Plié | Teen Ink

Plié

June 3, 2016
By JMCALLINI BRONZE, Wayland, Massachusetts
JMCALLINI BRONZE, Wayland, Massachusetts
3 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say" ~F. Scott Fitzgerald


As I place my hand on the cold metal barre

the music strikes up,
Tchaikovsky, I think?
Quickly molding my feet into a first position,
heels pressed together, toes turned out in opposite directions.

My elbow is slightly bent, my hand
rests in front of my waistline,
at the end of the navy blue leotard
but the beginning of my crisp, pink tights.
The music reaches my ears and I count down:

5,6,7,8

I take a deep breath in and prepare to go into a plié.
The smell of wood, canvas, makeup, and sweat
and I breathe out.
My muscle memory tells me to plié.
I do.
A diamond shaped space forms in between my legs-
Crack!
I can feel my knees and my heels

And hear everyone else’s
Knees and heels crack.
The glorious feeling we all know
From taking
the
     first
            demi
                     plié.


The author's comments:

Dance is one of my passions.  Like righting, I can find myself and lose myself at the same time; I lose myself in the music and find myself through the movement.  During barre, I do simple yet challenging movements that I have done a thousand times before, and I concentrate on the movement, and my head fills with dance and classical music.  Enjoy!!


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This article has 1 comment.


KMG28 SILVER said...
on Jun. 14 2016 at 12:45 pm
KMG28 SILVER, Brooklyn, New York
8 articles 0 photos 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than I

This poem is very descriptive and I could hear, see, and feel what you were writing about. I get the vibe of your ballet studio, like in this line, "The smell of wood, canvas, makeup, and sweat". Big fan!