At the end of the last millennium, a boy was born who could not stop dancing. Everything around him inspired him. In every place he saw an opportunity to transform the ordinary, everyday into the exceptional, delightful. Every activity, every chore was an opportunity to create new dance routines – even ordinary vacuuming…
We are lucky to be the parents of this boy.
Sometimes it takes us many years to search for our life path, to discover our destiny. We look for our passions and our place in the world. However, it happens that passion is so strong and deeply rooted in us that we don’t have to look for it, it finds us on its own. Such was the case in our son’s life. As soon as he started walking, at the same time, dance began to flow out of his movements. He danced every day. And starting from the age of three, he gave us home performances every day. A child’s little voice constantly pulled me away from housework: “Mommy watch!” and I had to direct all my attention to his dancing. Nothing was able to stop him. Ordinary household activities were an inspiration for him. Dance arrangements were created while vacuuming or sweeping. He set the table with a dance step. He couldn’t stop it, some inner force guided him, as if constant music pulsed through his veins. Once when I ordered during Lent a day without TV, computer or music, my son asked me – “And what about dancing?” I replied – “No.” “Then what am I going to do!” – he exclaimed.
We decided to enroll Stanislaw in ballet school. It was too great love to dare to suppress it. We knew we had to channel this fire.
Unfortunately, there is no all-school ballet school in Krakow, so we had to find afternoon classes. We had never been interested in ballet in any particular way before and didn’t realize what a ballet education entailed, so our criterion for choosing a school was the frequency of classes per week. As parents of three children, we were looking for a school with the least amount of classes; after all, we couldn’t devote all our time to just one child. And so, at the age of eight, Stanislaw began his ballet education at the Krakowska Zawodowa Szkoła Baletowa (Krakow Professional Ballet School), where the preparatory class at the time had classes twice a week. We didn’t realize at the time that this decision would change our entire lives.
He always came out of ballet lessons happy. It was something special – a boy who found it difficult to focus on any task, performed the same ballet exercises over and over again every day and enjoyed it. At home, after returning from class he would relive the whole lesson over again and show what he had learned. He admired with interest the dancing of his older classmates. He absorbed with all his being every performance, every rehearsal, every meeting with a professional dancer.
The first year of ballet school wasn’t much of a burden, but the next year the number of classes per week increased to four, and the following year to six. As a family, we were faced with the choice of whether we would continue on this journey – a difficult and challenging one – or find something less demanding. We had to decide whether we would lay down our lives, and to a large extent the lives of Stanislaw’s younger siblings, so that he could pursue his passion as a professional dancer. The decision was difficult, because in its own way it involved the whole family. In the end, we decided to continue on this path. It’s amazing how a discovered passion that one begins to nurture is able to cover wider and wider circles. Stanislaw’s ballet education also extended to us parents, siblings, extended family and friends. Together with our son, we learned discipline, responsibility, dedication, but also to see beauty, art, the ability to express feelings.
Ballet education is not only teaching dance technique and imparting knowledge about dance, but also awakening creativity, shaping sensitivity, building character. Performed every day, for several hours over and over again the same exercises, the routine, which would seem to destroy creativity, paradoxically provides an ideal foundation for the perfect expression of individuality.
We associate ballet schools with rigor, discipline, exorbitant requirements. As a mom, I often wondered if this was too much of a burden for a child. However, our son seemed happiest when he was most tired, when he came out all wet with sweat after class. Now, in retrospect, he best remembers the most difficult lessons and the most demanding teachers.
After four years at the Krakowska Zawodowa Szkoła Baletowa (Krakow Professional Ballet School) and a year at the Ballet Studio at the Cracow Opera, Stanislaw continued his studies at the General Ballet School in Warsaw. We moved there to accompany him in the process of becoming a dancer. He spent most of the day at school, but always returned happy. Being among friends who shared his interests was an extremely empowering experience. Previously, he had not always met understanding or acceptance. I admire the passion of young people in ballet who are able to defy peer pressure, which is so powerful in the teenage years. Day after day, year after year disciplining their bodies, setting higher and higher bars for themselves, they are climbing upwards, reaching for their dreams.
This is a bizarre discipline of art, to which one must devote oneself unconditionally. It is closely connected with pain and sacrifice. Here, external coercion is not enough – to flourish one must give oneself to it voluntarily, in its entirety. We had the great privilege of witnessing the formation of this bizarre love. We watched how a small impatient boy, avoiding responsibilities, looking for mischief turns into a mature, disciplined, supportive of others, responsible man. The love of art, of beauty, was always in his heart, but gradually under the guidance of his teachers it took on a unique shape.
Stanislaw’s last three years of ballet education were at the Ballet Academy – University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. This was another challenge – a separation from the family home. Artists are extremely sensitive souls who draw a lot of support from family relationships. And here again, passion must be stronger. We were separated from our son by 800 kilometers, but at the school in Munich there were also students from distant parts of the world – from Brazil, Japan, Australia, who saw their families once a year, or less often.
I never imagined that I would let my child out from under my wings at the age of sixteen and let him go abroad to be educated there. Relationships and family ties have always come first with me. It’s interesting how the ballet school, while preparing our son, also prepared me for this step. All these wonderful qualities and talents that Stanislaw was endowed with by the Creator sharpened, strengthened and consolidated in the process of becoming a dancer, in daily discipline, self-denial, tenacity, perseverance. So when the day came to leave for Munich, I knew that this was no longer the little boy who needed my constant help.
The period of three years away from home was not only ballet school, but also a milestone into adulthood. Daily hard work on your body, but also laundry, cooking, cleaning – everything had to be taken care of by yourself. Routine ballet exercises, preparation of repertoire, numerous rehearsals, performances. All the effort put in to be better every day, and to finally fulfill yourself on stage.
Each of these young people shaped in a special way, brings a unique value to the world. Always kind, open-minded, eager to share with others what they have most valuable. You can see this mark of hard work in them – excellent artistic skills and unique character. This is how I see ballet school – as a kind of school of life.
Stanislaw received his dancer’s diploma eight years ago. This could be considered a completion of ballet education, but when I watch him and when I watch his friends I have the impression that this process never ends. Every day they strive for perfection. Every day they put in a tremendous effort to get even a millimeter closer to the ideal. It can be said that ballet education is a permanent education.
As parents, this unique field of art has not stopped influencing us either. It even began to broaden our horizons even further. Our contact with ballet began to take on new forms. Having observed students and young dancers for many years, we could see what difficulties and challenges they faced. We decided to be a support for these beautiful people. A few years ago, we founded the Dance to Be Foundation, which wants to make this difficult path of becoming a professional dancer a little easier. What we see on stage is the final stage. The Dance to Be Foundation wants to be a support in the process, in the daily life, in the difficulties. We are very keen to strengthen young artists, to be an encouragement, to give them wings to soar high. We want to accompany them on this beautiful journey.
When I think of all these years dedicated to ballet education I feel gratitude and joy. Completely in passing, just being near, I have learned so much. And I look forward to all that is yet to come, because this journey does not end.
The text appeared in the 2021 special edition of the quarterly magazine “Taniec” – Supplement 2021 “Dance Education”.
