Ballerinas

Splendid Falls is about a ballerina whose name is Sylvie, Sylvie’s life was purely ballet related. When she broke her ankle she realized that she had no life. All she ever did was work for ballet purposes. Ever single highlight in her life was an accomplishment in her ballet career. Every downfall was unexpected.

Sylvie fell on a simple fell on a simple turn. That simple turn cost her greatly. She went from being the youngest most important ballerina to being a one shot single. She went from having all the things she wanted to not having anything at all.

The only thing Sylvie wanted was to fulfill her legacy. Once her ankle became broken her life was cut short. She felt the weight of the world, or at least the weight of her ballet world.

The way Sylvie was portrayed in Splendid Falls made me realize that ballerinas suffer a lot. Sylvie suffered once she lost her ballet because all she could ever remember was her striving for the better. Making herself a certain way, doing everything just right, in order to be able to accomplish her dreams, even if her dreams were harmful to her.

The media also portrays ballerinas similarly. For example, in the movie, Black Swan, the main character, Nina (Nathalie Portman) was very similar on the basic bases. They both made themselves a certain way; they had no real meaning of the value of life, besides ballet.

The only difference between these two main characters, Sylvie and Nina was the way they handled situations. Once Nina realized they were going to cut her out of her ballet career she did everything in her power to stop it. She reduced down to low levels just to obtain her career back. When Sylvie’s career ended abruptly she went through a great depression because her life ended when her ballet career ended. She did not handle the situation badly she handled it much much better.

Both main characters broke down in some point in the movie or book. I strongly believe that they felt too much pressure into becoming a certain way. Nina did wrong doings in order to confront her depression, while Sylvie just sort of kept her opinions to herself and destroyed herself on her own. The Media portrays ballerinas like this. I do not have a first-hand resource on ballerinas, and how they have high stress levels and mental disorders, but from all the writings in Splendid Falls, Black Swan, and so many other books, plays and articles I can conclude ballerinas are under great pressure. They force themselves to be a certain way and do not have a life they are content with outside of ballet.