I never had a natural skill at dance but one day, like coming down from the heaven above, The Royal Ballet came to give a performance of "Swan Lake" at Shenzhen Grand Theater. The special ballerina shoes, the coiling hair; everything about ballet locked my eyes onto the dancers and the performance, and from that experience, I was addicted to the world of ballet. Watching those white swans swimming blessedly in a placid lake and enjoying the warmth of the sun and coolness of the water, I excitedly pointed at those ballet dancers, exclaiming to my mother sitting next to me, "That's me!" and launching my dream right there and then.
As soon as I threw myself into the ballet, I discovered its greatest hardship: the endless pain from pressing legs and hips into unnatural shapes, pressing the instep into extreme litheness, bending down backward and so on, all of which are the essential foundational elements of a ballet class, meaning I was in constant pain. Ballet is art on tiptoes but I clearly remember the frequent scenes where my dance teacher held a stick and hit me whenever I tried to be insolent or wasn't up to her standards on a certain movement. I was always that little girl limping around after classes because of being injured from falling, being hit, or dozens of other things during a class. The initial inspiration from watching the Royal Ballet was now quickly fading and I constantly thought about quitting. Ballet became something toilsome and not attractive. Almost every night of the first year I danced ballet I would awake at night
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Struggling during the first years of learning ballet gave me strength and understanding as a person and I am more mature from the experience. I will be forever grateful for the experience of learning ballet because through that art, I am now strong in mind, strong in body, and strong in
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
When I was about four or five years old, I was introduced to Ballet. I adored being a little ballerina and would read the same dance booklet everyday, practicing the five positions and gracefully positioning my tiny arms and fingers to match the little girl in the illustrations. Because I loved dance so much, my mother enrolled me in Donna Hammond-Phelps
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...
Ballet is a beautiful and romantic type of performance art. It originated in the Italian court systems in the 15th century (Jonas). Since its origination, ballet has undergone many changes and gained worldwide recognition. Filled with elaborate costumes, cheering audiences, lights, weightless movements and beauty; ballet is admired by many. On the magical stage ballerinas can become whoever they wan to be, and perform in a world of fantasy. For these reasons, children, especially little girls, all over the world dream of becoming ballerinas when they grow up. However, becoming a professional ballerina is an extremely difficult accomplishment, in which few will achieve (Kelso 1). The world of ballet may seem to be filled with glitz and glamor but, behind the curtain there is an entirely different story. There are extreme demands and pressures put on these young dancers to be very thin and nearly perfect. Some of which include body and weight demands, competition, and social pressures. These constant pressures can lead to a negative body-image and even debilitating eating disorders (Price and Pettijohn).
Ballet has been an art form since the late fifteenth century, but society did not truly see the impact of ballet until the nineteenth century. Modern day thinkers possess the idea that ballet began with tutus and pointe shoes, but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that this opinion was observed. Ballet has come a long way. It has survived the turmoil of many wars and has changed itself by accepting new ideas and impressing the audience with its unique stylistic views.
in order to succeed. Ballet should be recognized as a sport due to the fitness, dedication, and
Living life as a professional dancer is my dream job. I wish to travel the world showing off my talents by presenting shows that will blow your mind. This job interest me because it's what I look forward to every morning when I wake up. I feel so alive when I'm either dancing or putting steps together for new choreography. “While working as a dancer, dancers get to study different types of dances, and learn how to choreograph routines” ("Dancers and Choreographers). I feel very blessed that I am eligible to understand movements and connect them to real life scenarios. I want to wake up to emails, messages, voicemails, and notifications from
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.
After I began to learn to dance ballet, I found out that these elegant movements actually require a lot of strength, flexibility of the bodies and brain’s participation to make it looked elegant. The dancers’ movements in the performance were so fluent and elegant and it is not hard to imagine how hard they had practiced, stretched and use the strengths to do all the ballet poses with their bodies look longer and longer. Their expressions also impressed me a lot. By looking at their expressions, the audience can easily understand the scenes and blend into the story. The performers actually not only are required to have good dancing skills but also are required to have some talents to be actors. Moreover, they also have to be good at expressing their feelings on the
Through dance I have gained a sense of balance in life by managing commitments to both dance and academics. I have the ablity to participate in a physical activity that enhances the understanding and value of a healthy lifestyle. More than anything, dance has taught me a sense of confidence. I feel that expression in the performing arts and a sense of confidence goes hand in
I had done two shows before, in 3rd and 4th grade, but they were never as good or as professional as GREAT Theatre’s shows. I hadn’t really heard of GREAT Theatre before my friend Brianna asked me to audition for The Hobbit with her in 5th grade. It was exciting to audition for my first big show, and it made me remember how much fun I had had the last two years’ plays. When the cast list was posted, I carefully scanned the list looking for my name, which I didn’t find. I was devastated when I didn't get in so I tried again, and again, and again. I just could not get into a show, and that made me even more determined to get into the next one: Charlotte’s Web. When I auditioned for this show, I tried my best to be the best; I spoke with volume,
Ever since I was a little, I have always loved musical theater and performing. I loved performing things like shows for my family with things we found around the house. There are so many amazing reasons to love performing. Like the spotlights shining on your face, the adrenaline rushing through your body, the feelings of being a star, getting to play your dream role, the close friendships you make with the cast and crew, and having all of your friends and family come to watch you perform. When I was little my cousin Sarah