Chocolat après ballet

"In the wings of ballet production, a sound similar to that in the starting stalls of racehorses before touching the track can be heard, coming from the dancers' heaving breathes, from the permanent stimulation of the muscles, of stretches, lunges, leaps, nobody sits still in the wings, everyone moves constantly, muscles are warmed up, tone is maintained, everyone sweats, everyone breathes in and out, feet are arched, steps are rehearsed, the most expressive position is sought, the safest one, the one that won't break a bone, vertebrae, or tear a ligament. The wings are another stage, hidden from the audience's eyes, but one which communicates with the light-infused stage. In the stage lights, ballet dancers are effervescent, powerful, propelled into the air by gravity-defying force, but once they retreat into the wings, their posture suddenly changes. You see the sitting, holding their heads, soaked with sweat, as if hurled to shore by a forceful storm, the effort beds them over, puts them on their knees, they gather their strength in the position of galley slaves, where work is a sisyphean struggle. You, you who haven't broken a sweat, are seized by a feeling of uselessness watching them, as felt by a sterile women watching another give birth." Mihaela Vîrlan