Throughout history, ballet has always been an extremely and incredibly elitist art form. In my town, which, let's face it, is small, like Stars Hollow, I had about eight consecutive years of ballet, jazz, tap, and zumba, respectively. I can safely say that ballet was my least favorite at that time, before the pandemic.
Due to a set of factors including adultification, discrimination based on social class, the formation of intense and aggressive social bubbles, comparison, constant pressure and anxiety, uncomfortable costumes that didn't make me feel good about myself, the constant search for perfection, the demand for physical skills that I hadn't yet fully developed. In short, I ended up developing a hatred for ballet, and abandoned it for a long, long time; because it was something I had practiced since childhood and which became part of an extremely toxic environment for me, just as it is for many other people around the world.
Despite my troubled history with ballet, I never stopped admiring it. Not that I've forgotten the problems that accompanied my personal growth in this physical and mental area, but I realized that I would never forgive myself if I let a passion die so brutally.
𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝐼 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑚-𝑢𝑝𝑠, 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑗𝑎𝑧𝑧 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑦, 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 "𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑙𝑙" 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝐼 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑. 𝐼𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑅𝑌𝑂𝑁𝐸, 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑠.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗜 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘂𝗿.
