Preparing for Life Through Ballet

[dianna schneider]

You walk into a ballet studio for the first time. You hear the teacher
above the music; "Lift up out of your legs, stand up straight, focus,
plie, now releve` and hold, Now do it again." You are little scared,
not sure what to expect.
You enter the dressing area and prepare for class. First you put on
your pinks tights, then your black leotard, which is the dress code
for your ballet class. Now it is time to get your hair in a bun. You
carefully pull up your hair in a ponytail, then began to wrap around
to form a good, neat bun. You place the bobby pins in as to secure
your bun in place, all the while thinking, will the teacher like me?
Now you sit down to put on your ballet slippers and realize it is now
time to enter the studio for ballet class.
Nervously you go to the barre and look at the teacher. She is watching
the students file in and place themselves at the barre. It is time for
class to begin and the teacher starts the music for plies. As she
demonstrates plies, you watch closely, because you know you have to
execute her plie exercise. Now she says, "You show me." The class
places into first position; left side to the barre, standing tall and
straight, and the class begins the barre work. You perform the
exercise to the best of your ability in hopes of gaining the teachers
attention. Throughout the barre work, you focus, concentrate, starting
each exercise with determination and ending each exercise with a
little bit of uncertainty as to what the teacher is thinking.
It is now time to come off the barre and do the center floor
exercises. The teacher gives an adagio. It is slow and controlled. How
will I ever do this? The steps and movements are demanding, you lose
your balance, but quickly find the correct posture needed to perform
the adagio. Center floor continues and you struggle through each and
every exercise, but you persevere and finish.
The teacher is now telling us it is time to move across the room. As
you stand at one end of the room, you think, how will I get to the
other side? The room seems to get longer and longer as you perform a
grand allegro, but you make it to the other side. The teacher says
"Good Job, Now do it Better", you beam with excitement, she noticed
me, even through I stumbled all the way down the room. The teacher
said "Keep trying, Don't give up."
The class comes to an end so suddenly. The time flew by. The class
comes center and does reverence. As we left the studio, each student
thanked the teacher for class.
As you reflect back, after many years of ballet, you realize how much
ballet class prepared you to deal with everyday life. Ballet class
gave you focus, how to follow rules and directions, concentration,
self-esteem, confidence to tackle the hardest job, respect for
yourself and others, but most of all---Finish what you start.
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