A day in the life of a ballerina

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I happened upon an article on ELLE.com about the day in the life of Ashley Laracey, a soloist for the New York City Ballet. It is an incredibly insightful article and the photos are so lovely.

I have always found ballerinas to be absolutely fascinating and awe-inspiring. To me, they are so strong, talented, graceful, disciplined, and just beautiful! But I think that making it a career and becoming a professional ballerina takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. And the article offers a glimpse into what its like.

This is one of the more powerful quotes from the article:
The most important thing, she's learned, is to treat new ailments immediately so they don’t get worse, so you don’t traverse from “injured” to “out.” Because, she says, “When you’re out, you feel worthless; you feel disposable.”
It seems like it's a very demanding job, both emotionally and physically. And it's kind of hard to understand, as an outsider, why someone so talented and accomplished would feel that believing in yourself is the hardest challenge. But I can imagine that it might come their constant pursuit of perfection.

Anyway, the article is worth a read on this (lazy) Sunday! (can be found here)

2 comments

  1. Beautiful! I always wanted to be a ballerina- I didn't get to take lessons til college. Later in life, I met a husband/wife ballerino/ballerina couple (I know, right?!) and I was amazed by how much work went into their dancing careers. It's very demanding!

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    1. I also took ballet classes while I was in college! I am the least graceful person ever (so clumsy), so I think that's why I find ballerinas/dancers so fascinating and awe-inspiring. I can imagine how tough it would be to have a spouse that also had a career in ballet/dance. I guess it would also be nice to be with someone that understood the time and dedication it takes though. :)

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