Your body aches. Even when you are not dancing, your mind is rehearsing moves and your muscles twinge. There is no true stillness for you. You walk into the studio, the mirrors revealing your gait, your expression, and perhaps something more. You dare not look. You take off your jacket and put on your pointe shoes.
You are early, as usual. You love having the space to yourself. The freedom of the floor gives you the space you need to drop the mistakes and errors that hinder your pursuit of perfection. You prefer to practice in silence. You have found that when you are on stage, music fades away and the rhythm from inside is all that you have to carry you on.
Eventually, others start to file into the studio. They gather around you watching in awe, but their whispers soon break the sacred silence. You continue, stopping only when the instructor’s voice steals the room’s attention. The others take their positions around you. They need to warm up. You do not. You are already warm, because you are always moving. Dance is not a hobby for you, neither is it a profession. It is a state of being. Your body dances, your mind dances, your heart dances. Constant movement, within and without. There is no true stillness for you.
