Things People Don't Tell You About Ballet

Hey everyone, sorry for the long break! With finals coming up I was super stressed, but I read all your comments and was so thankful you guys want to read more! Thank you all so much, seriously.

So, when you're about to start ballet, and you're talking to late starters or people who used to dance, they leave out some things. Here they are:

1. You don't wear underwear with a leotard, generally. It looks absolutely ridiculous when the sides of your tighty whities are sticking out of the sides of your leotard. If you want to wear underwear, go with a thong, or something seamless. Victoria's Secret has seamless yoga panties, they work like a charm. With bras, if you don't need one don't wear one, but they do make dance bras or if you don't care about it showing, sports bras.

2. You'll be sore. Oh my, will you be sore. When I came back from a 2 week winter break, I was literally shaking by the end of class due to overstretching my muscles  Fast forward to next morning, everything hurts. Even things I didn't know could be sore were sore.

3. Some days will just be off. Sometimes, you won't be able to turn, or you'll mess up that combination every single time. And then, if you're like me, you'll start tearing up about messing up. Don't worry about it though! It happens to all of us!

4. Pointe = ouch. I love pointe, it's so fun, graceful and difficult. But boy, do my feet hurt after pointe class. In the toes, the arches, and the ankles.

5. You will not be good right away. It took me months to nail a single pirouette when I first started. And en pointe, things don't just carry over from flat. I've been en pointe since June and still am doing basic barre work in class.

6. 80% of the time, you'll start writing pointe instead of point.

7. Your feet will be gross. Bunions, blisters, ingrown toenails, bruised toenails, no toenails, callouses, ect. Right now, I have ingrown toenails on both of my big toes, making pointe really painful, but also, my feet are horrendous. 

I promise, they won't be this bad!

8. Some dance moms are crazy. I don't know why, but a lot (not all!) of dance moms are super protective of their dancing daughters, and they'll do anything. They'll yell at little girls (see my next post), they'll yell at artistic directors and teachers, they'll make back handed comments, and they'll tell their little girl they are the absolute best. Just a warning to everyone.

So, there's just a few things to the other dancers, did I miss any? Don't let these discourage you from dancing though! Dance is my favorite thing to do, and no matter how gross my feet are or how sore I am, I still can't wait to get back. Happy Dancing!