🩰 An ADULT Ballerina's FIRST Nutcracker Ballet EVER!!! 🎄 Nutcracker Rehearsal Vlog (as a beginner) 

As a 39-year old who just finished a semester of community college dance classes with mostly 18-21-year olds, the comments about age are a few things: grief that they missed out until recently, pre-defence against the ageism they project/expect in the dance community (or which they have already faced in the past), and/or defence for their skill level or how they perceive their skill level to be. It presents like shame unless you have a keen eye for it. Keep doing what you're doing!

I’m 46. I just finished two weekends of Nutcracker shows put on my ballet academy. I was an adult in the party scene and part of the Arabian dance. Most of the performers are children, so people all assumed that I was a parent of one of the dancers. They would ask me, “Which one of the dancers is your child?” “I’m the dancer!” Everyone was so nice and positive and welcoming! I don’t want to become a professional dancer (I have a career and I enjoy it) but I’m going to go as far in ballet as my body will let me. I always say that I’m the luckiest person, because I can have the joy of dancing without any of the pressure, especially where body image is concerned. It’s totally okay for me to have flab on my waist and booty - I’m middle aged! And a mother! 😊

you seem so sweet and the kind of supportive person you want to be in a ballet class with. i love your work.

Wonderful ❤. I am dancing with children at my local studio and l feel so happy my teacher treats me no different than anyone else in the room. I am the only adult in the children class but l don’t care because l am learning and growing to get all the basics l need

Congrats on your monetization! Your castmates getting in frame during rehearsal cracked me up! LOL OMG I'm 15 minutes in and I just have to say: Damn, you called me out. LOL I have conversations like this all the time, where I speak with younger colleagues and I kind of joke about being old or getting my degree a LONG time ago or being a late bloomer etc, etc. It's completely unnecessary, I don't need to bring up how much I feel like I got a late start, but at my core, I do feel feelings about it. At the end of the day, all I can do is feel the feelings and try and look forward and be in the present. You're doing great things and one of the reasons I love to watch your channel is because you dance not out of some need to prove something to the world but out of genuine love for your art and it reminds me to stand back from everything and remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing. I hope you're looking forward to your Nutcracker run! You're going to CRUSH IT, babes! ❤🩰

I started ballet as an adult too! When I was still taking classes there was a lady who regularly came who was in her 80s! 😮 I’ve since had to stop due to various reasons but I am hoping to eventually get back into the studio. I’m recovering from a hip surgery at the moment so no way it’ll be soon haha

Congrats on your ballet journey! I love watching your vlogs, they’re so cozy.

I did dance for 6 years as a kid, got super into it to the point where I was taking 5 different styles of classes a week. But life got in the way as I got a bit older and I got super burnt out, kept skipping classes, and decided to quit when I was 12. For the next 8 years, I was so mad that I quit and had so much regret!! I was literally in pre-pointe when I quit, I was starting to get good at ballet, I was already pretty good at jazz, and I had always dreamed of joining drill team in high school, but I missed out on so much from quitting. I got to dance a little bit in musical theater in high school and a sorority competition in college, but that empty hole in my heart never quite got filled. Then, I fell into adult ballet tiktok at the beginning of this year and realized that it wasn't too late to go back, it's POSSIBLE! i was really scared i wouldn't be able to find adult classes because im in the midwest, but i found the perfect little studio that has a great pace, great atmosphere, and i love my teacher. so finally, at 20 years old, i get to say that im a ballerina again! now, something i've been really happy about this week: i take my beginner class in my college town, but right now im home in kansas city for winter break. so yesterday i decided to take a drop-in class at kansas city ballet, but they didn't have any beginner classes that i would be available for until later next week, so i decided to challenge myself and take their intermediate/advanced class. first of all, the studio was SO BIG! barre was really fun, it was challenging, but i could still follow along and it really made me feel like a good student. then we got to center, and omigod xD adagio was okay, everyone could definitely tell i was struggling, but i was still able to follow along. same with petite allegro. then we got to grand allegro and holy crap, i had no idea what i was doing. we did stuff that i never even did when i was little and it was so complicated and fast that i got a lot of it wrong and felt like a dancing elephant. but it was SO FUN!!! it motivates me so much to keep getting better and better at my beginner stuff so that i can work up to what we did yesterday. also, last week my teacher learned that i had never gone en pointe, which she didnt know. i stayed and talked to her about a bunch of stuff afterwards, including my eventual goal to go en pointe, and she said my feet are actually strong enough right now! idk how i maintained my foot strength all these years, and i lowkey doubted her at first, but after hyperfixating on a bunch of stuff on the internet about "how to know when you're ready for pointe" i was like "oh wow, i really can do all of this stuff." however, my balance is still pretty bad for my standards, so i told her im gonna wait til next fall. that way, i can use the spring to finish out the beginner class, work even more on my feet, and get my balance back to where it was 8 years ago. but im so excited, it hasnt even been that long yet and ive already gotten so much back and gained some new things!! and to anyone reading this and being like "okay, but youre still really young and you have previous experience," there are others in my class who are much older! and some with little to no experience! and they are fantastic! it's scary, but take the leap, you wont regret it.

Im so happy for you!!! The nutcracker experience and your channel being monetized 🎉

0:59 as a beginner I really struggle with this step so seeing you do it so well after a year of training is so motivating!

You are so inspiring. I’m finally gonna do a ballet class with my friend, I’m only gonna get older so... anyways you probs aren’t gonna see this but you help so much I’m 12 and I haven’t took a ballet class since like idk when I was6? It’s never to late. And I’m so proud of how far you’ve come! Congrats on the RU-vid parentship thing by the way!!❤

Congrats on being monetized darling! You’re so inspiring!

Yay on the monetization! You deserve it with all that hard work!! I e been following you a long time so it’s good to see your progress 🎉❤

you are an amazing dancer I also really love your style!

Keep going girl ❤

I’m 42 and in the ballet classes I take, there are a lot of people older (and also younger) than me. So it’s very mixed. But especially the older ladies are such an inspiration to me. Seeing them makes me confident that also I will be able to keep dancing for as long as possible, which I really hope. ❤🩰

I’m about to turn 20 and watching your videos really inspires me I love dance and I have always wanted to do it more seriously but never really got the chance I used to dance at my local dance studio from 2 to around 15 I believe but I quit to do color guard with my schools marching band which I did from 8th grade to senior year but in senior year I tried dance again at a different studio that provided pointe classes but I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish the class on point and I regretted not starting there younger but I tried to stick with class anyway but ended up quitting because I felt like I wasn’t good enough and i really want to dance again but there aren’t many adult classes near me so it’s been hard but watching your videos really keeps me motivated so thank you so much for sharing your journey and when the opportunity comes again I definitely won’t miss it!

You are inspiring me. Thank you!

Looking fabulous! Your port de bras is SO pretty! 😍🙌

Veronica! Merry christmas! Awesome vlog! I think that your vlog & editing style is very good, and if you get seen more, I think your channel can become very big. Often times I think it’s because the vloggers are natural talking to the camera, which you totally are, and have a good personality & sense of humour, those are the channnels that end up getting tons of followers. I know sometimes I will see vloggers w/ similar lifestyles & content, but follow one over the other because of their personality. Some of your videos that are ny life, could bring a lot of followers whether dancers or not. And I think the more share your training, you can get a lot of dancer followers, adult/late comers or not. Congrats! thanks for the content!

Great videos, Love the New York vibes. I was so close to visiting it at one point myself. I had experience with modeling and in late 2015 I was in contact with Capcom about the facial likeness role of Leon for the Resident Evil 2 Remake. I failed to mention I also have a voice acting background, in the end I lost the part and I can't forgive myself for wasting such an opportunity. That would've been a real dream come true to visit this city :). All the best for Christmas.

I’m 28 years old and always wondered if I’m late to begin. I have dance basics and posture background, but never did ballet long enough. How do you guys recommend to start or train before taking classes. I have no direct goals but to do this for my inner child that always wanted to keep dancing.

Hi! How long did you practice ballet in general before this performance?

Aw the comments about their insecurity about their age makes me so sad

"ill cut that part out" *doesn't cut that part out*