How many people do you know who have taken ballet as children? Now, how many do you know who actually pursued it as a career? The percentage is incredibly low.
Take White Lodge for example. It is the Royal Ballet’s lower school, which takes in only 25 out of their 1,000 applicants each year. Only 5-7 of them actually end up graduating from the upper school, and even fewer of them get into the Royal Ballet.
The Secret Rosin
Do you know the rosin baseball players use for a better grip? That same rosin is what ballerinas put on the bottom of their pointe shoes to keep from slipping.
There are a few techniques for making the hard part of those shoes — the part covering the toes. One such technique combines tightly pressed fabric and cardboard glued together at the tip.
The Ballerina Diet
A common misconception of ballerinas is that they hardly eat in order to stay light as a feather.
The truth is that they eat quite a lot, and even consume large amounts of carbs in order to fuel their bodies and get the energy they need to keep performing. It is also pretty common for ballerinas to go together for a big meal after they finish performing or rehearsing.
Ballerinas Train A LOT
Building up the strength, discipline, and flexibility of a professional ballet dancer takes an unbelievable amount of training.
Professional ballerina training will entail around 10 years of training with an average of 20 hours of dance class per week. And as far as shows are concerned — a big production could require as many as 5,000 hours in rehearsals!
The Art Itself Originated in Italy
The terminology is mostly French, the most famous pieces are Russian, but the dance itself is actually Italian. In the 1500s, ballet was performed at the royal court by courtiers as entertainment.
When the Italian Catherine de Medici came to France to marry King Henry II, she brought the dance with her and turned it into a more formal dance in France.