Doing the Two Step

"My life has been a series of missteps," says respiratory therapist José (Tony) Lammoglia. He doesn't mean errors; he's referring to the many twists in his life's path that have taken him in unexpected directions. A respiratory therapist at Larkin Community Hospital, in South Miami, Florida, Lammoglia has also had a distinguished career as a professional ballet dancer. The energetic 48-year-old is motivated by an insatiable curiosity. "I dread being bored," he says. "The minute I have time off, I think it is sinful." He still performs and teaches ballet, tango, and Spanish dance.

Too Curious for Cuba

Born in Guantánamo, Cuba, to an Italian father and a French mother, Lammoglia speaks four languages (English, Spanish, Italian, and French). As a child, he says, "I was an avid reader, and my grandmother had a large library." In school, he questioned why the history written in the state-mandated textbooks varied from that relayed in his grandmother's books. His teacher warned his family that students as young as 10 or 11 had been jailed for such queries. After much soul-searching, his family decided it was not safe for such an inquisitive child to live under Castro's communist rule, and, at 14, Lammoglia was sent alone to live in Spain.

He stayed in Spain 16 months, first at the home of friends of his grandmother and then with Gerardo Fernandez, a Monsignor in the Catholic Church, who had taken in many children who had left Cuba without their parents. "I was so impressed with his example," Lammoglia says, "that I wanted to do the same." But Fernandez talked him out of entering the priesthood. "He felt that my (questioning) personality would get me in trouble with the Church. He was absolutely correct."

In 1970, when he was 16, Lammoglia came to the United States to live with an aunt in Miami. It was there, at the age of 18, that he accompanied a friend to her ballet class and decided immediately that he wanted to dance. He began taking lessons while studying respiratory therapy. When he won a spot with the Miami Ballet Company, his dance career took off. He stayed with the company for 15 years.

Over the years, Lammoglia has played roles such as Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker (1995) and the Blue Bird in Sleeping Beauty (in the early 1980s and 1990s). He has danced as part of a couple in ballroom dance and Argentinean tango performances, as solo male in Bolero (in the late 1990s), and in a variety of roles in folkloric dances. Along the way, he also completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Miami's New World School of The Arts.

From Dancer to Teacher

Today, Lammoglia often performs as a guest dancer with local Spanish dance and ballet companies, including Ballet Concerto, Ballet Études, and the Miami City Ballet. In 2001, he became a Tango Master Teacher for the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA), and also obtained a Master's degree in Latin American Studies from Florida International University. He teaches Spanish dance and Argentinean tango and also lectures and publishes papers on dance, dance history, Latin American studies, and Afro-Cuban religions.

At the same time, Lammoglia holds down a full-time job as a respiratory therapist at Larkin Community Hospital, where his performance is unaffected by his "extra-curricular" activities. Lidia Nolan, director of respiratory therapy at Larkin, describes him as a very good, knowledgeable therapist who brings enthusiasm and energy to his work.

Lammoglia has no plans to slow down either his respiratory therapy work or his dancing. "I want to prove there is a career in dancing for older people," he says. "We have this culture of youth. They think after 25, you're over the hill. But as for me, I plan to keep dancing."

"And I will," he assures me, "until my last step."

Discuss This Article

Have something you'd like to say? Tell us what you think! Read and post comments for this article.

Find a Job

Choose your career:

MedHunters is the world's biggest healthcare job board. Our job directory has 17,003 jobs with 2,377 hospitals and other direct employers.

We want you to find your next job on MedHunters. Need Help? Call us at 1-888-884-8242, email us at info@medhunters.com or sign up now.