New Years Mission

It is the start of a new year and the start of my new blog. Over this last year I have begun to question, “What is art?” What makes something art? What makes someone an artist? I can’t answer these questions and I may never be able to. I think it is because the answer is different for every single person and that may be in fact the definition of art itself: something that has meaning to the individual.

I consider myself an artist. My medium is through ballet. I have sadly come to discover that it is a very under appreciated and misunderstood art form. Many people I have spoken with reveal to me that they have never seen a ballet and have no desire to go. It saddens me that my medium of expression is so inaccessible.

Through many months of discussion and pondering I have come to the conclusion that the reason people don’t want to see ballet is because they don’t know anything about it.

It is much easier for us to relate to lyrics in a song or paint brushes on a canvas. Not only are we taught much more about these mediums in school and life, but we understand words and we understand visuals. I think that art is most powerful when the viewer can relate it back to him or herself. We understand and appreciate what we know. Sadly, I feel that many cannot relate to the dancers pouring their beings out on stage simple because they don’t understand anything about it.

I want to set out to fix this gap between dancer and audience. With just my meager little blog I want to unmask the mystery behind the ballet world. I want to explain what it takes to become a professional ballet dancer, what a dancer does in his or her day-to-day life, what it takes to put on a production, and how one prepares for a performance, both mentally and physically.

It’s a new year and this may be considered a resolution, but I would like to think of it more as my mission. I want to change the way people think about ballet. I have so much passion for this art form and I want to share it with the world.