Personal Narrative: Giselle's Variation

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I was convinced that I was ready to close a chapter of my life and begin anew. Come end of summer, I would place my worn-out pointe shoes into boxes to be hidden in the corner of my closet, pieces of forgotten memorabilia. My years of sweat and dedication were to be laid aside. After the last four weeks of intensive summer training, I had decided it was time to say a quick and painless goodbye to a lifelong pursuit of ballet—that is, until Giselle’s variation from Act 2 happened. I had been consistently avoiding anything and anyone that might jeopardize my decision. My usual passion and enthusiastic spark were gone, replaced by a deep longing to understand why, exactly, I had ever fallen in love with this painstaking art, committing my life to its perfection. The variation would take what was left of me, a discouraged and weary ballerina, and slowly reveal the silver lining to the complicated mess of my emotions. …show more content…

But my first exposure to Giselle’s variation came toward the end of summer classes. That day, my body and soul felt as frayed as the ribbons on my pointe shoes, and I was trying desperately to motivate myself. Ballet had taught me from an early age that pain is only in the mind and it is fleeting—to smile even when I was tired, to push through the pain in order to achieve great beauty. This ideology was working well for me, until the ballet mistress reprimanded me: didn’t I know that dance was more than a series of steps? It was the actualization of my heart into a role, requiring a complete understanding of Giselle, a girl torn between love and the chance for

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