Bawling at the Ballet
My experience with Anastasia was very similar to the experience I had witnessing Caissie Levy perform “Let it Go” in Frozen the Broadway musical. There is a scene in this musical where the characters are at the ballet, so, naturally, there were ballerinas dancing during this part of the show. I have danced ever since I was three years old, and it was the first artform I’ve ever really been invested in, so I am always drawn to the dancers in a musical. Additionally, I had been taking pointe classes for a few years by the time I went to see Anastasia. So, even though the dancers were not the main focus of this scene in the musical, they had my full attention. By the end of their performance I was in tears as my cheeks glistened from the silent sobbing I was doing in order to not disturb everyone around me.
Similar to how I felt experiencing Caissie Levy’s performance, I was overwhelmed by these ballet dancers. Although this part of the show wasn’t really made to make the audience cry, here I was- sobbing. The beauty and grace with which they danced was even more special and impressive to me with my tiny amount of experience dancing on pointe, and I again knew that I wanted to perform so that I could hopefully give people the same breathtaking experience I had in that moment.
Work Cited
Anastasia. By Terrance McNally, Directed by Darko Tresnjak, 5 April 2018, Broadhurst Theatre, New York, NY. Performance.
