Happy Beginnings

I love movies and books with happy endings.  I've been known on many occasions to cheat and find out if a movie has a happy ending before watching it, and if I don't know going in, then I usually enjoy the movie much more the second time through when I'm not worrying about how it's all going to end up.  I'd love for real life to always have the happily-ever-afters of fairy tales.  And sometimes real life does look a bit like those happy-ending movies... but sometimes it's even more promising and delightful when life imitates art with a gentle "happy beginning" story instead....  So, spoiler alert: This is a happy beginning story.  From my day at work:

Today I helped run an audition to select children around eight years old who get a full scholarship to study dance.  I think we auditioned around 200 or more students, with about 20 getting a callback and 6 selected.  I talked to the children before they auditioned, and one little boy in particular stood out to me.  He looked very Russian, like a little Baryshnikov, and was clearly very excited about auditioning.  To see a boy that age express such unbridled and joyful anticipation about ballet is a rarity to me (in fact, I don't think I've ever seen it), so I was delighted to see his excitement, and I eagerly awaited his audition, hoping his potential lived up to his enthusiasm.  When his time came, he paid strict attention to the teacher, and I couldn't help but smile as I watched him stand up straighter than anyone else in the room.  I couldn't take my eyes off him.  At age 8, with no formal training, he had more stage presence than many professional performers I've seen.  I had no part in the actual selection process and had to hope that his maturity, posture, and facility of movement made up for his lack of flexibility (he was probably the least flexible child in the room) in the eyes of the selector.  Flexibility can improve with stretching, but the spark this little boy had is something that cannot be taught.

When I was handed the names of the children who were selected for a callback, I was relieved to see his name on the list.  No child's face lit up more upon hearing their name announced for a callback than his.  He eagerly told me that he wanted this "sooo bad" and that if he could take ballet at our school it would "just be the greatest."  When one of the girls said that most people laugh at ballet and think it's only for girls, this boy jumped in and said that ballet dancers have to be "soooo strong" (Yes, we sure do -- I don't know a ballet dancer who doesn't lift weights) and flexed his arm muscles for me.  I know what it feels like to want to get a job at an audition for myself, but at that moment, I wanted him to succeed at this audition almost as much as I've wanted any part for myself.

At the callback, as the selector watched the children dance, with their audition cards out on the table in front of her, I watched as one by one the cards got a slash through them notating the children had been cut.  Once, I held my breath as I saw her pencil hover over Little Baryshnikov's card and make contact, before lifting off and passing over it.  With about ten students having slash-free cards, he was still in the running.  And then came the splits.  And the slash through Little Baryshnikov's card.  I was so dismayed and wanted to say, "Wait, hold!" and run over to the selector to tell her how badly he wanted this and that I believed in him and knew he could do it.  He pointed his feet beautifully, he followed directions perfectly, he jumped so high with his knees straight and kept his posture ready to present to the last row of the Met…. Surely he could learn how to touch his toes and do the splits.  What if this boy was supposed to dance on one of ballet's biggest stages one day and never got the chance just because at eight years of age he couldn't touch his toes and so was denied the opportunity to study what he so clearly loves and has a natural ability for?   My right foot isn't as flexible as an average ballet dancer's, and if someone had told me at that age that I couldn't dance because one little joint in my body isn't as flexible as it should be, I would be a different, less complete (and less happy) person.  As the callback went on (Regardless of whether their card got a slash, all the children who made it to the callback continued through to the end), he got more and more excited, and when his turn came to gallop to a beat that I clapped out, his rhythm was… well… not exactly what I was clapping… at first.   When he got halfway around the room and another child had already started, he suddenly found my beat, and I looked to see if the selector had noticed, but alas, she had already moved on to the next student.

As the callback neared the end and I glanced at the cards on the table, I saw that his sister had been selected, and my heart sank as I thought of how dejected the boy would be to find out his sister got in when he was the one who so badly wanted to take the lessons.  I hoped he wouldn't give up on his love for and desire to learn ballet and that his parents could afford to get him training someplace else.

But then as I heard the names of the students who were released… I didn't hear his name.  I glanced at the desk and saw his card was still out on the table.  I led the children who had been cut out of the room and hoped that the selector had seen what I saw in Little Baryshnikov.

Sure enough, it turned out that both that little boy and his sister had been "borderline," and the selector wasn't sure if she'd made the correct decision, but ultimately, Little Baryshnikov (and his sister) will get the opportunity he so badly wants to study ballet on scholarship.  Whether or not he continues with ballet throughout his life, he will get the opportunity to acquire the discipline that comes with learning to have exquisite control over your muscles and work toward finite goals, and, as a result of that discipline and hard work, he will have the opportunity to experience the absolute joy of being able to express yourself through movement and create art with your body....  And one day, perhaps, he might just wind up a ballet star... which would be a truly delightful ending for this happy beginning.