I’m a sucker for anything that has to do with ballet, I guess it has to do with the fact that I grew up with it. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I used to dance for a while. My mom was also a dancer, though at the same time she did track and played volley; she’s always been sporty, quality that neither my sister or me inherited (my brother did enough sports for the both of us). The main reason that ballet was always something I looked up to is because my older sister was and still is very passionate about it, so much as to dedicate her life to it by teaching it. I on the other hand wasn’t very consistent (shocker), I danced when I was 3 until I was 8 i think, and then started again when I was 11 or 12, then I quit and when my sister opened up her academy I got back at it again when I was 14 until I was 17. The worst part was that I was actually kind of good, I wish I could tell my 8 year old self to suck it up and keep on doing it, who knows I could be doing pretty neat stuff by now. I did however have a little defect on my knees that makes my leg look slightly bent even though it is stretched straight, that was what finally made me quit when I was 17, I saw a video of me dancing a solo and I just realized I was never going to be the perfect ballerina nor was I that passionate about being one. One might say that is when the quest to find that passion started. Still I never stopped loving it, you can still catch me sometimes watching ballet videos on youtube praising good pointes and hiperextensive legs, if I get the chance to see a good ballet company perform I will be there and of course I always watch my sister’s academy’s recitals.

Ballerinas have always been considered elegant and a little bit mystical (the body is not made to bend or move like that), creatives have often seeked for inspiration in ballet. This photoshoot for shopruche.com is one of those examples, but I particularly liked it because I feel like in someway it tells my story. There is this girl (the model) who is surrounded by ballerinas who are able to do amazing things. She tries to also learn to do what they do but she just can’t get up to their level, but in the end even though she leaves, ballet still follows her and is a part of her. I did not include the pictures of her attempt at ballet because the poor model clearly has never been on first position in her life and it was a bit painful to watch, but at least the story is there. The pictures that work the best are the ones that she contrasts against the ballerinas, not the ones that she is trying to be like them. I have seen many other fashion/editorial shoots that incorporate ballet, but they sometimes tend to get stiff like the recent one from Vogue Russia. This shoot is about a ballet teacher, the little students are beyond perfect (russian of course), but the model fails in her attempt to be part of the scene its almost as she is just in any regular shoot and the rest is a background. There is one picture where she holds a girl and it looks like when a guy grabs a baby and has no idea what to do. I still do appreciate the use of ballet for fashion, I just wish that the models would be actual ballerinas so that they don’t ruin the beauty with very badly done poses.

;

Photo shoot by: Stephanie Williams for shopruche.com

Remember those dreams you had when you were 8 years old? I wanted to be a pop singer, a ballerina, a painter and for some weird reason I wanted to make comic books. Every kid dreams big, I’ve heard it all: Princess, dancer, firefighter, president, famous billionaire, etc. But we grow up and we get the idea into our heads that those dreams are impossible and that if you planned on becoming an artist you would probably be broke. We start thinking in terms of money and what profession will help us earn a decent living.

Thats why I always find my sister’s story inspiring. She grew up dancing ballet as a hobby, but as she became older it became her passion. When it was time to think about the future, the only idea that came into her mind was being a professional ballerina. But her dreams were shattered when everyone told her that she would not be able to make it as a ballerina because she did not have the perfect body for it, and besides it was a very long shot. So she had to go to a normal college and study finance since it was a practical career. Years later she found herself in a job she hated, but didn’t know what else to do. Until, she finally realized that the only way to be happy was to do what she truly loved, Ballet. She founded her own ballet academy, and using her knowledge in finance, it led to a successful business.

She still had one simple dream yet to fulfill, she wanted a picture doing the “fish” which is the name for the pose that is often used to conclude a “pas de deux” (a solo dance with a male partner). I love that the picture is very natural, no make up or elegant clothes, just a candid moment during rehearsal. This picture represents years of hard work and not giving up on a dream.

What did you think of this story? Did you find it inspirational? Leave me your comments!

No movement is more beautiful than a ballerina sway. I’ve grown up in a Ballet world, making a pointe and standing straight on a first position is like second nature to me. Even though I was never a professional ballerina or was even on a high level of technique, I still think that Ballet has been a huge influence in my life. The inexplicable sense of poise that dancing makes you acquire is not something you can learn when you are old, it is more like something that has to become part of you from when you are a kid.

This pictures where taken by a friend of mine, but I made the postproduction on photoshop. I wanted to get the effect of softness and elegance that are the more important values you can take away with you when its time to move on from the atmosphere of ballet.