Ballet is the basic foundation for most forms of dance. Whatever you learn in ballet translates into values that can be used to pursue other forms of dance. So, here we talk about everything that contributes to ballet and its importance. And my interviewee is one of my friends; her name is Ester George, and she`s a ballet dancer.

When and where did you learn this kind of dance?

I started ballet when I was 8 years old at an academy called Kythara, then I was injured during dance at the age of 13, which required me to take a break, and I came back three years ago to train at Ekladious Ballet School.

Why did you choose this kind of dancing?

I chose ballet specifically because it has this calming and magical effect on our bodies, as if I can feel the music while dancing, and since I was a little girl, I always dreamed of dancing on stage.

What challenges do you, as a ballet dancer, face?

As an adult ballet dancer, my biggest challenge is having flexibility.

Do you think ballet is proving its worth as a professional sport in Egypt?

I don`t think ballet is being taken seriously enough in Egypt; however, it is a sport, not a hobby, and some ballet dancers continue to be perfectionists and take it as their careers. Nevertheless, being a professional dancer requires tonnes of work and training that is not always provided in the Egyptian academy.

What are the biggest struggles that ballet dancers could face?

In my opinion, there are two main struggles for ballet dancers who aspire to continue dancing.

The first one is the stigma of starting early. Some people think that in order to dance ballet, you have to start by the age of 6, but that is not true. A lot of dancers have started as adults and are now great dancers and teach others to embrace ballet no matter how old they are.

The second struggle is how much dance costs and how hard it is to find costumes as an adult. The pointe, which is the ballet shoe, has one of the highest prices of dance shoes in Egypt. In addition to not finding any leotards that fit adults, we have to costumize our costumes, which costs at least 600 pounds per leotard.

How can we fix these struggles?

I guess if we had more academies that encouraged adults to begin ballet and accepted all ages with all body shapes, that would encourage more people to join and start a new sport that could be life-changing for an adult. And as a bonus, they could provide costumes that would fit their dancers at affordable prices, decreasing the struggle of finding the right uniform.

Do you believe that ballet dance needs a specific body shape?

I believe that everyone can dance ballet, no matter what their body shape or weight. All you need is your ambition to learn more.

I have seen many ballerinas who are not considered to have the ballet body be beautiful dancers and more skilled than others.

What is the connection between body health from ballet and mind health?

So, I`ve been dancing for a while now, and what keeps me going is how my mental state changes when I`m dancing. Ballet has pushed me beyond my limits, and I`ve discovered that I could do moves I never thought I was able to do, and that helped me change the way I think in life generally.

I started to see beyond my eyesight and believe more in my abilities, even if I thought something was impossible. I could always look up to how far I`ve come in dance, and I would be willing to achieve the best outcome possible in every aspect of life.

What are your lifelong dreams?

In my academy, there`s a teacher training programme that`s being applied in Egypt for the first time, so my lifelong dreams are to join this programme and teach other adults to embrace themselves and love dancing as much as I do.