Cathy Rigby’s secrets for soaring at 60
Peter Pan never grows up. Cathy Rigby, who has made Peter her signature role for more than two decades, doesn’t seem to have aged much, either.
Peter’s secret is fairy dust, but Rigby, who turns 60 in December, relies on pulverized herbs sprinkled on fresh food and regular exercise to perform Peter’s cartwheels, flips and flying during her national tour.
“There’s something really joyous in doing the things I still do, although I shouldn’t be able to,” the 4-foot-11 former Olympic gymnast says. “It brings out that competitive Peter Pan quality in me. It’s fun, and it keeps me mentally much younger, especially being around kids. Their zest for life is contagious.”
Eating right is a good first step, Rigby says. Before setting out on tour, she picks fresh tarragon, basil and parsley from her “fairy garden,” so nicknamed for the fairy statues she and her grandkids pretend are real.
She grinds the fresh herbs with a mortar and pestle, adds sea salt, and packs them in a plastic bag.
Rigby eats lightly before a show and not at all for three or four hours before curtain.
Usually, breakfast is hard-cooked eggs, a piece of toast, a cup of coffee and some fruit. Lunch is salad, often with apples, pecans, carrots, balsamic vinaigrette and a drop of mayo with olive oil for flavour.
Her big meal, which she cooks herself in her “Peter Pan bistro,” as she calls her Dallas kitchen, is after the show, when she needs to re-energize: pork chops sauteed in a pan with a little olive oil, rice and chopped carrots, and fresh tomatoes and burrata (an Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream).
Sometimes, the menu consists of chicken and vegetables in a slow-cooker, with carrots sauteed in olive oil, a little butter and white wine.
The other essential component of her regimen is exercise, which Rigby has adapted as she’s aged. When she was a competitive gymnast, she worked out six to eight hours a day, doing 100 sit-ups at a time. When she hit her 40s, she discovered that a 30-minute session of Pilates along with light weight work and core exercises could keep her muscles strong without straining her joints.
She varies her workouts, sometimes raising her legs while lying on her back wearing her Peter Pan flying harness, other times lying on her stomach and lifting her upper body. While in Dallas, she’s gotten her exercise walking miles in the Dallas Zoo and traipsing up and down the stairs in the theatre.
The key, Rigby says, is to warm up for at least 30 minutes an hour before the show starts, something she sees the dancers who play the pirates and lost boys do, too.
Afterward, instead of cooling down, she takes a hot bath.
She’s attentive to her body’s signals, easing up if she feels a twinge in her leg when she lands or her back or neck while she turns, instead of pushing harder.
While some people let themselves go when away from home, Rigby says she finds it easier to stay fit without the distractions of being a wife, mom and grandmother.
“When you’re on the road, the priority is your show, so you tend to take better care of yourself.”