Oregon Ballet Theatre Shows Us How Long It Takes to Become an Expert

Dancers know that practice makes…room for more practice. We spend our entire lives working to refine our technique, and what non-dancers see as perfection we see as a work in progress. But with dedication and discipline, that work-in-progress starts to change and grow, and that’s the beauty of our art form: constant opportunity to push ourselves further.

This new film from Oregon Ballet Theatre charts the cycle of a ballet career from a baby ballerina twirling around her living room to a prima stepping onstage in Swan Lake. There are countless hours of effort in between, and the video shows that learning and improving never stop, even for the older dancers and professionals. We all know that no matter how famous or accomplished a dancer is, she starts her day at the barre, just like a toddler in her first ballet class.

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