Thursday, February 7, 2013

Exploration Four: First Position

First Position:
  Watching first position was really an eye opening documentary to show how young and dedicated ballet dancers are.  Those young children really had a love for dance.  My favorite one was Michaela.  She acquired her love for dance by finding a dance magazine at the orphanage she lived in as a little girl.  It had a ballerina on it and she decided then that she wanted to dance ballet. Each person had an amazing journey that they went through to achieve their dreams.  It was amazing at Joan stayed away from his family to dance in New York.  Michaela came also the way from an orphanage to America and pursued to passion for dance. Aside from being an orphan and watching her parents die she also had vitilego which is discoloration of the skin in a spot/patchy pattern.  No one could see her spots on stage which was also why she wanted to dance on stage.  One of the most trying challenges was for Michaela when she had tendonitis in her Achilles tendon on the back of her ankle.  She almost had to drop out of the American Youth Grand Prix competition. She had trained very hard for the competition saying "we making our bodies bend in ways that they aren't supposed to".  Even the day of the competition she still wasn't sure if she was strong enough to dance, she did an amazing job and afterwards she said "excitement took over and I forgot that I was injured." I really admired everyone's discipline and excitement.  All of them had the support and love of their families and coaches.  I was evening cheering along and hoping they did well during this movie! My perception of dancers did not change during this film.  I did gymnastics for years and I had friends that did dance so I realize how important it is to them.  There was so much to be learned during this film. Thousands of children from all different ethnicities and cultures studied dance and came to New York to compete for scholarships to better their own lives.  In the end most that were in the movie received contracts and scholarships that will help them continue to dance.

4 comments:

  1. I agree I also thought it was amazing that Michaela could fight through the pain and still receive a scholarship the love these dancers have for dance is amazing

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  2. I was amazed at how well Michaela was able to fight through her injury on stage. The adrenaline just got to her and she forgot all about it. It takes a really strong person to be able to do something like that.

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  3. I'm so glad to see that everyone loved Michaela just as much as I did. She is such and inscriptions and really an amazing girl.

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  4. Michaela was also one of the dancers that stood out to me. Her background really showed how determined she was. She is an inspiration because she will do whatever it takes to reach her dream.

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