Ballerinas Share Their Horror Stories

I'm starting to get scared, this is so wrong, what is he doing? Hello, I'm Lena. I have been training in all styles of dance since I was 4 years old, the style nearest and dearest to my heart that has truly shaped who I am. a person today is ballet hey i'm rebecca i'm a dancer i've danced for over 15 years when i was younger my dance company did a number of pieces from swan lake there's a really iconic ensemble piece where there are some girls and our arms are intertwined and we are doing the choreography like it's called the swan dance, it's really very important that the choreography is exactly the same and we're all on point literally at the same time moving the same way, if you're behind, it's a domino effect, so when we're in our peak performance season we typically wear two pairs of pointe shoes a week, usually when I lace up my pointe shoes there's an elastic that gives you support for the ankle and then there are overly long ribbons that wrap around your ankle for more support, but they also look really nice, they were new shoes and I usually tie them like twice, I don't put hairspray in them like I don't was going nowhere, so we went on stage. and we started the piece and I felt like this ankle was secure, it was there and this one was a little loose, but I was thinking choreography, we're doing the dance and then I start to notice that my ribbon is coming undone if you've ever been a dancer like you haven't there was a microphone, no, nothing like the audience was that far away, so they would literally be talking to each other, so the girl next to him like girl, my tape is coming off like I don't know. what to do, he's going to fall like he's tripping, the four of us are going to fall like he's going crazy, I couldn't stop and fix it, it's obviously an act, so I just let it loose more.

The important thing I was trying to focus on was not tripping over the other foot. I started having to kick my leg much higher so the tape wouldn't hang off the ground. The other girls are doing what they like, little Thanh. installments and I'm kind of kicking him all the way like trying to get him out of the way. I just couldn't fall because if I felt like everything was going to be like this, they probably said to me: why are you doing this? I made it through the entire process. The piece didn't trip or anything, to this day it was one of the most stressful malfunctions I've ever had, so I was at a dance competition and this dance competition was one I had been preparing for for months in Upfront, it took place at Disneyland in the dance number we were competing with.

I was dancing with all these girls who were about six years old in the dance number. I had to pick them up and throw them away. We were all these beautiful pink dresses. and the number where we were throwing pillows at each other was like a glamorous pillow fight, we had to get really close, hug each other and pretend we were all sisters having fun, so I'm dancing and... I'm really looking forward to this part in the that all the girls, one by one, approach me. I lift them up, spin them around, and extend

their

arms.

It's such a beautiful image. I hold them, turn them and bring them towards me. and I give them a big hug as if I were

their

big sister and one by one the girls approach me. I'm having the best time of my life. I can tell the audience loves it, the judges are smiling and so I have a great feeling about this and then I'm picking up the last girl. I bring her to me. I spin her around and as we spin I see the look on her face. Now lying face down is not the most comfortable.

So obviously we have to put on fake smiles while we're outside, but she didn't have a smile on her face, she looked sick, so I pick her up again and give her a big hug and then when I let her go, she's . still in my arms and she says, I do everything, this green gunk comes out of her nose and it gets all over my costume and I'm so scared and like uh and then she smiles bigger again because the judges are right in front of me. I'm thinking in my mind like, "Oh my God, I hope we don't get downgraded for this because the judges are going to downgrade you for a lot of things.

I have to keep dancing, so that's how I pushed the girl, you know, to continue with her choreography." At home like I was going to try to get over this, but I felt really bad for all the girls I was dancing with because I had to hug them and pick them up and I knew the snot on my dress was getting on their costumes. Besides, we were now one big booger party, I was ruined in my mind. I noticed that all the judges were seeing that our costumes now had these awkward marks on them, but we ended up finishing the number, we didn't get first place, but we finished.

Placement, which was good. I definitely learned from that experience. Every time a girl is sick, I tell her not to come on stage, just have your understudy come on stage. Not worth it. She was doing a performance when she was training. Joffrey Ballet School in New York we were preparing to do our end of summer performance. My partner and I were close all summer, we had a great time and he was a great partner and we rehearsed this lip that we were doing in the piece so many times that it's a fish, so basically the man is holding you and you have one leg in arabesque and then the other one is tucked in like this.

It's very nice, it's a classic lift, but it's not really difficult. technical, we had rehearsed it so many times and we were like we got it, it's so easy that it had gotten to the point in our brain where the muscle memory was, like I was ready to nail it, my dad came out, he went flying. to come see me he was so excited about the show and we get to the stage and you know, we're doing the piece, everything is great and then I'm in the elevator and I realize that something feels a little off in the ballet. , many people think that lifting is just for the man and that you just look cute on top, but in reality it is not like that, there is a lot of work involved in the partner on top and you have to be very rigid because if any part of you moves or It's loose or it's not tight and connected to your Center, you're going to fall, so I was up there, you know when you're like this, you know you're falling and the more you try to overcompensate, the worse it gets. kind of what was happening where I was up there and I just knew I was going to fall at that point.

I just had to plan how he was going to land to avoid it being painful and noisy and I hoped he wouldn't try. to catch me on the way down because that could make things worse, you know, just let me go to FL and I got to where I landed, like on the side of my hip, so it wouldn't really hit like the bones, so I landed like My legs were like this before and it hurts so much. I'm on stage right now, there are hundreds of people in the audience and I'm on the floor, but the reality of it was taking over my mind. the fact that I had just fallen like seven feet so I was down there and I thought, you know what, like my dad didn't come here to see me cry on stage.

I thought, okay, let's improvise, this was part of the choreography as this is contemporary ballet, wasn't it in the end we just walked off the stage and were dying of laughter because I really couldn't believe that happened we were so confident but it was going to be perfect I asked my dad afterwards he was like, what did that look like? and he said: it was pretty clear that you fell, but it was great that you didn't cry, it was amazing in the end I made him proud and that's all I really wanted to do, so my dance.

The company was performing The Nutcracker one year and this is a ballet classic, so we have to do it right and I was playing The Nutcracker. We're a group of girls, so sometimes us girls have to play male roles and I was totally okay with that because this was the lead and this was my time to shine. I was so excited that my grandmother was in the audience. I'm on stage dancing and we're at the climax of the show. This is the great battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King. I'm waiting on stage, I'm doing my choreography, I'm ready to go into this really heated dance number and I hear the cue in the music or the Mouse King to come up and I'm waiting and no one comes up on stage so I have to start improvise because the music keeps playing and I can see that the audience is silent, they are waiting to see what happens and suddenly I see the girl who is supposed to go up on stage but she is not dressed like the Mouse King she is dressed. a beautiful fairy costume I start to go crazy in my head this is so wrong what she is doing she dances next to me she starts doing the choreography that we were supposed to do that is super violent and I whisper to her very quickly what are you? asking why are you wearing this and she whispers to me I couldn't find my costume oh I was so harsh at that moment I thought my favorite dance number of the entire performance will now be the most awkward battle between a fairy and the Nutcracker is supposed to everyone knows it won't happen because the Nutcracker is a good guy, he's not going to fight a fairy, so we have to do the choreography according to his plan, so I had my fake sword in my hand and I had to cut this fairy.

I have to get into this really heated battle with her. I was really worried that my sword would get caught in her dress and I feel bad for the audience because that is one of most people's favorite dance numbers and we did it wrong, but we finished the show. We bowed at the end and got a lot of applause, so I'm happy with that. In the past I was in a competition studio and every studio has their favorite star dancer who is always ready to win everything and is always front and center and all the pieces and like that it wasn't me, it was this other girl, she was a great dancer, but we knew that she had a little special treatment, there was a year when we were in the same age category and our solos were going to compete against each other that year, even in the regional competitions I was used to placing a place below She, she would get first place, I would get second or she would get second and she would get 30, she would always be right. after her and I was okay with it, like she was really talented and she was great in this competition even though I placed higher than her and then in the locker room you know our moms are there you know she's like taking my We're all getting naked after the awards and my mom is so happy and surprised that I won and she said, "I'm so proud of you, you know, gassing me in the dressing room like two feet." far away, the girl and her mom are as quiet as it's nothing and the mom comes closer to her daughter like in a whisper, but like she's trying to hear you catch this shadow whisper, it's okay, honey, the judges clearly screwed up the scores and I'm just like oh my God, I can't believe she said that and my mom, who is like the most elegant, classy, ​​composed woman, never said a bad word, I'd never heard her say what, until this moment.

She looks and says: what did you do? I mean, I can't believe my mom was about to critique my score right now, it was such an iconic moment because I was like and the other girl was like, "The dancers are happy that they won and we know we're in." happy, we are dancing and the moms say: I can't believe you said my daughter works hard, you know they were gone to this day. I'm like mom, remember when you said it was the best thing she had ever done in her life. A lot of people asked me when the show Dance Moms was really popular, that's not really like that, are they really like that?

And I said yes, this is the story I tell every time people ask me that question.