“Respect your body. Eat well. Dance forever.” – Eliza Gaynor Minden
I danced from ages eleven to seventeen, I did not get super serious until I was thirteen. At the age of fifteen, I moved to Kansas to join the Kansas City Ballets Pre-Professional Daytime program. Ballet taught me so much and I so grateful for all of the lessons that I learned from it.
How To Work Under Pressure
During the height of rehearsals, classes, traveling and everything there is pressure coming at you from every angle. You must remain calm and collected in the chaos surrounding you.
How To Constantly Adapt
When someone all of a sudden gets sick or injured the show must go on. There is a need to be able to continually adapt and be ready for anything and everything to change. Also, the ability to not stress out about the possibility of change is necessary.
How To Learn Fast/Focus
To go along with constantly adapting, ballet taught me how to pick up different combinations and choreography fast. There is always a deadline, whether it is two seconds after the combination was shown or a few months when there is a show. No matter what the situation you have to pick up things fast and remember them.
Strong Work Ethic
Ballet is a tricky thing because, in the end, it is entirely up to you to improve. You can be given all of the corrections in the world but if you do not imply them then there is absolutely no way for you to get better.
Teamwork
This is a necessary thing to have when dancing. When learning, practicing, cleaning, choreographing, or really anything. It is rare that there is only one person in a rehearsal or class, there is almost always another teacher/mentor or student/coworker in the studio.
Ballet is a time in my life that I will forever treasure. It built up a lot of the good characteristics that I have today, and I am forever thankful that I have parents that supported me through and through. If you are thinking about trying out ballet, no matter your age, go for it.