KRISTI ANNE NADVORNIK

Kristi Anne Nadvornik, 68, isn’t slowing down anytime soon. After her partner Patrick Ryan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she retired at 66 to take care of him. He passed away soon after, and so the transition to retirement was emotional and difficult. Healing took time, but Nadvornik is no stranger to starting over.

Nadvornik, who was born in California, was living in Lake Tahoe when she went to see a dance show in 1979. The inspiration hit her like a concussion. She signed up for dance classes in Nevada, and was eventually hired as a professional dancer in Reno. A 6-month trip to Europe led to performances at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and Japan. But the profession was unstable, and the lifestyle wasn't the right fit.

She moved to New York City and taught dance therapy to children with developmental disabilities. She would switch paths once more, becoming a legal assistant at a law firm, where she worked for over 25 years before retiring.

In 2011, her Czech teacher, a ballroom dancer, convinced Nadvornik to get back into dancing and introduced her to Mayo Alanen, a dance teacher. The rest is history.

Despite Nadvornik being 25+ years older than Alanen, the duo often compete in ballroom dancing competitions, most often in ProAm categories that include one professional and one amateur dancing as a pair. They recently participated in the Best of the Best Finale at the Ohio Star Ball, an invitation-only challenge where they got 2nd-place, missing first by .2 of a point. Nadvornik was at least 30 years older than the other finalists.

Outside of dance, Nadvornik happily fills her days teaching Pilates and spending time with her dog Ruby, who provides her companionship during this new – and lonelier – phase of her life. To her, retirement is freedom.

Why did you retire?

“I chose to retire because life actually got very stressful with both my job and my companion declining fairly rapidly. He had Alzheimer's and it just got to a point where I needed to be able to focus on him. I was working for a 24-hour law firm and always on-call, and I got to the point where I was ready. I'd been planning it for probably two decades, putting it off and putting it off, but I knew when I was ready. I was 66.
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It seems like it was just yesterday. The first year I was mainly dealing with my companion declining and then eventually passing away. So it wasn't a normal transition into retirement. And then going through the grieving process and just dealing with all that. But it's getting better. You just keep moving forward. Once I retired, I didn't miss work for one second. Nope.
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I'm still in touch with a couple of people that I used to work with and that's all I want so I'm good. It's all you need. I just filled up my days with things that I really love to do. Pilates, dancing, piano. I couldn't do that before.”

—KRISTI ANNE NADVORNIK