by Derrick Smith, public affairs specialist, Atlanta U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical center 
 
According to Army veteran Dari Pfeiffer, dancing is freedom.  

“It is joyful movement that allows me to, whether I'm totally by myself, for myself, or ideally sharing it with someone else, that is an audience. I'm able to try to paint a picture for someone watching of how this makes me feel and maybe do a little storytelling along the way.” 

Pfeiffer is an aerial dance performer, or aerialist, and instructor. The art form merges elements from both the dance and circus worlds.

“If I were to sum it up for somebody that just is like looking at me blankly, I would say Cirque du Soleil,” Pfeiffer said. “They have jugglers and all different types of artists, but when you see something suspended from the air – that is either a fabric or a metal-based apparatus or maybe something in between – that's what that is. We create a dance in the air.” 

Pfeiffer enrolled in college at the age of 16, majoring in English, yet later stumbled across the theatre arts program. While writing was a passion, she pursued electives in the arts, which included acting, voice, and dance.
In 1994, her path took a dramatic turn. 

“I joined the Army as a private,” she said. “At that time, I was able to find some improvisational dance classes, so I continued, and then I got promoted, had a family and different demands didn't allow me to pursue it. I kind of shelved it for a long time to the point that when I retired, I just didn't think of it as an option. I just felt very disconnected from that art form.”

After retiring from the Army following 21 years of service in 2015, the self-proclaimed ‘farm girl from Vermont’, Pfeiffer began to feel life’s challenges as a civilian with dance far from consideration. As a retired chief warrant officer and single mother, stress affected her daily life.

“I was burned out. I was burned out physically and emotionally, and I just ended up taking like a rest. When I retired, there were just a lot of other things that took priority, and it never crossed my mind that I would branch out and make it a second career, which I have done, and become an instructor. I owned a studio until last year,” she added.

She will share her artistic expression during the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival (NVCAF), May 11 – 18 in Indianapolis, Ind. The competition is for veterans receiving care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, enrolled at a VA facility, and who have competed in a local competition. 

“It was something I saw advertised several years ago and I had kind of reached out,” Pfeiffer said. “I've been a patient at the Detroit VA facility since I retired, but I didn't understand that it [NVCAF] was connected to my facility. I had seen it maybe in an e-mail, maybe in a flyer.”

Creative arts therapist Shelley Knoodle played a key role in Pfeiffer’s journey. After a three-year conversation about the Festival, the timing finally aligned. 

“Really in relation to dance and how that has helped me as a veteran, I have had the support of the VA, however aggressively I wanted to pursue that. Whether I wanted to show up more, whether I wanted to be in therapy, or whether I wanted to connect, the avenues are always open. It was lining up for her and was lining up for me at the same time and so this year worked for both of us perfectly because we kind of like, we both knew I could do this,” said Pfeiffer. “Right now, the timing is right.”

She discovered value in Detroit VA’s art therapy program and thinks it's important to keep sharing information in a way that allows people to come to different options and programs when they're ready.

“I think when we are supported by different programs and processes such as traditional or talk therapy or group therapy, we may reach a point, many of us reach, where whether we have a pre-established talent that we practice or whether we just have something we're kind of interested in, we find that we can express ourselves through any of the art forms whether it's writing and or painting or photography. For me it was dance,” she admitted.

By participating in the NVCAF, Pfeiffer looks forward to reconnecting with the military communities through her art form.  

“I have danced a little bit here and there, participated in some events very, very infrequently during the time I was on active duty. I was an artist and dancer before joining and so this is really kind of the first opportunity for me to bring something that I really love to do. I'm excited to bring it to the community and share this expression with them.”

Today, Pfeiffer sees dance as both liberating and essential to her well-being. 

“I'm where I feel really good and I feel really happy and I wouldn't have used those words over the years,” she admitted. “I would have said ‘yeah, I'm fine or things are good,’ but I don't think I would have felt I'm actually happy and this is what helped me get there.”