Ballet.

Plié, Chassé, Jeté all day.

I arrived at the house, started walking up the stairs, which are shaped like a snail. I entered the room looking down all the time. In one corner I left my bag, I put on my ballet shoes, did a few stretches and sat, waiting for the expert class to finish to start mine. There was Nina, watching all the dancers, demanding enough, "ballet technique is very difficult, it never becomes easy, it becomes possible" (De Mille) 1. One of the ballerinas came close to where I was to find her thermos, I looked at her and said “You all do it great”, she stopped drinking water and said “ "Athletes work really hard, but never as hard as ballerinas" (Anonymous) 2”, I nodded and thought for a moment "ballet isn’t just a pink world full of glitter and tutus, it’s also full of pain and hardwork" (Woranitikosol) 3. I kept waiting for my class to start, the ballerina was leaving, but before she left she said to me: “ "Ballet is only good when it is great" (Croce) 4, so "don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong" (Anonymous) 5... "Don’t be afraid to be amazing" (Offutt Irwin) 6.”

My class began. While everyone was taking a place, a girl was talking to another about how her feet hurt, the other girl was saying: “Come on, "God gave you feet to point them" (Anonymous) 7, remember, "bruises fade, sweat dries, blood clots, and bones heal, so suck it up and dance" (Anonymous) 8”. I think those words hit me more than to the girl. The music started playing, Nina Novak was correcting other girls mistakes, she was walking by every single girl in the class. When she passed by me, she said “The arm, suit it; the foot, straighten it; and the knees, stretch them”. She was about to keep going when I turned and said: “Ms. Nina, "tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn" (Franklin) 9”. Nina Novak stared at the mirror in silent for a moment, then she stood beside me and bent; she was correcting my feet, stretching my knees, later she stood up and suit my arm, she approached and whispered in my ear: “ "Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best" (Kantuna) 10”. I looked at her and responded “ "Master technique, then forget it and be natural" (Pavlova) 11”.

Nina Novak smiled, she knew a great ballerina said that quote years ago, so she understood me really fast. For the first time in my 7 months of ballet, Nina stopped the music, clapped three times and said “Well well girls, today we are having a different class, we would not do the same routine, "ballet is a dance executed by the human soul" (Pushkin) 12, so I would play the CD and you can do whatever you want, that is what it is all about, "dance first, think later, it is the natural order" (Beckett) 13”. I was surprised, but I really

...