To me, there is almost nothing more gratifying than watching a ballet come together. Seeing something you’ve worked hard at for several months really start to take shape gives you this sort of pride in what you’re doing, and reminds you exactly what you love about it so much.

We ran through the whole of Swan Lake for the first time last weekend. We usually only run it one scene at a time, with two scenes each day of rehearsal (Scenes II and IV on Thursday, and Scenes I and III on Saturday). Doing it all together brought home just how far we’ve come from when we started this, and how close the show is. We’ve all improved so much just over the course of this show, going from panting after one or two dances to being able to run through half the ballet with no stops and hardly breaking a sweat (figuratively, that is).

Our director had told us from the beginning that this was going to be a difficult ballet to do because there was so much in it, and that many young people didn’t attempt it because of this. He had a valid point- it was almost ridiculously hard to get to this point, with all the choreography and acting and the many, many pieces to put together. To be completely honest, there were times when I didn’t think we would be able to do it. But we have, and that’s extremely exciting. It makes me so proud to be a part of this group of people that can pull something like this together so quickly.

We’re preforming Swan Lake on Saturday, May 12 at Johnson County Community College. There are shows at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. You can buy tickets online here.