hear our souls speak

Giselle

Maya Dumchenko in Serenade (Mariinsky Ballet)

“I think it’s beautiful the way you sparkle when you talk about the things you love.”

Hee Seo, Stella Abrera, Veronika Part and David Hallberg in Apollo (ABT, 2012)

    You know how it is, the outside world… they don’t really know how many sacrifices we make for this thing. We work so hard, (most of us) don’t even make money or try impress anyone.. but just to have that feeling of those stage lights flashing upon your skin, getting your best angles, the crowd feelin what you’re doing and you see/hear everyones “oooooooOo” faces because what of what they just saw, or the feeling when you get off stage… that feeling of uttermost happiness and sometimes tears, the good tears because you know your team  family did amazing and you’re so proud of each and everyone. They don’t know the countless hours we put in, the no sleep we get, the hours on end rehearsals outside in parking structures or the musty-ness of the studio because everyone’s sweating. They don’t know how much pride we take upon each other and our team not because we want to show everyone up, but because we want to be able to show and prove to ourselves how successful we can be with our goals. How we all “handle that shit.” Because we definitely do. There aren’t enough hours in the day, but somehow we’ll manage to squeeze hours just to hang out outside of rehearsal because these people you dance with become your family. It gets to the point where you’re so annoyed of them, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. Only dancers understand dancers. And the reason why is just that. We’ve built a strong community, much more than just little competitions here and there, but we’ve gone global. We’ve changed the world forever. People who started with nothing, gained everything, and that’s pride, hard work, perseverance, strength, and most of all, passion. And that passion will forever only be something that only us dancers will understand with us dancers.