Getting ready. He knows everything must be perfect, not a thread out of place, not a wrinkle in his leggings. As a male ballet dancer, he has to fight harder for the right to wear shoes with ribbons like all the girls he admires with dainty feet. These shoes were custom made to fit his wider feet, but he can’t help feeling the ballet world will only accept this breach of tradition as long as he is triumphant on stage. A second off his time, a slip, a fall, a forgotten step and he won’t just be a disgrace, but he’ll be a disgrace in ribboned shoes… there will be whispers he should have just stuck to men’s slippers or danced barefoot, like the men should and always have. No, he won’t let that happen.

Especially, especially, since the man he’s worshipped forever will be in the audience. His hero, his role model, his god. Now, he must let go of his ego, his worries, his stress, and just…dance. And dance he will. 

(Photograph by Vincent Chine; model unknown. Caption is fiction.)
(Just three late night ballet reblogs tonight.)