Sarah LondonPhoto: Daniel Meigs
Plié. Jab. Tendu. Cross. Arabesque. Hook.
Choreography, technique, repetition of movement. Most people wouldn’t confuse or compare boxing and ballet, but for professional-ballerina-turned-boxing-instructor Sarah London, the two are “so weirdly the same.”
Like most students of ballet, London started studying dance at a young age. Her mom put her in a class at age 3. By 10, London was serious about pursuing it as a career, and by 17, she landed her first job. She spent the next 11 years dancing professionally in North Carolina, Philadelphia and New York before retiring at age 28.
“I still love it,” she says. “I never wanted to resent it or hate it, and I also never wanted to be injured and have to be taken out of it because of that. Your body goes through a lot naturally in ballet and dancing, but I just wanted to leave when I still felt happy about it.”
Finding herself in retirement at an age when most people are just starting their careers, London moved to Nashville with a chair, a suitcase and no long-term plan. She quickly found a community class with the Nashville Ballet — “that’s what kept me comfortable” — but spent time seeking out what was next for her professionally. By chance, she ended up at a class at Title Boxing Club, and something just clicked.
“For some reason it came so naturally to me,” she says. “I think it’s because it’s like dancing. You literally practice the same movements repeatedly, you’re never perfect, you’re always trying to adjust just right for that perfect punch, or you’re doing a pivot or fixing your footwork. That strikes a chord with me, because that’s exactly how my brain is used to operating.”
London got “a little bit obsessive” about boxing — taking classes, receiving personal coaching and studying — and eventually Title offered her a job as a trainer. Although the two careers may seem drastically different to an outsider, to London, they’re one in the same.
“You want to have strength and flexibility,” she says, “and you want to have agility and a certain amount of grace, which seems odd when you’re thinking about punching someone in the face. But it’s true.”
Now, two years after starting at Title, if you want to find her, your safest bet is to check the gym. Her days start early — 5 a.m. to be exact — with personal one-on-one training at Title’s East Nashville or Midtown locations. She trains 20-plus clients per week, in addition to teaching group classes. When she’s not training others, she’s being trained herself, specifically in the martial art of muay thai, a passion she’s discovered in the past eight months. And in the little free time she has, she still teaches ballet, offering private instruction to students ages 10 to 18.
London admits that life has taken a drastic turn, but she’s embracing it fully and finding joy every day in her work. “It’s not hard, other than physically demanding, and that’s fine by me,” she says. “That’s what I’m used to. It would be strange for me to be sitting at a desk, so I just appreciate the hell out of it.”
As for whether or not she’ll take her career one step further and fight competitively, she’s not ruling it out.
“I feel like in the next year I would definitely be interested in taking a fight,” London says with a grin. “I would be nervous, but I always had stage fright anyway.”
