Category: Achievement
-
The Security of Standards
Ballet lets you know when you’ve gotten it right. Within the various styles of ballet, such as classical, neoclassical, Cecchetti, and Vaganova, there are clear aesthetic standards for technical achievement. A penché should look exactly like two hands of a clock at six o’clock, for example – one straight line from the tip of your…
-
A Dancer on Vacation?
What is vacation for a dancer? George Balanchine once said that “the time for resting is in the grave.” If death were really that – a permanent, socially acceptable and well-earned rest – that would be very inviting indeed. I once said as much to some gravestones in a cemetery I used to walk through…
-
When You Are the Best Dancer
I dream that I am dancing in an audition. I lift my knee in passé, extend and unfold my leg so my foot reaches upwards into développé, and my pointed toe arcs high above my head. I jump and cross my legs quickly in an entrechat and my legs cross high and clean so there…
-
Searching for Good Pain
When I was dancing full time, I sought out what I thought of as good pain. Physically, good pain was pain in the center of a muscle that you wanted to make stronger. It was an achy, tired pain. It was not pain in a joint, or a tendon or ligament, and it was not…
-
The Day I Stopped Dancing
When I was a full-time dancer, I never thought about the day when I wouldn’t be able to dance anymore. Injuries or illness, or a family vacation, would cause temporary lapses in dance training. But even these never brought me to a complete halt. If I injured my Achilles tendon, for example, I could still…
-
When It’s an “On” Day
When I was living a full-time dance life, nearly every waking moment was consumed with benchmarks. How close is my side-split turnout to a 180-degree line? How many pirouettes can I do to the right (spinning clockwise on my left foot with my right toe at my knee in passé) before looking balance? How many…