There's no business like show business

Written by: Mason Villanueva '13

A ballet is a type of show just like a musical or a play. It's very different from a recital, in a ballet you are given parts, a character, to portray to an audience. In most ways ballet's are much harder than a recital. In a recital usually there are breaks or at least quick moments of down time. Enough time to get a drink, or change for the next piece without being to rushed, and you only have to carry out a character for a couple of minutes.

In a ballet you must portray a character for a longer period of time and usually there is only intermission for down time. And during my show Thanksgiving weekend I didn't even have intermission and I had one quick change that had to be done in twenty seconds. But the show I just finished last week, Decades Moving Moments choreographed by Gregory M. George, was a lot of fun and not too much stress mentally at least. The hardest part of this show was that I still had school and lots of homework to juggle as well.

            Every night we go through the same routines. Dancer call (when everyone has to be there) is two hours before the show, there is a half hour to prep for the show and then we have a forty five minute warm-up. Warm-up is all about focusing on yourself and how you are feeling, stretching out tight muscles, working on extensions, getting on balance, and preparing mentally for the task ahead.
           After warm-up all of us hold hands and make a circle, Greg says something motivational and then we close our eyes. Greg squeezes the hand of a person next to him and they pass it on, the point of this exercise is to feel the passing of energy flow between all the members of the company, to help create a sense of unity.

There as a special feeling right before walking on stage. It is an addicting sensation. As your passing through the stage wings (the curtains on the side of the stage) walking on to the stage preparing to dance there is a nervous inspiration. You can hear your pulse as your heart rate speeds up, your head throbs; and yet, with this feeling there is a sensation of such adrenaline, power, and motivation to attempt the impossible, to flawlessly dance.

            Then it is time to perform. I love performing and there are simply no words to describe the feeling of letting your body tell a story and the energy and thought a dancer puts into every lift of a finger every point of a toe. I do not perform for the audience I perform for myself.

The show is always done to soon and yet not soon enough. The hardest parts of a show is the in between moments when your not dancing when you notice the aching of your body, the ache of a parched throat, and the sweat dripping down your back. But for the most part the adrenaline can get you through those tough moments, and if it cannot you use the last thing you have sheer willpower.

            Whoever said ballet dancers do not eat was not all mentally there. What did we dancers do during the intermission? Ate delicious chocolate chip cookies. We weren't worried about our bleeding blistered toes or soar tight muscles and in one case a broken thumb. We just wanted to sit down and eat a bunch of cookies and that is exactly what we did!
            Though all the pain, sweat, and tears, there isn't a place on earth we would rather be than simply dancing. We all discussed one day how if we had to die tomorrow how we would want to die. Every single one of us, wanted to die dancing to the last beats of our hearts.