Sandra McGee
PDF Version OF Biography
Sandra
attended her first ballet performance at the age of three and began taking
ballet classes that same year. She studied with Mlle. Zina Torchina, a
Russian ballerina who carried the title “prima ballerina” and
danced with the original Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Mlle. Torchina chose
Sandra to be her protégé. At age six, Sandra made her debut
at UCLA?s Royce Hall in the Chopin Centennial and performed the “Waltz” and “Nocturne” from
Chopin?s “Les Sylphides.” A reviewer wrote, “little
dark-haired Alexandra Konecskova is a child destined for an artistic and
creative future.”
In addition to ballet, Sandra studied piano with the esteemed Bernhard
Abramowitsch. She earned the Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in
Music at the University of California, Berkeley, and later performed
with local chamber music groups.
At age 25, Sandra decided a performing career on the stage was not
her destiny. A chance meeting led to a job offer to refurbish a 1906
office building in San Francisco?s Financial District. This, in turn,
led to a ten-year career in commercial real estate. Sandra designed, leased
and managed office space for both a large corporation and her own company.
Following her father?s sudden death in 1983, Sandra visited a Hollywood
Hills psychic who said to her, “In your later years, you will be
a writer.” Sandra found this hard to believe as she demonstrated
no particular interest in writing up to this time.
In 1986, when Sandra married author Bill McGee, the psychic?s prediction
began to come true.
At first, Sandra typed her husband?s manuscripts and began making careful
editing suggestions.
In 1994, she was one of six co-founders of the professional State Street
Ballet in Santa Barbara, California. For ten years, she acted as Company
publicist. She also helped publicize events for the Women?s Auxiliary
of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.
In 2000, Bill and Sandra formed a writing collaboration that produced
The Divorce Seekers: A Photo Memoir of a Nevada Dude Wrangler; Pacific
Express; and Learning To Cope With Sight Loss: Six Weeks at a VA Blind
Rehabilitation Center.
Sandra McGee is currently Vice President/Director of Marketing for
BMC Publications. She is working on a screenplay based on The Divorce
Seekers and a semi-biographical story of her husband?s life growing
up in the American West during the Great Depression. She is a member of
Western Writers of America.
Ballet is still an important part of Sandra?s life and she appreciates
the art form as a patron in audience.
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