1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,560 Speaker 1: There is no need for the outside world because we 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: are removed from it and apart from it and in 3 00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: our own universe. For My Heart podcasts and Rococo Punch, 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: this is the turning room of mirrors. Well, it completely 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: wanted all of our attention and all of our devotion. 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: Not unlike the convent. What you're doing is larger than yourself, 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: almost like a religion, Like this is bigger than you. 8 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: He used to say, what are you looking at, dear? 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: You can't see you, Only I can see you. He 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,919 Speaker 1: could do no wrong, like he was a god. In 11 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: the US, there is ballet before George Balanchine and ballet 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: after George Balanchine. Balancine grew up dancing for the Czar 13 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: in Russia. He survived the Russian Revolution. He turned classical 14 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: ballet into something new. His movements were fast and big. 15 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: They colored outside the lines of traditional ballet. They vaulted 16 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: him to a position of power few artists ever reach. 17 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: There are not very many of us left around that 18 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: actually grew up with balancing. It was like I grew 19 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: up with Mozart. Balancing made dancers feel chosen, like they 20 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,919 Speaker 1: were part of something bigger. It was intoxicating and demanding. 21 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,959 Speaker 1: It was really about risk. He would request things that 22 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: could be almost undoable. Most of it was really challenging 23 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,919 Speaker 1: our willingness to risk. It gets a different kind of quiet. 24 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: I could feel the audience like you're in a vacuum together, 25 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: that really dynamic connection between us. Nothing like it. But 26 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: what was the cost for the dancers who brought these 27 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: ballets to life where the lines between the professional and 28 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: the personal were hazy and often crossed, Their bodies used 29 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: as tools, scrutinized and pushed to the breaking point. He 30 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: was obsessed with women. I think throughout his whole life 31 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: balancing did not like star female dancers to have children. 32 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: He would famously say, like any woman can be a mother, 33 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,399 Speaker 1: but only you few select people can be ballerinos. How 34 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: far does balancing shadow extend beyond himself. You don't have 35 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: a voice in ballet. You literally aren't supposed to speak, 36 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: and you learn not to and you learn to push 37 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,639 Speaker 1: things down. So many people have developed a really dysfunctional 38 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: relationship with exercise and with food, simply because most people 39 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: in the ballet world, I'm interested in their experience of 40 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: watching it, then in the dances experience of executing it. 41 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: Listen to the Turning Room of Mirrors on the I 42 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.