The Art

A prima ballerina1 is only born once in a generation, they say. 

The quill of destiny, a silent scribe,

Traces the contours of my journey.

A parchment scripted upon the dawn of my existence,
Penned by the hands of my two makers,

Majestically unfurls before me.

The year I turned 10, 

The chapter approaches, awaited with fervent longing.

Hundreds and thousands vie for a place,
To inscribe upon ourselves

A one-of-a-kind passage,
In the ideal plot of life’s tale,

Interwoven into the pages of our being.

Before the Academy's2 eyes we stand,

As destiny’s marionettes, at their command.

Backs bent, turnout forced, body scanned.

Advancing natural features 

That tick all boxes
In ballet’s art confined.

Within the hallowed halls of artistry,

Our forms weave and sway –

Sentences flowing in elegant prose.

Each pose a carefully chosen phrase bespoke,

In the lyrical story of movement.

Silhouettes surveilled under discerning eyes.

Struggling to maintain balance on the numerical tightrope,

To keep the amount of matter in check.

Bodies weathered by the passage of time,

Minds weary yet undaunted,

Defying the constraints of mortality
Till we cease to see the familiar red each month –

Characters in a manuscript of beauty and perfection, eloquent but bleak.

Amidst the euphoria post-graduation,

Life's symphony plays on.

Joy cascading through the bars,

Embracing roles in realms unknown.

Yet amidst the cadence of movement,

A stumble, a falter

...

And my tutu gently unfurls –

Pages of my tale fluttering in the breeze.

Here I stand,

Beside a tear-stained parchment,

With a chapter fractured yet fierce,

A narrative questioned but unbroken.

Was the journey, this tale of mine,

Worth the sacrifice of time?

1 A female principal dancer of a ballet company

2 The Vaganova Ballet Academy, located in St. Petersburg, Russia, is globally renowned for its prestigious ballet training. The academy's admissions process is infamous for its stringency, placing emphasis on selecting students with physical proportions considered ideal for ballet, including specific height, limb length, and musculature conducive to mastering classical technique.