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26-year-old begins ballet for the first time
I have liked ballet for a very long time, but I developed an interest in it later in life than a lot of other ballet people do -- around the age of 11 or 12. Just how I developed a taste for it is still a mystery to me, because my parents weren't into the classical arts and never
encouraged me in that direction, and I never had any friends who were into ballet either.
But when I was about 11, my father took me to see a production of the Nutcracker, which was put on by the Metropolitan Ballet of Wichita. I had been interested in ballet for some time before this, but I believe my passion really took off after seeing that production. I was especially intrigued by the "snowflake waltz" scene and the Sugar Plum Fairy, which was performed by a lovely ballerina named Nancy Hervey,who would come into my life years later and touch it in a unique way. I remembered the graceful way in which she danced and the pretty pink
costume that she wore, and I wished I could dance like that.
Later on, at home, I would put on some ballet music and attempted to imitate what I had seen. I had -- and still have -- very strong ankles and toes and can easily balance on the tips of my toes without pointe shoes, something that really convinced me then that I was cut out for
ballet. I also begged my parents for ballet lessons, but they did not think that it was something that was necessary for me to learn. So my ballet dream would have to wait.
Fifteen years passed in the meantime, and for a while my ballet dream became dormant, waiting for something to touch it and inspire it to come back to life. I grew up and went to college in Florida, but since the college I went to did not offer ballet and I was up to my neck in
homework anyway, I had to wait a little longer. However, some time before that, I had picked up an old pair of pointe shoes at a garage sale and for whatever reason, I had brought them to college with me. I would put them on and waltz around around my dorm room. I could spin and jump around on my toes well enough to make my friends think that I had ballet lessons, when in reality I had never set foot inside a ballet studio in my life. It was fun to do that, but I wanted real lessons.
After nearly six years in Florida I came home to Kansas after my dream of living in Florida fell through. For a while my ballet dream was all but dead, but about a year after I came home, my ballet dream revived itself. I saw a production of the Nutcracker at a local university and
thought to myself, "I can do that," as I watched the dancers whirl about on their pointes on the stage. And once again, I knew that I had to learn ballet, just as strongly as I had at the age of 11. But the difference this time was that I was grown up, with a job and a car of my own. Almost immediately after the performance, I started seeking out dance schools.
I wanted a school that specialized only in classical ballet, because I wanted to make sure that I was learning the right technique. There were dozens of dance schools in Wichita, but there were only two classical-ballet-only schools. The first place I checked wasn't offering
any adult beginner classes until summer. It was January then and I was not about to wait that long, not after waiting fifteen years to take lessons.
So the next place I decided to try out was the one connected with the Metropolitan Ballet of Wichita. It was run by a Nancy Hervey -- the same one that I had seen dancing in the Nutcracker some fifteen years before. For some reason her name had stayed in my mind all those years, and I remembered that when I was searching out a ballet school.
On the day after New Year's in 2002, I went to the school to see for myself if it was the kind of place where my ballet dream would come true. I went inside and started to look at all the pictures and notices posted up on the bulletin boards, wondering where I could go to inquire about ballet lessons. As I was looking, a pretty, middle-aged lady came up to me and asked if I needed help. I asked her if they had any adult beginner classes and she said they had one that met once a week. The class had actually started in September, but the school was always
accepting new students. She then gave me a brochure to look at, and since they were having an adult class that night, I asked her if I could come and watch it. She said I could, so I left and made plans to come back later on that evening.
I was impressed with the class that I saw. There were about four women there, two in their forties and two about my age. The instructor was the woman who had helped me earlier. She seemed like a good teacher -- she
did not pressure anyone and she seemed to really enjoy what she was doing. The exercises were done slowly enough and repeated enough times that I felt I could easily pick them up. I was confident that I would have no trouble fitting in. The students in the class too, were very friendly to me and a couple of them asked if I was planning to join. I knew right then that this was exactly the place for me.
Right after the class I told the teacher that I wanted to join the class, and we went together to her office so I could enroll. On the way to her office she stopped to talk to someone, and I found myself looking around at the other people in the school, some students, some parents of
students, and some women I took to be instructors. I thought again about the Nancy Hervey that I had seen years before and wondered which one of the women she was. It didn't take me very long to find out. As the instructor of the class I had watched finished her conversation, the
man she had been talking to said, "Thanks, Nancy." I let out a little gasp of surprise. So that was her!
I enrolled in the school that very night, and for a week I lived in a state of excitement. Unlike the younger students, adults were not required to wear a uniform color of leotards and tights, so I had the fun of choosing my own ballet outfit. I went out a bought a black leotard with three-quarter length sleeves, a frilly pink skirt, tights and pink ballet slippers.
When my first class came, I was rather nervous. I had had no previous ballet training whatsoever before that class, though I had read up a little on it, and the others had been in class since September. A couple of the dancers about my age had taken ballet lessons as children, but for some reason or another had quit for a while.
For a time it was difficult as I watched the others and tried to imitate them, but the teacher was very helpful and patient with me, and the other students didn't seem at all to mind that I was rather awkward and uncoordinated. But even though I found ballet much more challenging than I imagined it ever would be, I loved it right from the very beginning and wanted to go on learning it. Even after I woke up the day after my first class with sore, stiff legs and I had an idea of what ballet was really like, I still wanted to continue.
As with any adult beginner, I had disadvantages. I was 26 years old, energetic but not very limber, athletic, graceful or coordinated, though those things are coming slowly but surely. But I also had several advantages. At 88 pounds and 5'1, I was very petite, slender and light
on my feet -- I looked like a ballerina even if I couldn't quite dance like one. I also had good turnout and strong ankles. Above all, I had a passion for learning, and was willing to stick it out through thick and thin. I had waited so long to take lessons, and I wasn't going to give
up easily.
It has been three months now, nearly four, since I have begun my lessons. My skills have pretty much caught up to the others in my class, though sometimes I have difficulty trying to catch on to something new and I'm still struggling to learn pirouettes. However, ballet has not
only helped me physically, but emotionally as well. It has brought great happiness into my life, especially after I had to leave my friends and the life I loved in Florida, and I came home heartbroken, lonely and discouraged. It has also helped me to improve my confidence and self-esteem as well.
The other students in my class are very nice and never make me feel badly when I can't catch on to something that seems relatively simple. And my teacher is not only pretty and very talented, but is an excellent instructor as well. She knows how to correct my mistakes without making me look bad in front of everyone else -- something not all
teachers know how to do. She also spends quite a bit of time helping me to learn the right way to do things, and I've never seen her get impatient with me or anyone else in my class. She not only makes classes interesting but even fun, and seems to be someone who truly enjoys teaching.
Having a class with people who don't mind that I'm a rather slow learner is a blessing because ballet, as much as I love it, does not come naturally to me and I still struggle with some things from time to time. I suppose all dancers do now and then.
I am hoping to continue my lessons as long as I can, and hope someday to go on to do pointe work, which probably won't be for a while since I've just started lessons and I'm only taking one class a week. But with what I can do right now, and with what I have right now, I'm very happy -- because my ballet dream is finally coming true. -- Jody
