How Ballet Ruined My Life
By Melissa Kathryn
We are born perfect,
We are all unique in our
unique qualities are what
give us our distinct
happy, self-loving beings.
own right and those
make us beautiful, what
individuality.
As babies and toddlers, the notion that we are flawed is not in our realm of comprehension, in fact, our awareness of
any flaws comes from outside experience and other people, not from within ourselves. Think back - when was the first
time you started to criticize your body or a specific body part? When did you see your flaws? Maybe it’s not the way
you look, but innate characteristics of who you are that you dislike. Whatever it may be, it emerged and over time
became a story you tell yourself.
For example, I always wanted to be a dancer. I had a ballet barre on the back of my door growing up and was taking
five dance classes a week. I had made it to pointe - I had the gorgeous pink satin shoes with satin ribbon that tied
around my ankles. I could stand on my toes and I felt so beautiful. One day, my teacher, Mark Levy, called me over and
said we had to talk and that I would never be a ballerina, that I didn’t have the ballerina body.. I was crushed.