So… It’s quite weird to start all over again. I used to have a blog and I really loved it. So here I am, starting from scratches. And doing what I love and want.
I will be posting every now and then. Today I will just start introducing myself and tell little about my experience in dance world when I was little.
Hi, My name is Mari and I am 30 years old. I was born and raised with my brother in Estonia, parents were usual people- dad used to be a police man and my mom was a musician and a piano teacher. ( fact nr. 1- I know how to play the piano)
Dancing
Me and dancing go hand-in-hand. I was put to a dancing class ( with my brother actually) at 3 y.o. I used to be very bendy and quite smart for a three year old. I was always ahead of other students, my dance classmates were usually around two years older. And every place I went to suggested to go somewhere else. To go to a place that can teach more. I changed around 4-5 dance schools until I got accepted to Tallinn Ballet School ( You can not audition to a ballet school until you finish the fourth grade in Estonia, so I was 9 y.o)
( Just a fun fact nr 2. I was born in 1993. Since 1995 I lived in Maardu, which is a tiny town , about 25 km away from the capital of Estonia Tallinn. Very few families had cars , and old busses were the only option to travel. But busses had very bad timetables. And it took us around 3 hours just to travel to my dance classes and back. My mom was a hero!)
So yes, I got accepted to a ballet school (with a friend ,jumping with me on the picture) . And you know what, I didn’t want to go to ballet school. It has never been a dream of mine. I liked dancing , but I loved doing sports way more.
I asked my parents to put me into a school, where I could become an athlete. I wanted to run sprints, jump long jumps and just do sports. But I was told “NO”. One of the reasons was that there were no such schools nearby . (But as I understood later, there was a school, but it was a private school. And my parents would have to pay lots of money )
My ballet teacher, from my last ballet studio ,suggested to try out for ballet school. And there I was, one of 17 ( I believe) students to get accepted. We had unordinary big class with 6 boys ,which is a lot for a ballet school.
Fun fact nr 3. Ballet school is not a typical school. We had both ballet +dancing classes and usual school in the same building . We didn't have P.E or singing classes, like normal schools. We had dancing and piano classes instead. And "A" class was for Estonian speaking kids, "B" for Russian speaking kids.
How many students graduated from ballet school out of 17 that started?
15
5
10
And my first year started. I realised I was NOT the most talented child in the class. My body type wasn't ( and still isn't) the typical ballet body. (I still remember that when I went to audition, we had to go through nurse room, she took our measurements. Me, being 9 years old, I was 146 cm tall and weighed 34 kg . ) It meant, that I was one of the HEAVIEST girls in class.... I guess you can imagine how it felt .. I remember some girls my height were around 27 kg.
So yes... Ballet school has given me quite many insecurities. If you ever ask what you don't like in yourself?? I can tell you 10000 things why I am not perfect and what's "wrong" with the way I look.
Fun fact nr 4.Not the best ballet student was one of the 5 graduates ( 2 "originals" the ones, that came from year 5) ; was the only one to get invited to both ballet theatres in Estonia; was one of the two that started out as members of Estonian National Ballet, And danced the longest as a professional ballet dancer in Estonian National Ballet.
Which means- Hard work pays off...
but about my hard or not so hard work I will post later ;)
September 2023
Mari Stankus
MDS
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