As I mentioned in my previous ballet-related blog post called, “To My Late Bloomers… Dreams Come True“, I said that I will be launching a new blog post about my first-ever ballet performances in the near future. And with that being said, welcome to today’s blog post about my first-ever ballet performances! 🩰 🎼 ✨
Picture by Selene Washington on pimandpink.com
The day finally came on Friday, August 4, 2023, when my dream of performing on stage for the very first time as a ballerina came true. It was so surreal and exciting to perform in my first-ever ballet show! It was truly a dream come true! 🥹🩰🤍
In the show, I performed a “fan dance” from the famous ballet, “La Bayadère”, set in Royal India, and I performed as one of the flowers from the classic children’s tale, “Peter and the Wolf.” 🩰🌻✨
Overall, I am very happy to say that I survived my first ballet performances, and that I practiced a lot behind the scenes to give the best performances that I could. 🥲🩰🎼
Before the show, I learned and experienced a variety of things. For instance, I learned a lot about what happens backstage, I experienced getting fitted for costumes, I participated in constant rehearsals, I asked questions to my teachers and dancers when I needed help, I initiated practices, I became comfortable with performing in front of people, I dealt with unnecessary dance drama, I experienced getting my hair and makeup done for dress rehearsal and the show, and overall I witnessed and experienced all of the hard work that was involved behind the scenes for the show.
I thank my family for helping me bring my ballet dream into a reality and for coming out to support me and watch me do my first ballet show. I was so happy to be able to notice my family in the audience and make eye contact with them while performing, for it only fueled my motivation to give them a good performance. At the end of the show, my father handed me some beautiful red roses, and one of my aunts came down to see me and surprise me, and she handed me some pretty soft pink roses. 😄🌹💕
Overall, I thank everyone who encouraged me and supported me, whether they could make it to the show or not. 🙏🩰💕
I thank my teachers for taking the time to teach me and encourage me, and for giving me the opportunity to perform. It is just so surreal for me to finally be a part of their dance school that I always respected and admired from afar for so long. 🙏🩰🤍
Most of all, thank you to God who gave me the ability and dream to even do ballet in the first place and dance for His glory. 🙏🩰✨
Overall, reader, I just feel so motivated and determined to work even harder at ballet and give my absolute best in every performance that I do as a ballerina in the future. 💪🩰🤍
I am very determined to advance to the next level in ballet and be en pointe next summer, or even before next summer. In the meantime, I will continue my training at home, as well as prepare for the ballet school year. 🩰✨
In light of this, I remind myself (and you, reader) of the Scripture verse, Colossians 3:23 (NLT), which says, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” ✨
On a different note, unfortunately, I cannot share videos of the show/performances, but in the future, I will be posting reels/videos of me ballet dancing to different songs and music, so look forward to that, reader! 🩰🎼🤍
Here is a carousel of some pictures of me on the day of the show down below. 👇🏼
Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section down below. I would love to hear from you! 🤗🤍
Also, I encourage you to like and subscribe to my blog, P.I.M & PINK, because I would love for you to be a part of this journey with me, and so you do not miss out on new blog posts, videos, and content in the future. 🩰✨
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Two years ago, I wrote a blog post called, “To My Late Bloomers“. In that blog post, I encouraged late bloomers to have the courage to still pursue their dreams, even if they are pursuing them much later in life.
As a late bloomer myself, I shared my own experience of taking ballet lessons at the age of sixteen, which I consider to be a late start in the ballet world.
Furthermore, in that blog post, I covered my experience at the dance school and how I was being received by the other ballerinas.
In that blog post, I expressed how happy I was to finally see myself have the courage to live my ballet dream, even if it meant feeling like a “giraffe in the room”🦒. Eventually, however, I did leave that dance school for a variety of reasons, primarily due to not receiving the feedback that I was looking for from the ballet teacher and being mistreated by some of the other dancers there.
Though I was still fine with leaving that particular dance school, I still desired to do ballet, which made leaving that dance school a bittersweet experience. After leaving, I stopped going to in-person ballet classes for a long time, and instead, I focused on my studies, finishing high school, and preparing for college. 📚✍🏼🏫
However, even after I left that dance school, I still continued to teach myself ballet at home with the intent to one day return to in-person classes for ballet.
Little did I know, in 2023, for my 21st birthday, my parents had a special present for me. Along with a trip to Washington D.C. to see the Japanese cherry blossoms in the spring (which you can read more about in my “Begin to Blossom” blog post), my parents also surprised me with a private ballet lesson from the owner of a professional dance school that I always dreamed of being enrolled to.
Upon hearing the news, I cried tears of joy and excitement as I felt like this was the start of a new chapter in my life. However, I also felt very nervous because I heard that the owner of the dance school was a very strict ballet instructor, and I feared that my current level of ballet would not impress her. Thankfully though, my parents alleviated my concerns by constantly reminding me throughout the week that this private ballet lesson was to help me grow in my ballet skills and capabilities and that I did not have to be perfect or try to impress the ballet instructor. 😅
The day finally came on Friday, May 12, 2023, when I had my first private ballet lesson with the owner of the ballet school of my dreams! I could not help but smile throughout the entire time she instructed me. My mother basically filmed the entire lesson! 😄🩰🤍
During the private ballet lesson, the owner asked me why I wanted to do ballet, and my response to her was that I always loved ballet, and I always had a desire to do it. Additionally, I mentioned to her that over the years, I have watched many ballet shows from her dance school, and it inspired me to learn ballet and perform gracefully and beautifully on stage one day. 🩰✨
Throughout the private ballet lesson, the owner was impressed with me. For one, she said that I was very smart and that I follow along fast. She even addressed my insecurity about my age (I was twenty years old at the time) by telling and reassuring me that my age was an advantage because, in her words, “The older you are, the faster you learn.” And therefore, she said that I will advance very quickly in ballet. Overall, the owner gave me very helpful feedback throughout the entire private ballet lesson, which I needed and appreciated so much. 🙏🤍
After the private ballet lesson was over, the owner’s husband pointed out to me several beautiful black and white photos of professional ballet dancers who graduated from their dance school. For one, he pointed out to me a photo of a successful male ballet dancer who started dancing at nineteen years old. He also pointed out to me photos of professional ballet dancers who are also professional figure skaters and even hockey players, which further inspired me as someone who has also been taking figure skating lessons and aspires to perform on ice one day (which you can read more about in my “Introducing New Series…Prove it to Yourself” blog post). ⛸️❄️
While at the dance school, I also met several wonderful ballet dancers that welcomed me with courtesy and gave me encouragement. For instance, I met a ballerina who is in her fifties and is currently taking beginner-level ballet classes at the dance school, which further served to mitigate my insecurity relating to my age. I also met an eighteen-year-old boy at the dance school who has only been doing ballet for two years and has competed in professional ballet competitions and received several ballet school scholarships. Seeing him showed me how someone my age (or close to my age) can excel so quickly at something they are passionate about, which further motivated me to work hard at ballet. 🩰✨
Overall, the private ballet lesson was a truly wonderful experience, in which I learned so much and became more motivated and inspired to continue practicing ballet. One notable experience that touched me was a quote I saw that was written on a brochure that my father pointed out to me in the dance school. The quote said, “Dance because you are beautiful.” Soon enough, I enrolled in the dance school and started taking regular ballet classes the next week on Saturday, May 20, 2023, and on that same day, I even watched a beautiful in-studio show at the dance school for the first time, which served to further inspire me! 🩰🤍
For the summer, I even decided to join a ballet summer intensive program on June 21, 2023, that is offered at the dance school that I am currently enrolled in. My father, who is a Marine, likes to call the ballet summer intensive program, “ballet boot camp”, because it is very intense, but it is still very exciting because I will be a part of ballet shows that I always dreamed of being in and I will be performing a solo in front of the owner and the advanced level ballerinas. So, stay tuned for that, reader, because I will be launching a new blog post about my first-ever ballet performances in the near future and I would love for you to be a part of this journey with me. 🩰✨
The point of me sharing with you my ballet journey so far though, reader, is to further reinforce the message to not let your age stop you from pursuing your dreams like it did mine for so long, especially when your dreams come from God. Did you know that some of your dreams come from God, reader? If you have a desire or desires gifted to you from God and it aligns with God’s will, have the courage to start working towards it, because it will manifest one day. ✨
Ballet is just one of my God-given desires, but I can say now that I am truly living out that desire as I am now training at a professional dance institution to become a professional ballerina. I even received confirmation of this desire from the Holy Spirit who took the time to speak to me through my father to tell me that I will soon be dancing at the professional apprentice level like the professional ballerinas in the ballet schools in New York and Europe. Furthermore, the owner of my dance school told me that one day I can be her apprentice, which aligned with what the Holy Spirit told me. All of this assured me that my desire to be a ballet dancer came from God and that He gifted me with it. 🩰✨
I am so excited about what awaits me as I pursue ballet. But no matter what, when I dance, I will be dancing for the Lord. I will be dancing from my heart for His glory, for He is the One who gave me this desire to dance in the first place. For that, I will always be grateful and bold to praise Him. 🩰🤍
Therefore, reader, if you have God-given desires, but you are holding yourself back because you think you are too old or too young or you missed your opportunity, go to God and trust Him with a plan to help manifest your desires and work towards them and He will guide you. As the Scripture verse, Psalm 37:4-5 (ESV) says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.”
Psalm 145:16 (ESV) says, “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
Matthew 6:33 (ESV) says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Deuteronomy 31:6-8 (NIV) says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
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So, reader, what is your God-given desire? ✨
I hope that you found this post to be valuable and inspiring, reader, and if it resonated with you, feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section. I would love to hear from you. Thank you so much for reading! 🤍
Also, make sure to like and subscribe to my blog, P.I.M & PINK, so you do not miss out on new blog posts, videos, and content in the future. ✨
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May God grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans, reader, as it says in Psalm 20:4 (ESV). May God bless you and protect you always, and I pray that you are safe and healthy always. 🙏🤍
P.I.M & PINK 