00:00I'm Lucy Fink. I'm a video producer at Refinery29, but every so often I like to try other people's jobs.
00:06Today I'm at a ballet studio in Manhattan to see if I have what it takes to be a ballerina.
00:11This is Lucy for Hire.
00:18Professional ballet dancers are, I think, some of the best athletes in the world, but we're also artists,
00:24so our job is to make it look really easy.
00:26Anyone who's trying ballet for the first time is going to be genuinely surprised by how hard it is,
00:33even to execute really simple moves.
00:36Your first challenge is to warm up and stretch.
00:39Isabella walked me through a series of simple stretches.
00:42Oh, that's as far as that can go.
00:44Toe touching.
00:46Ooh!
00:47Straddles.
00:48Stagger a little bit.
00:49And some yoga poses.
00:54Then we move to the ballet bar.
00:57And straighten.
00:58Good.
00:59She taught me how to loosen up my hands and fingers.
01:02Okay, put your thumb in, and then you want to see every finger.
01:05You don't just want to have, like, flippers.
01:07And then she showed me some basic ballet terminology.
01:11Demi plié.
01:13And straighten.
01:13And now we're going to do a grand plié, so you go all the way down.
01:17Woo!
01:17My foot cracked.
01:19Oh, man!
01:21It's your head.
01:22Let me just say, this warm up was hard enough, so I was starting to get really nervous about
01:26the actual learning to dance part.
01:29Your second challenge is to look the part.
01:31Because when your outfit is on point, your life is on point.
01:36Isabella had me change into a typical ballet outfit.
01:43Tights and a leotard.
01:45Do I look like a ballerina?
01:47We need to put your hair up into a bun.
01:49Then I tried to give myself a ballet bun, but it was an absolute disaster.
01:54Okay, I'm just going to, like, fix it a little.
01:56It was a good attempt, though.
01:59So Isabella took over and helped me out.
02:02Pro tip.
02:03Use a ton of bobby pins.
02:05Yay!
02:06She also taught me how to tie point shoes, wrapping the inside ribbon twice and the outside
02:11ribbon once.
02:12I wasn't going to dance in them this time, though.
02:14It takes years and years to learn how to move in them properly.
02:18Painful!
02:19The biggest part of the challenge was still yet to come.
02:22Your third challenge is to learn the choreography.
02:25Today I'm going to teach Lucy an excerpt from Swan Lake, which is one of my favorite ballets.
02:29So you go up onto Demi Point and keep your legs stretched.
02:33To start, Isabella taught me a few eight counts of choreography.
02:37One, two, flap, three, four, and one, and a two.
02:43And then we practiced my leap.
02:46The aesthetic of ballet is based on hitting extremely precise poses and body angles.
02:52And those positions and that grace take years and years of hard work and practice to perfect.
02:57Keep your, like, head out, like, fully stretched out.
03:01Wait.
03:01Wait.
03:01I'm sweating.
03:06Try it again.
03:07Okay, good.
03:08Your final challenge is to perform.
03:11And just like that, I became a swan.
03:14Well, not really.
03:16I put on a pink tutu to really bring my personality into the part.
03:19Oh my gosh.
03:20I feel like a ballerina.
03:22And then I did my best.
03:47Sweet, how did he do?
03:50Yeah, Lucy was awesome.
03:52She was totally up for anything.
03:54Yeah, why not?
03:56Add it.
03:57Very open-minded and very unselfconscious, which is a great quality for a beginner to
04:01have.
04:02Even though I had to modify the choreography to make it a little simpler for her, I think
04:07with a few more years of practice, I would definitely hire Lucy as a ballerina.
04:12Ballet is an art form, but it's also a sport.
04:15Isabella has trained for years to earn herself a spot as a principal dancer for the American
04:20Ballet Theatre.
04:20So, with a few more years of practice, maybe I'll get there too.
04:24For now, I feel great about my efforts, my progress, and my performance.
04:28And in the meantime, I'll see you at the ballet bar.
04:32I'll see you at the ballet bar.
04:32I'll see you at the ballet bar.
04:33I'll see you at the ballet bar.
04:34I'll see you at the ballet bar here.
04:34Myesis to the ballet bar.
04:34You
