Balanchine Ballets
She was only two years old at the time, but the reflection of the moving figures in her eyes was one she would never forget. What would later be known to her as Balanchine ballets, seemed at first like life in fast forward. The precise weaving of limbs through the air left no room to breathe - the women and men raced across the dance floor, pirouetting without hesitation, the women raised off the floor floating like birds in the sky. It seemed these marvels of humanity required no effort as they composed a tapestry of motion through space and time.
This moment left the young child breathless. She could feel her heart racing in her chest as her body tried to mimic the motions of those performing on the grand luminous stage. At this age, the motions were more like the flailing of an inflatable tube man one might see outside a car dealership or laundromat. Despite the failure, if one moment could embody inspiration, hope, and passion...
this was it for the young Uma.
The frozen moment passes, and my own life is moving in fast forward as the music of Midsummer Night’s Dream, a Balanchine masterpiece, is blaring around me. How did I get up here in the air? What are these lights around me? The vibrations of the theater seem like the only constant in the room. The notes and motions and lights are a cacophony of the senses. I was just a young girl, hoping and wanting for the power to express myself just as I had seen.
George Balanchine’s choreography often employs the Saut de Chat - a majestic motion often described by experts as a feeling of slow motion. This sensation felt especially true for me, as my final Saut de Chat of the night transported me through the years. Years of practice, years of sacrifice, years of blood sweat and tears. Years that all amounted to this moment. I had never realized that all those years ago, this was what I had witnessed.
As I finally touched the ground, solid ground at once, the crowd roared and cheered. I waved my hands atto the crowd, smiling yet crying as the joy of all my hard work flooded me at once. I nodded to my family and to my friends, but what caught my eye was the sight of a young girl in the crowd, flailing her arms and legs about, with the reflection of my performance printed deep in her eyes.