The Heartbeat of Ballet: Exploring Why This Art Form Holds My Soul Now and Forever!

Introduction: Setting the stage for my personal journey…

” My sister is the one who really fuelled my love and passion for ballet that encouraged my imagination to grow and for all those ballets she recorded on our VHS machine from the telly! She is my best friend and one of my favourite humans on earth “

Falling in Love: How Ballet Captured My Heart and Imagination…

My sister would arrive at a ballet performance at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre wearing a long, black trench coat that concealed more than just her outfit of the night, but would also be holding another secret… Me! I recall so clearly how she would tell me to stay quiet so that she could sneak me into the theatre so that I too, could enjoy the performance of Giselle with guest artist from The Bolshoi, prima ballerina, Alla Mikhalchenko as well as many other ballets. To this day, I am convinced that she paid for my tickets, but to make the whole experience a more thrilling one for me she would “hide” me. My sister was a huge advocate for growing the imagination, in fact she still is this way, even now! These visits to the Theatre with my best friend left an impressionable mark on my soul and further deepened my passion for ballet.

My formative years not only consisted of my sister giving me ballet lessons while I used the huge speaker of the Technics sounds system we were lucky enough to have, as a barre and clandestine visits to the Theatre, but also the repetitive watching of my favourite ballets and documentaries that helped shape my future in ballet.

I have linked below some of the ballets that I watched on repeat over and over again over the next few years that made my connection to the art form so deep as well as seriously piquing my interest.

If you take the time to watch some of these, then you will see the standard of which my “barre” was raised with my attitude towards artistry, performance, athleticism and technique, all of which are supremely important in ballet. It almost feels that in this present era of ballet it has become more about flexibility and endurance as opposed to the former which is what ballet was intended to be. We seem to have watered down the performance and artistry of ballet as the years have progressed. I am all for the fact that ballet has become more scientific, being a qualified Cecchetti ballet instructor myself, but the love and passion that should be expressed by the dancer and felt by the audience seems to have become obsolete.

Embracing Challenges: How Ballet Has Shaped My Character and Resilience…

I realise now, how that previous paragraph could have been a full on rant, which is why I am moving onto the next point… I will keep the rest of the afore mentioned sentiments for another blog post that I will do in the near future.

I am sure you have heard of the saying (without running the risk of sounding prolix) “it is every little girls dream to become a ballerina wearing a tiara” well, in my case it was the resolute truth… that is until I started to realise that ballet is in fact, extremely difficult. It requires hard work as well as unwavering commitment! It got to the point where I would begin saying things to my mom like, “I have a headache” or “my tummy is so sore, I can’t go to ballet” that my commitment started to wane. Even though these were the words coming out of my mouth frequently, I never once actually uttered the words, “I want to quit” to my mom. My mom, bless her, never ever forced me to go to ballet when I complained and would let me just miss those many classes. In doing so, she never made me start to hate or resent it, in fact it kept me attending ballet all of my years up until the age of 20 years old.

In many cases when one gets forced to continue something, it builds up resentment and as time passes by the more one loses respect for what one initially admired and enjoyed. It is at this point where I beseech you, if you are a parent of a budding ballet dancer, to just allow your youngen time off when they ask for it, even when they do so in not so many words. I think that if my mom had forced me go to ballet when I wasn’t “feeling up to it” – that would have been the noose around the neck that would have killed my love and passion.

Ballet never got any easier I can tell you that much, but I, after many years of practicing weekly the same, “boring” old steps and movements I started to see progress. Ballet can make one feel like a princess and that the world is your oyster, but equally it can make you feel defeated and exhausted. As I went on to the higher levels of ballet I had to really dig deep and keep pushing myself harder and harder so that I could eventually achieve my goals of doing my Advanced 11 Cechetti ballet exam as well as my teachers in the Cecchetti ballet method. Had I given up I would have in essence wasted all those years of trying and pushing myself, because ballet would have ended up being lost for me and now I wouldn’t be able to appreciate it or share it in the way that I do now.

I thank my mom for always being there for me: being my taxi, driving me to ballet lessons which in the later years of ballet was an hour commute to ballet and an hour drive back home; being my personal masseus and personal psycologist. I also owe my thanks to my dad, who when I was wanting to stop ballet at the age of 19 years old, before completing my big exams due to reasons I’ll go into in another post, pushed me to continue so that I could qualify with some of the highest qualifications in the Cecchetti ballet method. My parents also financed my whole ballet career from little to 21 and even now support me and cheer for me on a daily basis!

Beyond the Studio: How Ballet Influences My Everyday Perspectives and Actions…

In preparation for my Advanced 11 ballet exam I was training hard, Monday to Saturday 8am-6pm. In fact, I was training so hard at that stage that I needed to take one whole month off of Matric to ensure that I would be ready for this exam, as I had never been pushed by a teacher until this teacher got hold of me. Three days before the exam I went up on pointe while performing my variation for the exam I was about to take and we all heard CRACK! over the music… I then continued to dance on a broken foot for the rest of the afternoon. Needless to say, I couldn’t do the highly anticipated ballet exam which broke my heart and my spirit. The following year I returned to ballet and managed to complete my Advanced 11 as well as my teachers while suffering through severe shin splints and building up strength after having an injury that kept me off my foot for eight weeks.

It’s crazy to me while thinking back on all that drama that I am so thankful it all happened to me, it helped me to realise that I needed to be pushed, I needed to learn how to push myself harder and that I needed to prove to myself that I can do this and if I can do this, I can do anything. I have since then taken all those hard knocks and tried to instil the lessons I learned into my own ballet pupils and into every aspect of my life. I am so grateful that ballet has been a part of my life that has made me hungry for success and to strive for things that most people would have given up on by now. Tenacity – ballet breeds tenacity!

Sharing the Joy: Spreading the Magic of Ballet to Those Around Me…

Since my days of dancing and prepping for exams almost every year since starting ballet at 4 years old, I have pursued many different aspects of ballet, which have brought me full circle to the place I find myself now – starting a blog about ballet.

At two different times in my life I had 2 ballet studios. I taught all different ages, from toddlers at the tender age of three all the way through to Advanced 1 level as well as adult beginners. Closer towards where I was closing my last studio I stumbled across TikTok and started to share my love of ballet on there… My TikTok account has been focussed on fashion, vlogs, tech and random content – but one thing that has remained constant throughout for the five years on the app is that I always have incorporated ballet. I feel that my videos bring people joy, because they bring me joy to make.

Inviting Others to Explore: Encouraging Readers to Discover Their Own Connection to Ballet…

It is my goal on this blog and on my socials to inspire ballet dancers whether they are just starting or have been training rigorously for years. Ballet was not only intended for the elite or girls with the “perfect ballet body”, but it is for anyone who loves the art from, whether you are a beginner dancer, professional or even for those of you who just admire the art and enjoy watching it. We all make the world go round and this ballet world needs diversity and passion from everywhere and as many people as possible if we want this art to stand the test of time for many years into the future where AI is starting to take over and remove human connection.

Final Thoughts: A Heartfelt Thank You and a Hopeful Farewell

I cordially want to thank you for reading this first blog post of mine, I hope to see you in the future ones where we continue our chats about the glorious world of ballet. I encourage you to subscribe to this blog and to go watch the videos I linked at the start of this post. And if you wish I would love for you to go check out all my socials and come say hi! Until the next one, Révérence.