Illustration by Sunflowernan
Sara Warren
Barista at Vaquero Coffe Co.
Sara Warren thought her plan was set in stone — she was going to be a dancer.
It’s something she’s done since childhood, growing up in Perris, California, about half an hour north of Temecula. She’d continue dancing after her family moved to Fort Worth when she was 11, but it wasn’t until high school when Sara says ballet took over her “whole life.” After high school, she landed a spot in the Trainee Program at BalletMet Dance Academy in Ohio.
Then, at age 19, she made it — she became an apprentice for the Charlotte Ballet in North Carolina, appearing in productions like “The Nutcracker” and “Sleeping Beauty.”
But two years later, something changed. Sara began to notice she was losing weight more rapidly than normal. Keeping food down was a struggle. Eating became difficult. She would find herself in and out of the hospital — while living alone in Charlotte — in “the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Doctors thought it was stomach flu at first, but after undergoing an endoscopy, Sara was diagnosed with chronic gastritis. Still, the condition would never heal, and it became clear there was something more serious going on that would require more testing and treatment.
Sara was then faced with one of the most difficult decisions she’s ever had to make.
“I had to move back home,” she says, recalling the moment. “I couldn’t take care of myself, just in and out of the hospital.”
So, she terminated her contract with Charlotte, returning to Fort Worth to be closer to family and undergo treatment. Until now, she hasn’t received a concrete diagnosis, but “I can function like a normal human, which is good,” she says.
“It’s a huge life change to go from dancing every day and being with that group of people to [going] cold turkey like that, and just being cut off,” Sara says. “I have to be moving and doing stuff all the time — high energy, outdoors. It was weird at first.”
Sara admits the past year has been one of the hardest. For a while, she hardly spoke about how her physical health was affecting her emotionally. But she credits her twin sister — Clarissa, who dances with a company in Virginia — for encouraging her to open up.
“When I’m having a bad day, I can voice that I’m having a bad day,” Sara says. “But that took quite a few months to learn.”
Another life change happened last summer — Sara was scrolling through Instagram when she came across a Fort Worth Locals post about a new coffee shop, Vaquero Coffee Co., that had just opened downtown. Sara — an avid coffee lover whose father used to roast his own beans and make drinks with his own espresso machine — decided to check it out.
She applied to be a barista threemonths later.
At Vaquero, Sara says she found another family, building friendships with its close-knit staff. In February, Sara was able to make a small comeback to dance, guesting in a performance with Ballet Frontier of Texas — everyone from Vaquero came, she says.
Now 22, Sara is getting back into physical activity, albeit slowly. She trains and occasionally dances with Ballet Frontier of Texas, going at her own pace while continuing treatment.
Her passion for coffee has also grown — almost on the same level as dancing. Her go-to drink is the cappuccino, and she often finds herself critiquing the espresso at other shops. “In a way, I see it as an art, a skill, a craft. It doesn’t necessarily feel like a job.”
She’s also discovered another passion: business management. She got a taste of it in Charlotte when she was part of a showcase in which dancers would choreograph pieces for their colleagues — this was around the time she was battling illness, so when she couldn’t dance, she was given charge over the logistics, from scheduling to lighting to music.
“I always liked being the one in charge … I’ve never had time to grow that side of me,” Sara says. She eventually hopes to go to school for business management and pursue that career once she retires from dancing.
Among the biggest things Sara says she’s learned in the past year — she’s more than just a dancer.
“I learned so much and met so many people,” she says. “Sara right now, compared to last year, is a completely different person.”
A much happier person.
“I had such a set-in-stone plan when I was 18 years old of everything I was going to do — then, life happened,” she says. “I wouldn’t be happy with that plan anymore.”
