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Dance Personal Statement

742 Words3 Pages

For the last 10 years, I have been a professional ballet dancer at American Ballet Theatre. This career path has enabled me to travel the world, dancing in some of the most magnificent opera houses, accompanied with to some of the most accomplished musicians. Ballet was my first love and childhood dream and to see it through has been the most fulfilling and exciting journey. Being a ballet dancer is not a long career, so seizing the opportunity whilst I was young, meant I put my education on hold while I perused my passion. When the pandemic shut the world down, with stages and theaters closed, my life’s work felt meaningless. During this time, I had to reexamine what I could contribute to society and inspect the reasons I danced. In the fall …show more content…

Art has always been prevalent in my life through different mediums and medias. Music, dance, painting, literature, and photography have all had profound impacts on the way I live my life. Art history, anthropology, archeology are all topics I was fortunate enough to study when I went back to school and have continued to shape my work as a dancer and my work as a human being. Studying different cultures and religions especially piqued my interest when exploring these topics through the lens of an artist. School can give me a deeper, more meaningful understanding of art in new realms, in poetry, in literature in mythology. Education can aid in how I can use my knowledge to delve deeper into the dance world and aid in storytelling from the stage. As I continue to dance with ABT, I find myself eager and impatient to continue expanding my world beyond the confines of dance and beyond the boundaries of what I have excelled in all my life. I am tasked with examining more closely what I can do beyond the narrow lens of ballet. Literature, culture, and tradition are all enmeshed with dance. Ballet like the rest of the world, is having to take a step back to reexamine the stories we are telling and who's voice it comes from. It’s my responsibility to aid in the way stories are shared from an educated place with a deep care and pride in my art form.

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