(no subject)
Show us some of your achievements! Bring out your trophies, your proud moments, your fourth grade spelling award - anything goes.
This is me, showing off and wanting to ask, "So how many of you can do this?" To someone who isn't a dancer, this pose (and many others) probably looks like quite the achievement. For students still learning to keep their balance while practicing their turnout, flexing and pointing their feet under the dinner table or as they lay in bed every night, mentally moving through barre drills in the backs of their minds...this is a goal to reach and surpass. To the accomplished dancer, this is simply one more step in a repertoire of many.
For me, someone who used to dance, it is a challenge. One I try to meet every day. Every morning when I have the studio to myself, before the first rush of students arrive for class. When it's just me and the barre. Me and ballet. Me and the constant battle of wills that I have with my body. Some days I win, other days the aching muscles and injured bones, the leg that was once shattered and refuses to to be abused any longer...sometimes they win.
But not today.
Today, I danced through the pain and then I danced with it. Agony was my pas de deux partner, accompanying me and supporting me, driving me forward and lifting me up. It egged me on, encouraged me to not give up. I was in control, my body would bend and stretch, turn and jump at my say, under my command. Today I danced the way I used to, full of passion and certainty, ego and hubris.
That's what ballet is at the core. Pain and perfection. When you manage both, then you're a dancer.
Here's my proof.
Evidence of my accomplishment.
This is what I'm proud of.
What did you do today?