A devastating loss can shatter the façade we put up for others, exposing our deepest, rawest self. A work of art can do the same.
Don’t show off! Don’t pretend to be, be!’
The piercing voice of my stern ballet teacher with the stick and the square glasses still echoes in my mind. These two sentences were standard at almost every rehearsal when I was a young ballet student. Something about how we danced wasn’t quite right, even though, technically, what we were doing was correct. ‘The audience won’t look at you just because you do a perfect grand jeté!’ he howled at me in a temper tantrum just before a show. His desperation with us was more painful than the blisters on our feet in the pointe shoes.
Read more by Julia F Christensen courtesy of Aeon.co