What is Ballet?
Understanding by Toshiko Honda
The Core Philosophy in Ballet: Value the MEANS to reach the END.
For an instance in a battement (the raising of the leg), every teacher would stress, “Do not to do this and that. Don’t move your upper body when you raise your leg. It doesn’t have to be high (i.e., the “END”), but make sure you raise your leg correctly (i.e., value the “MEANS”). You will reach a good end result eventually. This philosophy can be applied to all other aspects and activities of our lives. For instance, almost all of us someday have to be able to earn money to be independent to live. Earning money is the goal, the “END.” How to earn money is the “MEANS.” You don’t have to acquire quick and/or a lot of money at the expense of choosing a bad means. To choose the correct MEANS to reach the goal, the “END,” will eventually lead to a satisfying result. Not all of us are going to be professional dancers. Even those who have become professional, someday they might change their occupation. Even these active professionals can apply the philosophy of ballet to other aspects of their life.
How far or how much an individual can benefit from this philosophy depends on how much one can incorporate this value into one’s personality.
How you can incorporate the value into your personality:
Knowing, believing and practicing. By accomplishing these three things, one can incorporate the value into one’s own personality, which also can be called “true knowledge,” or “true value of oneself.”
Again, “knowing” to raise your leg in the correct way is important is one thing. “Believing” that knowledge is another thing. “Practicing” and realizing that knowledge is the third and the hardest thing. If one continues accomplishing these three elements, one can acquire the core value of the philosophy of ballet into one’s personality. That value can be applied to other aspects of one’s own life. Great!