Once pink flatties, now dark and dingy grey

Dental floss and pink threads fraying in disarray

Leather patches and pleats worn flat and thin

Knotted elastic, cut short and tucked in

Folded over, crunched up and carried in a bag, pocket, or pouch

My once perfect ballet slippers are now pretty well trounced

The threads of the canvas at the toes are now bare

A hole has begun and continues to wear

But as I pull on each shoe before my next class

A delight lights my face as I realize at last

The holes in my shoes are from hours on the floor

From brushing and moving and dancing galore

The holes in my shoes give me joy through and through

Even though I realize a new pair is in view

The holes in my ballet shoes whisper a secret

The holes in my shoes say this dancer’s legit!

Let’s face it, being corrected is basically being told that you are wrong and nobody likes that… right? It’s amazing how everything changes in ballet class. This week I had five ballet classes, including back to back classes on Saturday. At the end of the week, my armpits are sore… what’s up with that? Anyway back to what I was saying about corrections… some of the coolest moments in ballet classes this week were the corrections! No kidding! I’ve not been getting many corrections lately and was starting to wonder if that’s a bad thing in ballet class. To add to those worrisome thoughts, I was also starting to feel like I hit a plateau and haven’t been making any real progress. In fact, I was beginning to worry that maybe I’ve actually been getting worse!

This week, I got some amazing corrections. The first was during a fairly simple tendu exercise at the barre, some slow tendus followed by some fast tendus then into some rond de jambe a terres, frenchy-frenchy-french etc. My Amazing Ballet Teacher wanted to me feel the difference between the slow tendus and the fast tendus, the difference in the music and in the energy, to really use all of my foot and not to neglect the energy in the standing leg and then moving through the rond de jambes to explore the stretch and the whip of the leg and foot. During the week, I got corrections about exploring and working inside the music and corrections about very specific technical work. The last correction of the week was to be very careful about a little hip wiggle, mostly on my right side. As my Amazing Ballet Teacher was identifying the hitch and helping me recognize where it is and therefore how to rid myself of it, I felt the difference and although I was already in my 2nd hour of ballet class, I could feel a brightness and a lightness run through me. I gave him a smile that he returned and he said, “There, that’s clean.” Clean! Clean! I did something that could be termed clean technique!!! I realized that my corrections this week have all been on an entirely different level from the corrections that I had been getting only weeks before. And each correction fills me with hope, energy, and motivation that I am indeed progressing and that I am getting corrections that I am ready and capable of mastering.

Corrections, hard work, sweat, and new challenges – bring it! Let’s dig a little deeper, ballerini, let’s stomp the ballet studio like only ballet dancers can!

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