On what happens after the barre

A ballet class begins at the barre. It's your home base and your friend and it keeps you standing up while trying to achieve the impossible (in other words, ballet.) The barre is what you come back to when you're not on your leg, when you're injured, and every morning when you come into the studio and attempt to move. It centers you. But then you get the hang of it and you let go a little and you might balance. For a second or two. And when you're all warm and comfortable and breathing right and moving right, and there's the barre when you need it - then you have to let go for good.

It seems impossible. Because you're standing on one leg and you're shaking and you're trying to remember what to do next. But you do it anyway.

Change is the same way. You do it anyway.

You let go of the barre and head to the center and all of a sudden you're trying to achieve the impossible again -- only this time, it's without help. And just like that, you arrive at the kind of movement ballet is known for, the movement that will change you.

A lot of people have asked me what this blog is supposed to be about. This is the clearest answer I can give.