Students at Leisure: Katie Stanton and Her 'Dancing Cane'

Students at Leisure is a series that features the interesting and unique outside interests of Salus students.

While surfing Instagram looking for a new and unique hobby, Katie Stanton ‘24OD, discovered something called “leviwanding.”

“I thought it was awesome and weird,” said Stanton, who decided to pursue the activity in June 2019.

A “leviwand” is an object manipulation discipline where the practitioner controls a seemingly floating stick. It has its origins in the magic world dating back to the mid-1800s and is known as the “Dancing Cane” trick.

“It was just this little weighted piece of plastic with a stick on it. You put a loop around your finger and you can whip it around,” said Stanton, originally from North Carolina who received her bachelor’s in the 3 + 4 program at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus during her first year. “At first I would hit myself all the time and I was very clumsy. You have to get used to the physics of it and the weight of it.”

Stanton also found a likeminded community on Instagram that loves to dance to music with props — things like juggling balls, leviwands and contact staffs. Leviwands can cost anywhere from $25 to $1,000, but she opted to go the less expensive route because she wasn’t sure she would enjoy it at first.

But she did. Not only did the leviwand satisfy Stanton’s appetite for a new and unique hobby, but it also provided her a coping mechanism for stress.

“I’m passionate about music anyway, so to be able to listen to music and do something with it instead of just hearing it in earbuds was pretty cool,” she said. “It helped that it had a physical component as well, especially when the quarantine started. That helped me keep moving.”

The fact that leviwanding fit into her passion for music also made the new hobby attractive. A self-professed “marching band geek,” she plays the trumpet and piano.

But in sticking with her desire to seek the more unusual things in life, she’s taken up more weird, cute and random instruments to play. That includes the ukulele and, more recently, the melodica, a free-reed instrument similar to the pump organ and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole, allowing air to flow through a reed.

“It gives me something to do that’s for me instead of for school. It is something I can pick up in the next room, I don’t have to travel anywhere. It’s easy access,” she said.

Stanton’s path to PCO/Salus started in 2010 with the desire to go into graphic design at North Carolina State University. But she found out she liked photography and decided to attend photography school, where she eventually got into medical photography — specifically ophthalmic photography.

She eventually landed in the Duke University ophthalmic technician program, still intending to go into ophthalmic photography upon graduation.

“I was just going to do ophthalmic photography but then I found out that eyes are really cool and I wanted to get more into the field,” she said.

After she completed the ophthalmic technician program, Stanton thought maybe she’d travel to Oregon for adventure and optometry school. But when she toured PCO/Salus, she was impressed with the welcoming atmosphere she experienced.

“Dr. (Melissa) Trego was so supportive. The technology here is so cool. I’ve meshed with it really well,” said Stanton.