I took ballet during my teens. One year we were being cast in the school’s annual recital centered around the theme “Mother Goose.” Anxiously awaiting my part, the smile on my face deteriorated when I learned I was cast as the spider in Little Miss Muffet.
Me as an adult wearing my ballet shoes. When I took them off my feet expanded like baking bread.
Photos by Taylor Kinzie.
The instructor and all the other students thought it was such a cool part, but I didn’t want to be a stupid spider wearing a black unitard with 8 legs attached. I wished to be one of the pretty fairytale characters wearing a tutu.
I was bummed because I didn’t fit my own definition of ideal.
Now, as an adult, I LOVE embracing what makes me unique. I was cast as the spider because I had dark hair, a stern presence, and was the best leaper in class.
A pretty tutu and soft character. . . is not me. If that ballet recital were today, I would CHOOSE to be the spider, rock that unitard, and say, “Here I am, bitches!”
Stunning pics by Taylor ! I think as kids we all had huge ideas of what we should be in plays and in life, but life has a way of turning things upside and inside out and we become who we are meant to be whether the Spider or Fairy Princess. I was always the odd “man” out in school but once I left school and started spreading my own wings and trusting my own instincts, I feel that I am more at peace with who I am and what I can do. Every day is an adventure whether just getting into the office through the mayhem traffic or flying thousands of miles away to a new country.