Sara McCloskey
Editor-in-Chief
For a good portion of my childhood, my schedule was filled with ballet classes. Eventually that ended because my flexibility sucked to the extent that, well, I began to bawl during a stretch class when I was “pushed to my limit.”
At that time, five of my nine years of existence had been dedicated to the art of ballet. My dream: to become a prima-ballerina as I’d waltz around in a tutu for a living. Luckily, my mom signed me up for theatre camp the next summer, and most of you know where I am today. I pretty much get to do the same thing, except my director doesn’t yell at me for eating Ruffles and onion dip instead of a healthy snack like grapes. My old teacher was obsessed with dancers being “healthy” and skinny. Some American teachers think ballerinas shouldn’t eat, kind of like models. At nine, even I knew that wasn’t cool.
So, since then I hadn’t taken a real dance class in years, for fear of being yelled at and crying again in front of my peers. Hearing that I’d be taking a ballet class at CAP21’s precollege musical theatre program made my heart drop. Amazingly enough, it ended up teaching me how to take care of myself in a way that was never available to me before – through dance.
Look, I’ve always been skinny and have had an athletic body (thanks to everyone else in my family actually playing sports and being fit). Now I’m not going to tell you right now how amazing CAP21 is, even though it is actually one of the best musical theatre programs in the United States. My daily schedule was filled with hard classes that broke me down day after day, tested my abilities to memorize and pushed my body so hard. Even so, it was the best five weeks of my life.
For three days out of the five-day schedule, I had Jill and Julie for Ballet and Jazz One (BJ1, No. 1 BJ – yeah we made all the jokes). Jill has been choreographing the West End tour of Grease for 11 years and was extremely nice to all of us since we were beginners. Rumor has it that when she subbed the BJ2 class (yeah, they’re not as good as us. Kidding! They’ve been dancing for at least four years), she was meaner than their regular teacher. Julie, on the other hand, recently left a few Broadway shows, and we were her first class at CAP21 – we loved her, she was British. They were two very different dance classes, but both were very loving teachers.
The first week, junior Daisy Bishop and I could barely get to our subway at the end of the day. Both of us were terrible dancers at the beginning of the program and had thigh muscle craps and spasms before we could get used to the classes. Our legs had never hurt so much – three hours of ballet and jazz three days a week (forgot to include two days of one and a half hours of tap). Now how exactly did I become a dancer – this tall, awkward, skinny blonde who was previously a Sondheim actress (a woman who stands and sings, no moving necessary)? Commitment.
What? That’s not a work out technique, it’s just a silly word that people tend to profess about relationships nowadays! Actually, committing to any activity and putting all your energy into it will enhance not only your physical state, but your confidence as well.
Dancing can actually be just as beneficial as yoga or working out in general. Personally, dancing has worked the best for me in all areas of muscle toning, stretching, flexibly and agility. Think about it, dancers on Broadway take two to four dance classes a day, sometimes even before a show. Not only that, but learning new choreography everyday helps the mind stay sharp and constantly aware of your body.
Looking back today, my main goal of the summer was literally “become a dancer.” The last day of CAP21, I was balling in front of my peers not because I was pushed to my limits, but because I never wanted to leave. Looking at my teachers Jill and Julie, I realized that I wasn’t scared of them like my old ballet teacher because I was still committed to coming back next Monday on the train for another week of sour muscles.
