Last night I was chatting with a middle-aged lady in English. We talked about ballet, and she was surprised that in my city there are many ladies who begin learning ballet even after 40.
She also asked me why I started ballet at this age, which made me ponder for a moment because it was a feeling not easy to describe.
I would say “confidence,” but different from that kind of confidence showing energetically and enthusiastically from those pop dancers.
For me, ballet is graceful and quiet. The postures are simple but difficult because they are delicate yet steady. It’s the confidence that comes from a grounded inner strength.
So it’s never late to start ballet. If you intend to be excellent or professional, yes it’s better to start young. But you can enjoy that confidence no matter how good you are or what your age is.
昨晚我用英文和一位中年女士聊天。我們談到芭蕾；她很驚訝在我的城市裡，有很多女性是過了 40 歲才開始學芭蕾。
她也問我，為什麼在這個年紀還會想學芭蕾。這個問題讓我想了一下，因為那其實是一種不太容易描述的感覺。
我想我會說是「自信」，但那和流行舞者身上那種充滿活力、熱情外放的自信不太一樣。
對我來說，芭蕾是優雅而安靜的。許多芭蕾舞姿之所以困難，是因為它們非常細緻，但同時又要保持穩定。那種自信是來自內在安定的力量。
所以我覺得學芭蕾永遠不嫌晚。如果你的目標是要跳得很優秀或成為專業舞者，那當然越早開始越好。但無論你的表現如何、年紀多大，都不影響你去享受那份由內而外的自信和優雅。
