expecting their first child. To help plan for the future, she contributes to a 403(b) plan, a type of retirement account available to employees of institutions such as hospitals. As with a 401(k), she can contribute pre-tax dollars to her savings. And, in a twist, she’s helping to support Eric, who’s entering his own second act—he’s training to become a commercial pilot.
Timothy Gower is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in more than two dozen major magazines and newspapers, including Prevention, Reader’s Digest, Esquire, Men’s Health and The New York Times.
Inset photo courtesy of Liora Neuville.
Read another inspiring second act story: From Lawyer to Baker.