Imperfections Make You a Better Dancer

I’ve never met a dancer who didn’t wish she had the perfect ballet body. But ballet is about making the most of what we do have—and directors understand that. During her interview for Pointe‘s June/July issue, Ballet BC artistic director Emily Molnar told writer Michael Crabb:

“When you watch someone dance and you find yourself looking at her feet, that’s usually because that dancer finds her feet to be the most interesting thing about her dancing. That misses the potential of this artform. Some of the greatest dancers in the world have difficult bodies. They do not have perfect feet. They do not have great lines. And they become interesting to watch. Why? Because they have to work through those challenges and they have to find the science and that intelligence inside of movement to make something of what is not perfect. A lot of times you see these bodies that should be ‘perfect,’ and yet they’re not saying anything because it just happens for them. I think the perfect body is more about what someone does with what they have. You only see it when people are alive in what they’re doing.”