Oashaja Dobie
Comp 1
11/18/2012
Life of a ballet dancer When I first stepped into the dance studio, little did I know it would become my second home. Learning something new can be very scary, nerve racking, and fun. For me learning ballet was all of the above scary, nerve racking, and fun. When I first started dancing I had no clue what I was doing, I was always afraid of the way people would look at me if I didn’t know how to do the steps right or danced weird. I was five years old and I remember asking her numerous times if I had to go to ballet class. we had to wear ridiculous clothes and as a five year old I really didn’t like them because they were uncomfortable.my mom paid for the class so that meant I had to go and there was no if ands or buts about it. I changed to black tights in the changing room, I really didn’t want to my desire to leave was stronger than my desire to learn ballet. so I stood quietly by one side of the room. I noticed that I wasn’t the only person embarrassed. After a couple of minutes, the dance professor came out of a room. She smiled and introduced herself, she was so pretty and confident that I began to relax more and enjoy more the moment. Her name was Miss Teresa.
We started to warm up with a few ballet step Plié (bend of the knee), Demi (half bend all steps begin or end with), Relevé (raised onto pointe), arabesque (on one leg with other leg in the air behind forming a right angle), the five feet positions, and my favorite Pirouette (a spin with a little bit of attitude). We played a game of copycat as Miss Teresa showed us how to do the basic moves of ballet. She would say it does it and we would copy. One of the students was doing exactly like her which made me think he may had taken some classes before because he was doing so perfectly. Slowly she walked around the room to help us. I was told to relax more my waist and follow the lyrics and the rhythm of the music. One by one, she had us go to the front of the room and give our best. Soon Carlson, the boy with natural talent, was dancing like a professional. I remember his steps were so graceful and his movements reminded me of water moving in a cup when you drop something in it. After watching him I thought, “I want to dancelike that.”
Steps were not that easy for me in the beginning, but Miss Teresa was very patient. After a few weeks, I seemed to understand what she was meaning by “Feel the rhythm”. Now I was concentrating on my routine. I felt uncoordinated at times, but sooner than I imagined my movement and the music started to work together. It was a wonderful feeling, my feet
