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  • - Now, put your leg out behind you.

  • Now put this one like that.

  • Yeah, see you're very good at it.

  • That's perfect.

  • - Hi.

  • - Hi.

  • Come sit with me.

  • - Okay.

  • - Hello.

  • - Hi I'm Jules.

  • - Hi I'm Elle, so good to meet you.

  • - Nice to meet you too.

  • - So, what kind of person are you?

  • - What kind of person am I?

  • Can you guess?

  • - Wait, mom what's it called again?

  • - Do you know what I am?

  • - Yes, a ballerina.

  • - Yeah, what was the giveaway?

  • - You're dress and your slippers.

  • - Oh yeah, the slippers.

  • - A ballerina.

  • - Yes, I am a ballerina.

  • Do you see the point shoes?

  • - Yeah.

  • - That's kind of the giveaway.

  • - Mostly your dress.

  • - Mostly my dress.

  • Yeah, we call it a tutu.

  • When it sticks out straight.

  • - It's beautiful.

  • - Oh, thank you.

  • It's suppose to look like feathers.

  • - Ah, like a peacock kind of?

  • - It's actually a swan.

  • - Oh, I see.

  • - Yeah.

  • Do I look like a swan when I do the arms?

  • - Yes.

  • - Yeah, and you see the feathers all over it.

  • - I love it.

  • - You love it?

  • - Do you jump and do back flips or something?

  • - I've never done a back flip,

  • but we do jumps and we turn,

  • and we put our legs way up in the air.

  • Then you do it one foot, you know, on your toes.

  • - One foot?

  • - Yeah, you do somethings on one foot.

  • On your toes, spinning.

  • - You do some crazy stuff.

  • - We do some crazy stuff.

  • - What's your favorite ballet move?

  • - What's my favorite ballet move?

  • I like to jump.

  • I like to do, it's called a sodashaw.

  • You kind of do a split in the air.

  • - You mean like this.

  • - Yeah, show me.

  • Pretty much.

  • - How old were you when you started?

  • - My mom was one of my very first ballet teachers,

  • so she taught me dance from the time I was five

  • until the time I was about 17.

  • - Do you ever get nervous on stage?

  • - Once I'm on stage I don't feel nervous anymore,

  • but leading up to, like the performance,

  • there's a ton of kind of jitters and nervous energy.

  • - I actually did it at school, a performance.

  • - You did?

  • - And I was really scared,

  • because my mom and dad were watching me.

  • - Yeah, but they love you the most.

  • You know they're going to be your biggest fans.

  • - Mm-hmm.

  • - Yeah.

  • - I used to do ballet when I was like three.

  • - Really?

  • - Mm-hmm.

  • - How old are you now?

  • - Six.

  • - Six.

  • Did you do ballet too?

  • - No.

  • - No. (laughs)

  • - Do boys do ballet?

  • - Oh, yes of course.

  • - Cool.

  • - I didn't really know that there was males that do ballet.

  • - Yeah, no there's plenty of males that do ballet.

  • They will help turn you,

  • and they help you stay balanced.

  • They also lift you above their heads.

  • - I didn't know ballet was so intense.

  • - Yeah, ballet is pretty intense.

  • - Have you ever been dropped?

  • - Yeah, I've been dropped.

  • - Did the boy get mad?

  • - Did he get... I, na, no, I got mad.

  • Can you imagine if you watched on

  • the stage and somebody dropped a lady?

  • - I would be like, stop this show we need to do this again.

  • - That's what I want to do.

  • I feel the same way.

  • - Do you ever get dizzy from doing all the turns?

  • - Oh yeah, turning can make me very dizzy.

  • So, you're trying to look at one spot,

  • and while you're turning you try

  • to keep your head there the whole time.

  • And know, switch it.

  • Nice.

  • - I can do it without even having to

  • do that without getting dizzy.

  • (laughing)

  • - That's pretty good, that's pretty good.

  • - Want to see some moves?

  • - Yeah.

  • - Yeah.

  • Can I ask if you'd be my partner?

  • - Yeah, sure.

  • - Alright, come here.

  • So this is called a releve.

  • So we go up.

  • So that would be...

  • Yes, that's really good.

  • Nice.

  • This ones fifth position.

  • So you go from first,

  • and you're going to slide your foot over.

  • Yeah.

  • - That's hard.

  • - Yeah.

  • There's this one called beret and you might have to...

  • There's a ballet where she goes from one

  • edge of the stage to the other edge of the stage.

  • She's on point, she travels all the way across,

  • and she'll go back the other way.

  • - Oh wow.

  • - And she'll go back the other way.

  • - I can't even do it like two steps.

  • - So if I was your partner I would

  • give you my hand like this.

  • Then you would go to your releve.

  • Oh, you should be a dancer.

  • You have artistry.

  • That's great.

  • Oh yes.

  • That is good.

  • Your here, bring it to passe.

  • And switch.

  • - Swan.

  • - Swan.

  • Then you could do it to the back.

  • Wow.

  • - Like this.

  • - Like that, yeah.

  • Oh man.

  • Oh, yeah.

  • - Is it kind of hard to balance

  • when you do like those twists?

  • - oh, very hard to balance.

  • So, in point shoes you kind of got the wood on the top.

  • So it kind of helps balance.

  • - I didn't know that.

  • - Yes.

  • So this whole part on the top here is made of wood.

  • So you have a platform here.

  • Do you want to see a shoe?

  • There's one for you.

  • - What do your toes look like?

  • - Oh there gross.

  • You do not want to see my toes.

  • - How many different point shoes have you worn?

  • - I go through probably two or three pairs a week.

  • I mean it could be somewhere like

  • 800 pairs of shoes probably.

  • - Wow, that's a lot.

  • - Let's see the toes.

  • There not so pretty.

  • - There fine.

  • - You think their fine?

  • That's really nice.

  • - How did you get those like red?

  • - The red?

  • So you know when you guys have done like the monkey bars?

  • How you'll scrap your hands up?

  • Then the next time you'll start to get calluses

  • so they don't rip open as much.

  • It's the something for your toes.

  • - Cool how you can crack them though.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Wow.

  • - Are you gonna be a ballerina forever?

  • - I wish.

  • A lot of ballerinas stop dancing around

  • the time they're 35 or so.

  • I really only have about, you know,

  • 10 to 15 years left hopefully.

  • You know when your body starts to hurt

  • when you wake up in the morning?

  • I figure there's a time that it'll become...

  • - That happens to me right now.

  • - It happens to me right now, yeah.

  • It happens to me too,

  • but I just assume that it's going to get harder and harder.

  • - Do you have a plan for after retirement?

  • - So I'd love to either become a teacher,

  • or I don't know a mentor in some

  • kind of way to young dancers.

  • And kind of pass it along to the next crop.

  • - Thank you.

  • - Oh, thank you for talking to me.

  • Thank you for showing me your moves.

  • I think that was my favorite part.

  • - Thank you Elle.

  • - Ah, thank you Clara this has been fun.

  • Want to do a swan circle to say goodbye?

  • - Yeah.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Oop. (laughs)

  • - Good bye.

  • - Good bye.

  • It was nice to meet you.

  • Ah, so good to meet you.

  • - Yeah, bye.

  • - Hi I'm Elle, thanks for watching Kids Meet a Ballerina.

  • If you want to learn more about me,

  • or Pacific Northwest Ballet please check the link below.

  • Don't forget to check out more Kids Meet videos.

  • Bye.

- Now, put your leg out behind you.

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