Many may think that ballet is an easy feat to conquer

When it is actually an unconquerable perfection.

Dancers are pummeled physically and mentally

In order to create a flawless performance.

Hard work comes with every step in the dance

Movements demand your mind’s focus on everything.

For many dancers, ballet is like an escape from a cage of stress

It is their ticket to another world.

You never experience relief from the pain

There is always a part of you aching for alleviation.

Their feet are destroyed by putting three times their weight on one square inch.

Backs are thrown out after bending their bodies in half.

Knees grind together after years of leaping and landing.

It hurts them to walk because their hips are ruined after hundreds of kicks and splits.

Emotional pain takes an incredible toll on every part of your life

The damage done by your own jealousy and others’ greediness for fame.

Every dancer wants to be the Sugar Plum Fairy,

But only one can be.

Every ballerina dreams of being Odette and Odile,

But only one can be.

Although pain and brokenness are only part of the preparation

Along with it comes the joy of the stage.

In ballet, actions speak louder than words

Dancers show their strong emotion through beauty.

Performances demand bodily story telling

No words are allowed, creating a silent phenomenon.

Performing is an exuberant feeling of completion

Feeling freer than air on the wide open stage.

The feeling of spinning in the rushing air

It is a feeling that surpasses all others.

The air whooshes by like a ship on the ocean

Their final destination awaits them.

When that final curtain call comes, feeling completed

They line the stage to thank the audience.

Filled with feelings of utopia, they all take a bow

Their work has paid off, but only for the moment.

The applause reaches their ears in words of acceptance of their work

Yet work is not over, work continues on.