It has been almost four years since I started taking ballet. Ballet has taught me so much about my body and how my muscles work with proper posture and alignment. It also makes me love and appreciate my body more. While I do not have the longest legs or the most perfect feet, as long as my body is whole and healthy, I can keep doing all these amazing things like pirouettes, chaînés and grand jeté. Ballet is so beautiful that it makes me feel beautiful while I’m dancing. For the past four years, ballet has not only physically shaped my body but also served as a sort of meditation for my mind. For an hour and a half during each class, I can forget everything and just focus on my body and the way it moves.
I think it can be hard for a person who has never learned ballet to fully understand and appreciate this art form. I myself used to prefer watching dance performances in other genres over ballet, that was before I started taking classes consistently. Ballet is full of grace. It looks effortless and therefore deceivingly easy. In fact, to be able to move so gracefully on your toes requires an extraordinary amount of strength. A demi-plié to the untrained eyes looks just like spreading and bending your knees. However, as my teacher often reminds us, while anyone can bend their knees, not everyone knows how to plié.
I have been dancing here and there since college, some swing dance, Vietnamese dance, plus a semester of modern. It was not until practicing ballet did I truly feel like a dancer. I always knew I need ballet. At first, it was simply because I wanted to learn the proper dance technique. Ballet is the basis of all genres. I had thought that I would learn ballet for a while and then move on to contemporary or jazz. Little did I know, I fell in love! Ballet feeds my soul and makes me feel whole.
In college, I used to perform on stage. Once or twice a year, I would participate in student productions with an audience of 200–300 people. I would be very nervous talking or even playing the piano in front of a crowd of 10. However, when it comes to dancing, I am surprisingly confident. I love dancing on stage. Since I started learning ballet, I haven’t had the chance to perform at all. I am always happy to take friends and family to my studio to watch me dance. On the other hand, I also don’t feel the need to be in the spotlight. Even if I never have a chance to perform for anyone, I would still do ballet, for myself.