I’m Lucie Fink.
I’m a video producer at Refinery29,
but every so often I like to try other people’s jobs.
Today I’m at a ballet studio in Manhattan
to see if I have what it takes to be a ballerina.
This is Lucie for Hire.
Professional ballet dancers are,
I think, some of the best athletes in the world
but we’re also artists.
So our job is to make it look really easy.
Anyone who is trying ballet for the first time
is going to be genuinely surprised by
how hard it is
even to execute really simple moves.
Your first challenge is to warm up and stretch.
Isabella walked me through a
series of simple stretches.
Oh that’s as far as I can go.
Toe touching.
Straddles.
And some yoga poses.
Then we moved to the ballet bar.
And straighten.
Good.
She taught me how to loosen up my hands and fingers.
Alright, put your thumb in
and you want to see every finger.
You don’t just want to have flippers.
And then she showed me some
basic ballet terminology.
Demi plié.
And straighten.
And now we’re going to a grand plié.
So you go all the way down.
Woo!
My foot cracked.
Oh man!
Relax your head.
Let me just say this warm up was hard enough
so I was starting to get really nervous about
the actual learning to dance part.
Your second challenge is to look the part
because when your outfit is on point,
your life is on point.
Isabella had me change into a typical ballet outfit:
tights and a leotard.
Do I look like a ballerina?
We need to put your hair up into a bun.
Then I tried to give myself a ballet bun.
But it was an absolute disaster.
Okay I’m just going to fix it a little.
It was a good attempt though.
So Isabella took over and helped me out.
Pro-tip: use a ton of bobby pins.
She also taught me how to tie pointe shoes.
Wrapping the inside ribbon twice
and the outside ribbon once.
I wasn’t going to dance in them this time though.
It takes years and years to learn how to move
in them properly.
Painful.
The biggest part of the challenge
was still yet to come.
Your third challenge is to learn the choreography.
Today I’m going to teach Lucie
an excerpt from Swan Lake,
which is one of my favorite ballets.
You go on up to demi pointe
and keep your legs stretched.
To start, Isabella taught me a few eight counts
of choreography.
Flap three, four.
And one and a two.
And then we practiced my leap.
The aesthetic of ballet is based on hitting
extremely precise poses and body angles,
and those positions and that grace
take years and years of hard work
and practice to perfect.
Keep your head out like...
Really stretch out.
Alright.
I’m sweating.
Try it again.
Okay, good.
Your final challenge is to perform.
And just like that
I became a swan.
Well, not really, I put on a pink tutu to
really bring my personality into the part.
Oh my gosh.
I feel like a ballerina.
And then, I did my best.
Sweet! How did you do?
It was great!
Yeah, Lucie was awesome.
She was totally up for anything.
Yeah, why not?
Add it.
Very open-minded and very unself-conscious,
which is a great quality for a beginner to have,
even though I had to modify the choreography
to make it a little simpler for her.
I think with a few more years of practice,
I would definitely hire Lucie as a ballerina.
Ballet is an art form but it is also a sport.
Isabella has trained for years to earn herself
a spot as a principal dancer
for the American Ballet Theatre.
So with a few more years of practice,
maybe I’ll get there too.
For now, I feel great about my efforts,
my progress, and my performance.
And in the meantime,
I’ll see you at the ballet bar.
Thanks so much for watching my attempt
at being a ballerina.
Comment below to let me know how you thought I did.
Click here to watch another video on Refinery29
and right here to subscribe.
See ya!