My husband and I are watching the documentary,
Ballerina which documents the rise of women in the Kirov Ballet. He is just amazed at the day to day struggle of these dancers, but it is old hat to me.
One of the most disheartening things documented in the film is the return of Uliana Lopatkina from a two year break to nurse a foot injury- in which she also did the unthinkable and married and had a baby during that time. The Vagonova teachers said she had the injury for a long time and never took the proper time off to heal. (which they psychologically did not allow her to do so) Add to that the amazement of the Kirov Management that she came back stronger and a slightly different dancer- with more life experience to add to her stage presence.
Yes, the work is grueling, but the true freedom in dance is one of a kind and not pinned down to age or training level- everyone moves, therefore we are all dancers. There is a huge attachment onto the "Youth ideal" within this art form- which is being broken by Netherlands Dans Theater III and other companies of older, seasoned dancers. Our culture in general has cut off the wisdom of age for this pursuit of youth, and it allows for the true words of experience never to be uttered. Another dumbing down of our culture, in my opinion.
The most breath taking and humbling thing I have seen is a fellow NY dancer who lost his leg- hip down- due to bone cancer that was left untreated due to the lack of insurance. (The lack of insurance is a plague on American Dancers in my opinion) He took class and did everything imagining his missing leg- all without his crutches. He had better balance than anyone in the room, and when he was not doing exercises, he was experimenting with how far he could take his body through movements that were available to him. The cancer soon consumed his whole body, and he died. Truly a humbling moment in my life which makes you put things into perspective.
Sorry to highjack the thread, but it is all tied into one thing in my mind.