She was a beautiful little girl from birth. Most babies look froggy. This one's toes already pointed perfectly and her calves stretched out as if sensing their destiny.
As soon as she could stand, she twirled. As soon as she could run, she leapt. And as soon as she could put on a tutu, she refused to take it off.
The mother enrolled her in ballet. The little girl had an undeniable gift. She exuded elegance from deep within her core and it translated out to the tips of her delicate fingers, held just so, in her plie.
They decided to homeschool so she could dance every day, training for whatever opportunities might come along. She was a good student, but her brilliance showed only on the boards and at the barre, not in the classroom.
When she was in grade school her father started his own business. By the time she finished the grade school years, he had lost the business and all of the money they would have used to send her to college.
And she danced.
As her body matured she went from a beautiful elegant little girl to a stunningly elegant sensuous dancer. All the boys and men who saw her wanted to be with her. All the girls either hated her or wanted to be her.
She began to suffer stress fractures and injuries due to the dancing, but she danced.
She received scholarships for summer dance programs and made her parents proud. And she finished her high school studies early so she could go on to college early.
But there was no money for her to go to college. Only for her to dance. So she accepted a scholarship to dance.
And she hated it, but it was the only way to get away from home.
So she danced.
2 comments:
Very poignant.
This is actually about a young girl I know. It's very sad. She feels she is stuck in a box that she has been groomed for, and no other options are available. They zoomed through her school so she could get to her dance career sooner, so she's not really academically prepared. Folks in the church tried to help her parents see the folly but they were star struck.
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