A little girl sits in the audience and watches the beautiful music and story of the Nutcracker unfold in front of her. Oh, how she longs to be a professional ballet dancer. They make it look so easy. And, she would get to dress in the beautiful costumes – toe shoes and skirted leotards. Oh if only she could be a ballerina and dance on that stage. She would give anything to be a professional ballet dancer. “Mommy, can I take ballet lessons?” she asks during intermission.
Mom smiles knowing all too well that her daughter is already too old at eight compared to the age most professional ballet dancers begin. She herself was once on the track to become a professional ballet dancer. Her mother before her actually made a career of it. She smiles at her daughter and says, “We’ll look into it, honey. Let’s just go enjoy the rest of the show.” Throughout the rest of the Nutcracker, as Marzipan twirls, all Mom can think about is the road her daughter would have to take to become a professional ballet dancer.
Most girls start training to be a professional ballet dancer at a very young age. With their underwear hanging out of practice leotards and faces painted for recitals, they don’t yet realize the path they are on. Soon, the playgroup feel of early classes graduates to daily practice and a practice barre in the basement for the would-be professional ballet dancers. Paneled mirror line the basement wall and the girls go home from practice to spend additional hours at the bar, in front of the mirror, perfecting the moves of the professional ballet dancer.
Conflict can set in during the middle school years when school dances and sleepovers are new and seem more appealing than dance class and being a ballet dancer. Only the determined and dedicated ballet dancers will pass by the new opportunities and stick with their passion. These years are often awkward physically for the girls dreaming of their professional ballet debut. Sudden growth spurts in height can make a ballet dancer awkward for a while. Sudden weight gain can be detrimental to a ballet dancers grace and ability.
Ballet dancers who make it through puberty and the sacrifices of the early years will face more of the same as competition among dancers grows with age. Dieting for optimum look and performance may rule the dancers life. Parents feel the burn as well, shelling out enormous amounts of money for equipment, costumes and training, and she is not yet a professional.
If a girl is good enough and dedicated enough, she may just get the chance through scholarship to train with a professional dance troupe and may one day join one.
After all the training and hard work, joining a dance troupe may seem like a dream come to fruition. Yet a professional ballet dancer knows, this is only the beginning. Now, she must work her way up the professional ladder before her dream can come true. One day she will be the premier professional ballet dancer she dreamed about when she saw the Nutcracker for the first time.
