Life Offstage

Over the summer, I read the fantastic book, Bunheads by Sophie Flack. Bunheads is about a nineteen-year-old girl named Hannah who is a professional ballet dancer in the Manhattan Ballet Academy. Hannah has been dancing since she was a toddler, and she decided to become a ballerina when she was nine. Hannah barely knows life outside of ballet. Lately, Hannah has started dating a boy named Jacob. Jacob is slowly getting Hannah to realize how unexposed she is to the outside world, and that she's missing out on a lot of great experiences because of living and breathing ballet all the time.

One way that Jacob shows Hannah what she's missing is by showing her around New York City. Hannah is so busy with dance that she barely even knows her way around the city she lives in. Jacob takes Hannah to the Met, a museum in Manhattan. When he takes her to the rooftop, Jacob asks Hannah if she's ever been up there. She says no; she doesn't have a lot of time. Jacob responds, "'You're standing on the rooftop of the greatest museum in the world, looking out over the greatest city in the world--that's some thing to make time for.'" Hannah sees that she could have experienced this amazing scene years ago, but she was too busy. Another example is that Jacob tells Hannah about a book he's reading, Moby Dick. Hannah buys the book the book later on, but she can't find time to read it.  This shows that Hannah doesn't have time in her busy schedule to read. Those are two examples of Jacob showing Hannah life outside of ballet.

Another way that Jacob shows Hannah what she is missing is he sheds light on the negative aspects of the ballet world. For example, he says, "'Don't take this the wrong way, but the ballet world seems almost cultish.'" Hannah then realizes that their leader, Otto, reigns over them and determines their whole future, while all the dancers are scared to speak to him. Another example is that even when Hannah gets small parts after working for years, she is interested in doing something else with her life but she doesn't know what else she could do. "'I love being onstage. But it's so painful being invisible,'" she explains. Those are examples of how Jacob shows Hannah that ballet life is much more intense and difficult than normal life.

Finally, after months of being torn, Hannah quits ballet. I am glad that Jacob was there to show Hannah life offstage. I'm sure that Hannah is very grateful.