So I Dance.

I dance. It's my passion, not my life, because God's that, but my passion. And people diss it. All the time. Most of them are people who have never done Ballet. If you've never done it, DON'T DISS IT!!! That does include dissing male ballet dancers and calling them gay. You try ballet. It ain't easy. let me explain ballet, starting with something that seems relatively simple.

Standing: When you stand in ballet, all your muscles MUST be engaged. Your back must be completely straight, shoulders back and down, chest up, stomach tightened and flat *BTW, I have better abs than a lot of guys I know*, ribs must be in *try it sometime, it's exactly what it sounds like, just make your ribcage smaller, hard, huh?*, legs turned out, from the hips! Not the knees or ankles. Arches up, all five toes on the floor. Chin up. Don't tense your neck. Arms rounded and in the middle of your thighs, life in your fingers, and look like you're enjoying it.

ok, we've got standing there down, let's try the next thing. Plie. It means to bend. that's what it is, you're bending your knees. Ballet 4's plie combination is as follows. Start in fifth position, *feet crossed with the heel of the front foot at the last knuckle of the back foot's big toe* Tendu to second. lower the heel. Demi plie, rise, grande plie, to first. same thing, then in fifth front and back. Now, add everything we just talked about in standing into the mix. You still have to think about all of it, plus your arm's moving this time. keep your legs turned out, back straight, bottom down, arms rounded, life in the fingertips. Rachel, relax your neck! Don't grip the barre.

Ok, now you're done with the easy stuff. Time for Adage. The slow work. Bring your leg up the side of the other leg, keep that knee turned out and that hip down. Now extend it. Your leg should be at a 90 degree angle from the ground, if not higher, but NO LOWER, unless of course, you are injured. Now hold it there, remember everything from standing? That's all still in effect. Now, pull your leg around to the back. keep that hip down. keep the leg at 90 degrees. keep it turned out. RELAX YOUR NECK. bottom down, watch that arm. Point that foot! Always have your foot pointed, it should hurt. Your leg's in the back, lift it, lift it. Do you feel a pinch in your back? No? Get it higher then. If it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right. By now you should be covered in sweat and have drank about half of your water cause you're working so hard. Ok, bring that leg back up to the side of your knee while rising up on the other foot. Your knee is back, right? your supporting leg is turned out, right? Ok, extend it again, still 90 degrees, hold it there, now turn towards the barre, keep that leg extended, toe pointed, don't you dare let it move, it stays at 90, does your back hurt? Good. Extend your arm now. Ok, let go of the barre. Balance, stay up. Keep your leg up, don't touch the barre, point your toe, hips down, stomach tight, ribs in. Ok, lower. Finish nicely, no matter what, always finish nicely. Ready for the other side?

you think that sounds easy? Let's see you do it. Right. Yes, that includes guys. They have to do it, too, plus lift 100+ pound girls above their heads with fully extend arms, and keep up the posture. It's not easy. at all. It hurts. And sometimes I almost hate it.

Ok, what about pointe? Pointe shoes are torture chambers, mine cost $65 a pair.The toe is hard plastered canvas, and it kills to dance on. You not only have to think about everything that I mentioned before, but you have to think of keeping on the Box, or the very tip of the shoe, if you fall off, or don't get all the way on it, you can severly damage your legs. Like, for life. Pointe kills, and it's one of the worst things in the world that you can do for your feet.

So why do I do it? It hurts, I get sweaty and smelly, it's a pain sometimes, so Why? Why dance? there are plenty of other things I could do, guitar, singing, piano, whatever.

I dance because when I do, I feel God smiling at me. When I am in my class sweating and in pain, feeling like I'm about to fall down, I can pray, and I can say "God, I want this to be for you, please give me the strength to do it for you." and He always will. I can always feel Him smiling at me when I do it for Him. And it's even better when I'm doing it specifically to worship, not in a class. When I can do exactly what He tells my body to do. I can feel His love in my veins when I dance, there is no time that I am closer to God than when I am dancing solely for him. That- is why I endure the pain, because to have my teacher say I'm good is one thing, but to have my Holy Daddy smiling down on me is the world.