Ballet has always been a style of dance that I found quite boring. Watching the beautiful dancers leap and spin and twirl across the stage in their sparkly costumes, forming elegant shapes with their bodies and bringing the fairy tales in our imaginations to life, that I can enjoy. But peering in through the glass window in a dance studio, seeing all those little dancers who looked exactly alike with their tight little buns, expressionless faces, and sharp movements just sucked all the joy out of me. I saw an army of robots, all exactly the same, when all I wanted to do was burst out and show my individuality.
Now, since I haven't really full-on taken a ballet class, I never really understood its appeal. But I know plenty of wonderful ballet dancers for which classes are their lives and without them they feel empty inside. This video helped me understand a little more behind the thinking. Rio says:
"The improvement that you see is directly proportional to what you put in. You decide how hard you work, and you decide how much better you get. It's all on you, and that control is satisfying."
I also liked Rio's description of visualization. You take time away to sit and just think through things, whether it's a dance or your next public speaking engagement, and when the time comes your muscle memory will pull you through even if you blank on the spot. It's something that I do pretty often, but it was really something to watch her lie back and close her eyes, put in her earbuds, and allow her fingertips to trace the air as she danced through her mind. It was a powerful image.
Anyway- I don't mean to dump on ballet at all. It's a classic, beautiful art form and I have so much respect for those who perform it.
~burn bright~
Jess