“It will take about three weeks to heal.” Those were the only words I dreaded hearing. The only words that I knew the doctor would say, but I was still in shock when I heard them. I knew that I only had three weeks left of my ballet summer intensive, and I knew that I had already sat out some classes. I had never had a major injury before, so knowing that I would be sitting out and watching class was a new experience for me, and experience that I thought I would hate. Until my injury, ballet had been my entire life. After dancing in the company on a two-week Mid-Western Nutcracker tour, I decided to devote all of my time and energy towards it, so having a setback was a challenging experience for me. I returned to my summer intensive for another …show more content…
Thoughts of never being able to dance again bounced continuously through my mind, and worry was often accompanied by those thoughts. I had injured myself while jumping; one of the main movements in ballet, and it had prevented me from dancing half of my summer. I was one of forty girls who were accepted into this ballet summer intensive, which consisted mostly of eating, sleeping, and having six dance classes daily. I felt accomplished being the youngest girl who was at the program for six weeks. I was heartbroken when I discovered my injury eight weeks after I had initially fallen and I ended up dancing for two weeks on a broken metatarsal before diagnosis, and sat out the remaining four weeks of the program. Injuries occur frequently and can be completely debilitating, especially for dancers, because dancers are completely immobilized when injured. It was then, while I was sitting out watching class and taking notes, that I broadened my view of my professional future. I have been blessed with perfect pitch, so singing comes naturally to me. I began voice lessons with a retired opera singer and I continue to train classically and in a more modern and Broadway oriented style. Previously, I had taken some tap classes at the beginning of the summer and took hip hop, jazz, modern, character, and flamenco before at workshops and summer intensives, so I had some experience with moving my body in different ways. I was eight years old when I danced “mouse” in my first Nutcracker performance, and I have been giving solo violin concerts since I age three, therefore stage presence comes naturally to me. Acting is only be adding words to express an emotion on stage, which I already do in dance with miming. Looking ahead, I hope to continue to pursue ballet, but also include musical theater as an art form in which I can fully put to use all of my talents and
I considered myself a performer, and after years training as a classical ballerina I expanded into stunting and tumbling. While on tour, I developed friendships and bonds with dancers strengthened by a mutual love for dance, a commonality over the pain our bodies endured daily, and conversations on bruised and broken toes.
Ballet is an athletic art form that utilizes muscle control, flexibility, and physical strength. It requires extreme discipline from the dancers and takes an extreme amount of mental concentration. This discipline causes dancers to have success throughout life and specifically in academic studies. There are many ways that dance can affect the success of a person’s life; however, there are two in specific that make dancers generally more successful. To begin, ballet causes dancers to be self-motivated workers; dancers cannot rely on others to push them to be better, but must have the drive within themselves.
Aalten, A. (2005). In the presence of the body: Theorizing training, injuries and pain in ballet. Dance Research Journal, 37(2), 55-72. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20444641
Li’s passion for ballet shows on and off stage through his arabesques, flexibility, fouettés, grande jeté and pirouettes that were nothing less than perfection. I understood that becoming a dancer requires commitment, passion and having a great memory as there’s many moves, routines and ballet terms that you need to learn. When I was performing on stage, I felt free and that I could own the stage as it felt like it was my second home. I also felt complete within myself just as Li felt. To perform on stage, you need to be light and graceful along with connecting to the music using precise steps, poses and formal gestures. The film used dance, music, scenery, and costumes to portray a story characterised by Li’s dance. Classical ballet dancers require the utmost grace and I’ve found that you also need a tremendous level of concentration and memory. This portrays when his choreographer Ben Stevenson asked Li Cunxin to replace the main male role due to an injury on the day of the performance to memorise new dances and perform them in front of an enormous crowd. Many of my performances have been in a group where we all need to be in sync and work together. This film highlighted that in order to become a professional ballet dancer, you have to prepare to work extremely hard no matter how gruelling the schedule is in order to
I had just broken my glasses. It was December and my elementary school class would be taking us to the most recognized Ballet, The Nutcracker. Because our seats were pretty far from the stage, I found it very difficult to see. Embarrassed, I walked and spoke to my teacher, she of course understood my situation and arranged for me and a friend to sit in the front row. Breathtaking was the experience, gazing at the beautiful ballerinas in their intricate costumes and tutus, dancing on their pointes, making jetès and èchappès, I remained extremely captivated throughout the whole performance. I gained something more than the experience however, I developed a dream that turned into a goal. Determined, I wanted to perform, to leave others in awe and hopefully have them experience the similar feelings as I did
Judith Lynne Hanna is a professor at the University of Maryland who focuses on anthropology, sociology and dance. She combines these topics to analyze how dance can help heal a person and help improve health. In a broader context, dance therapy is a recent form of movement that does not require any form of previous dance experience and focuses on “movement behavior as it emerges in the therapeutic relationship.” (ADTA) Judith Hanna focuses in on broader concept of dance therapy by concentrating on expressive behavior that relieves stress, disabling conditions, tension, and chronic fatigue.
The typical idea of a dancer is that they are tall, slender, full of energy, and lucky because they dance with all of the “stars”. Much of this is true, however, what many people do not think of are the many hardships that a dancer goes through in order to achieve their high status in the dance world. It takes much hard work and determination along with good direction to become a dancer. However, nothing good comes without a price. Dancers often times have many pressures put on them which can lead to physical and emotional damages. These damages occur through the pressures from the media, parents, teammates, and the stereotype that society has placed on dancers.
It’s amazing how a horrific and negative life changing event can encourage and guide you in the path of your future. The end result may not be visible when it first takes place, but the process of a recovery can be extremely educational. You see, I was provided the opportunity of job shadowing firsthand the fields of athletic training and physical therapy due to a knee injury. I believe the majority of people would consider a severely damaged knee a dramatic setback in life. I was able to find the silver lining during the recovery.
I have been dancing since the age of four. I started my intense training with Tanju and Patricia Tuzer, Debra Bale, and Linda Brown at Tuzer Ballet. I developed as a dancer, attending every summer intensive performing in every show, advancing from intermediate to apprentice to junior company and finally to senior company. The dance studio became my second home. I took classes in ballet, pointe, modern, contemporary, tap, jazz, lyrical jazz, theatrical movement, hip-hop, zumba, and African-Ballet, pointe, contemporary, and lyrical jazz being my favorites. Even w...
My passion for ballet ignited in preschool when a guest ballet teacher handed out a flyer. Beyond ecstatic, I held onto the flimsy flier with my two small hands to ensure that my mother would sign me up so I could dream of sparkling tutus, pink slippers and bouquets of roses. Eventually as my determination expanded beyond these innocent dreams, I faced the reality of ballet training: long hours, agony, pain, and sacrifices.
Bryant, Janine. "Dancers as Athletes." The Dance Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014. .
I have been a dancer since the age of 3. My earliest memory of dance was when I was too terrified to go on stage during a recital and I refused to go on no matter how much they tried to push me. Up until the age of about 12, dance had been just a hobby or an extracurricular activity. In fact, I didn’t even enjoy going to dance. I didn’t have friends there and I wasn’t that good of a dancer. It wasn’t until I participated in Dance Bermuda’s summer dance intensive in collaboration with the American Ballet Theatre in 2012, that I realized that I had a passion for dance. At the program, I was exposed to other dancers that were my age and older and most of them were much more advanced than I. So to avoid being the worst dancer in the program, I took to YouTube and watched hours and hours of dance videos. I researched all the ways to improve my ballet technique. I can remember trying to practice my pirouettes in the kitchen and falling onto the table and knocking a whole bunch of things over. I was determined to be as good as the other girls in the program. By the end of the two weeks I was fired up, motivated, and ready to get back to class after the summer.
Growing up, one of my priorities was dance. I started dancing at age five at the City Performing Arts Academy and at fifteen I began taking classes at Elite Dance Academy. From early on in my dance career, I aspired to be just like the older dancers at my studio. They were such beautiful dancers and I dreamed of growing up to be as talented as they were. I remember in one of my classes we were given the opportunity to watch the advanced ballet class dance. This was the first time I ever saw dancers en pointe. I was utterly awestruck. I could not wrap my head around how these girls could so gracefully and seemingly effortlessly dance on their toes; however, I knew from that moment that I wanted nothing more than to dance en pointe. Soon, I realized
Concluding this fall semester in Ballet II, I believe that I have gained huge improvements. As stated in my midterm self-evaluation, I wanted to spend my time in ballet to focus on areas of performance quality. I set four goals for myself to work on as well that included: stronger lower abdominal core, the use of my port te bras, releasing tension in my hands, and increasing the articulation of my feet. In addition to these certain goals, my hip injury has been a main focus throughout this entire semester.
As a prospective doctor, I can expect to encounter life’s biggest challenges. Life and Death situations will present themselves, and it will be up to me to make a spontaneous decision which portrays confidence, finesse, and accuracy. There’s so little time to ponder the best procedure to perform; so little time to waste. Dance has prepared me for this type of challenge. It has perfected the preciseness in my judgments. On stage, there have been times when I will forget my steps and my mind goes blank; anxiousness seeps in rushing with adrenaline, and the initial thought is to “book it” and flee, but my experience in dance has enabled my ability to make quick altercations in the choreography, preventing the ruination of the showcase. Similarly, when an alarming case presents itself, as a doctor, I will be ready to make an accurate decision.