Ballet & me

Feel the move!

"Ballet & me" - I was sent to learn Ballet since 4. Heard from Mum, she just followed my wish at that time though I always thought that is her dream to be a ballerina. Can you imagine, I looked very serious when dancing as I realised I did not have a lean body and flexibility like the others do. Stretching was what I hated most as I hardly felt my legs after the stretching session or even someone stood on my thighs to make sure my legs were wide open as a ballerina. While for my classmates, they seemed to be born flexible (I thought that was so unfair.). Your body part is part of the criteria for judging in the Ballet Exam. We needed to smile and looked confident (As you can imagine, that was a huge challenge for me. Though later on, I told myself just to treat that as a performance. Just to carry a smily face on stage, who cares how you look like off stage ><, huh?) Besides watching TV, going to playgrounds, etc., watching ballet show video tapes was one of my routine in my life in childhood. Buddies and I tried to learn how to do every steps better by observing. Looking back, that was all wonderful memories. Simple yet beautiful.

When in middle school, I participated in a big scaled art performance, I used to do rehearsal from 9 till 6pm from Monday to Friday in the summer. I was lucky to see many ballet students in other schools, some professional dancers and choreographers. I began to feel what a small world I was at before (I mean the world in my brain.) . I worked very hard and determined to be the most flexible me so I can manage the dance steps and moves better. Also I felt the beauty of improvisation/ modern dance which can create endless possibilities and creative pieces. This goes beyond the standard ballet steps. This was really a turning point to my perception of dancing. Although I might not be the most flexible person but my brain allows me to fly. My almost everyday ballet practice is not in vain. Instead, this was the foundation of my art career. This affected how I perceive different arts and beauty stuffs in the world. I am in love with creation in terms of theatre, improvisation, painting, doing videos, writing, etc. Art is one. I have to thanks my mum now as she said you must not give it up too easily but just switch to other hobbies. You are very right. Persistence is a life-long learning. I gonna work hard on it.