Rose's Point of View
Nervousness shakes through my body as I stand here backstage waiting for my turn to go up so that I could perform my dance routine that I have been doing perfectly for a year now. I blow out a puff of air in frustration, there is only a 7.2% acceptance rate here to Juilliard. The girl who is currently on stage just messed up her pirouette and tried to recover it by adding in two grande jeté's but that just made her look sloppy and she knew it. She lost her perfect facial expression and looked down. You are never supposed to lose your bearing. She had a perfect ending when the music stopped and she looked at the judges who didn't have any expressions at all. They just nodded and said for her to have a nice day. I felt my grandmother's reassuring hand on my shoulder. She helped me pick out my performance outfit for today. My favorite color is teal and so she picked the perfect teal leotard with white designs and black ballet tights and crystal white pointe shoes. The girl was finished with her routine and now it was my turn to walk on stage. I walked up proud and looked at the judge's faces.
"Hello, I am Rosalina Darlene Phelps and I am auditioning for the Ballet School of Juilliard. The music that I chose is called Butterfly, a piano piece composed by Yasser Farouk." I stood proud as I spoke to the judges who would soon decide my fate on whether I would hold my place at this school or not. They nodded and said, "start when you are ready." I nodded and then I looked over to the person controlling the music. I nodded for him to start it. I wanted to go to Juilliard so badly, I could taste it. I wanted to make my grandmother proud, who took care of me from the time my parents passed till now. I am 16 years old and I finished my homeschooling a year ago. The music started and I began to dance my heart out. I started with the basic ballet stance and I bent down with my arms swaying slowly with the music. The next move I put into the routine was a grande jeté for when the music picked up slightly. I got lost in thought as I began doing a pirouette.
Thinking to myself, 'I started dancing when I was five years old. It was difficult due to the fact that when humans stand or do anything, they do things in front to back motions, but for a ballerina, the motions have to be side to side. Learning how to do the turnout position with the feet was just as difficult as learning how to stand in the pointe shoe. I can remember my ballet teacher telling me when I was younger, "Shoulder's aligned with hip, point your feet out more, spin faster, don't over rotate, straighten your back. Rose, you will never make it into Juilliard with that stance." I never liked that teacher but it helped me get to where I am today. Trying out for Juilliard with my grandmother watching from back stage. She took care of my brother and I who is now in the United States Navy since my parents passing and she took me to all of my practices and my recitals, took my brother to football games and NJROTC events. I spun and looked at my grandmother, her face was glowing with happiness.' I had been practicing this next move for over a year and I've been landing it 85% of the time. It is a tour en l'air which is typically a male dancer's step but I had been wanting to put it in this routine for forever, to prove my strength as a dancer. I landed it perfectly and this is when I added two assemblé's. I messed up on the second one but I looked proud anyways. My bearing was not going to be messed up with that one hiccup. The music soon finished and I ended with a perfect croisé with my right leg crossed in the back. I looked right at the judges who still had the same blank expressions that they had before. "Thank you for your time, we will call you if you get an acceptance and send a letter if you are rejected. Have a nice day." I walked backstage and when I was out of the sight of the judges, I let all of my feelings go and instantly felt relief. I had finally auditioned for the school of my dreams. My grandmother took my hand in hers and held it up. She looked at me with the proudest face in the entire world. "Let's go get some pizza." She said then and I nodded yes.
[Two Weeks Later]
I had been waiting anxiously by the phone, waiting for the call saying that I got in but I did not get that call. Instead, my grandmother came into the house holding a stack of mail. She looked at me with a sad face as she handed me a letter addressed to me from Juilliard. I opened it slowly with shaking hands. I read it in my head.
Dear Rosalina Darlene Phelps,
We regret to inform you that your performance to get into the Juilliard's Dance Division was adequate but did not get you into the school. You can apply again next year with a better performance. Thank you for your time this year.
That is all I read to but then I dropped to my knees crying. I had lost everything. I had no idea what I was doing with my life. The only thing i was good at was cooking and dancing and apparently my dancing was adequate but not good enough. I lost my mind, I was in a crying fit and I couldn't move. My grandmother came over to me and wrapped her arms around me. "Shhh, it's okay, you can always try again next year. What matters is that you tried and you made me proud. That is all that matters." My grandmother said to me in a calming voice. "I don't want to try again. I'm a failure and after all this hard work! What am I going to do?" I yelled at her as I cried. Everything I had worked hard for was crashing down. I went to my room and I stayed there for about three weeks. My brother had called me several times and my grandma tried to make me eat but food was just not a thing. I laid there and I felt terrible. Then the door swung open and revealed a tall figure. "Well, well, well. I never thought I'd see the day where you would be the one to shy away from a challenge." I heard a familiar voice say. I looked to see my brother who held out both of his arms for me to hug him. That is when I jumped into his arms and started crying. "Hey now. Grandma told me everything. I am not letting you give up completely, I already spoke with grandmother, you are coming to live with me in Japan. There is a cute little ice rink near by and you will meet some new people. Okay?" His voice was so angelic compared to my own voices that were screaming at me and telling me how terrible I am. I nodded yes as I looked up at him. "However, you will need a shower first. They won't let you on a plane smelling like that, they might think you were a gas bomb." He laughed at me and I started to laugh through all the tears. "Okay, I will take a shower and get ready to pack."
[Three days later]
The plane ride was super boring and the time 14 hour time shift was the worst part but as soon as I got used to it, I decided to go check out the Ice Rink that my brother was talking about. I walked in and started to look around. I drug my ice skates with me as I found the rink, where I saw a beautiful girl with chestnut brown hair in the middle of the ice rink and there is also another girl standing outside of the rink.