Every dancer has a trump card !
Can you turn for days and only stop when you fancy it ? Can you jump so high that a photographer misses your head? Do people drool when they see your insane foot arches ? Or how about a beautiful port de bras that could make a simple exercise into a piece of art? High extensions that makes a person say ‘ouch’ ? Or what about a great actress, who could tell a story with a plie exercise? We all have one, maybe two ... ( Natalia Osipova has all these cards, it’s what makes her a ballet superstar ! )
Every dancer has in my opinion ‘their thing’. You just need to find it, learn to love it and work on it even more ! Whenever I teach a masterclass, I like to go round the studio and ask each student what their trump card is and for them to announce it to the studio. It’s not boasting just learning to be confident with your attribute.
My attribute is flexibility. Yes I was born with high extensions, and walked like bambi for many years as a young student. I have been called ‘lucky’ my whole life by my fellow dancers, but it does come with a price and that is strength ! I could throw my leg up but it took me years to build muscle and technique to control that leg in a place I was happy with. The more strength I got the tighter I felt. There’s a trade-off between strength and flexibility and I had to spend as much time stretching as I did in the Pilates room. It took many years to get to a point where I was happy and confident with my adage. But of course, let’s not forget the countless hours spent practising the other parts of ballet, don’t worry I won’t go into that ! That 10,000 hours is no myth....
If you are a dancer what’s your trump card? If you are not a dancer, maybe you work in finance, or you’re a nurse you also have a card. Let’s use those cards, embrace and celebrate them...