The crowd was so quiet I could hear my heart beating. The hard steps were so extreme, but I was trying my hardest to make it seem effortless as I performed Cendrillon pas de deux.

At a young age people loved me and looked up to me that it was hard after a while to truly perform. I can still remember people calling my name at the end of all my shows “Evelyn Cisnero, you're so beautiful!”. It was so surreal and made me feel good about myself. It was like a dream come true, because what I wanted to be as a little girl was happening. Life was going so well, but for me it was about to change and my career was really about to start.

More and more people started to notice my talent and schools were offering Ballet jobs for me. Out of all the schools one stood out to me, San Francisco Ballet. It was an amazing opportunity for me and opened up so many doors for me. Even though the American Ballet or New York City Ballet would be amazing to get into, San Francisco Ballet is where directors can help you get your name out to the world. Of course the second reason was the show that the school performed each year, Swan Lake. It was a beautiful show and so delicate that each person had a current role to play. I really wanted to try out and see if I could be a part of this amazing show, so I worked my hardest to show my hard work at the audition. Then when the day came I tried out to see if I could get in. Of course it took a couple of days to send out the cast list, so I waited. As soon as the list was out I looked all over the paper for my name to see my name straight in front of me! My roles were Lead Swan and Black Swan! I was so excited and couldn't wait to start training for this part.

Just like any other job I had taken for dance, there was so much hard work to put into my training. Like all the long hours, all the pointe shoes died and can no longer be used, and of course all the blood, sweat, and tears. Then there was costume day which was always fun and learning what way the school wanted me to do my hair and makeup for the show, but I felt alone during this time because when you have a huge role to play you feel that it’s best to shut people out and worry about yourself. I always tried to open up, but then noticed that it was too much to think about and I would always get side tracked. Nonetheless show day would be here soon and after that I could go home to my family and see them for a little bit.

Then suddenly just like that it hit me, it was the first week of shows that we had to do. The first show for me was always a fresh breath of air and always in a sense made me feel relieved, like a weight was taken off my back and I could start to stand straight again. All the crowds that I saw over the week just got bigger and more energetic. It was funny because all the people seemed to like my scary Black Swan part then the Lead Swan, maybe it was because of my A La Seconde’s that I did. The thing I loved the most was at the end of the show as I started my bows, I would look out to all the people clapping and crying, they would start to throw Red Roses at me and it felt like I was truly a Ballerina.

Sadly it came to the last week of shows. I was so sad and happy that I didn’t know how to feel it was like I was happy to have my break and see my family, but I felt sad because dancing on stage was truly my real home and I never wanted to leave even I it was hard at times and I wanted to quit, I would never truly stop loving what I do. What I will never forget about coming this far in such a little amount of time is to never give up and to always love what you do!