As I walked in to the small door at the side of the building, I knew today was going to be a good rehearsal. The smell of the studio made me feel at home. All of the dance bags that reeked with our abused pointe shoes were set neatly in each of our spots in the dressing room. It was just a regular Tuesday night ballet rehearsal. My class and I are the oldest students at the studio and every Tuesday, we had the night to ourselves. We had a special class set up just for us to have some one-on-one time with Miss. Debbie. Something felt different about this Tuesday though. Our fall ballet recital was coming up and although we had just started learning the choreography last week, there was loads of excitement in the air already. As we started class everything felt the same as always. Stretches, plies at the barre, and center work. Towards the end of class, we could all tell that Debbie wasn’t telling us something. After we did our révertants and started to head out of the white framed door, she stopped us in our tracks and told us to have a seat on the gray floor inside the dance studio.

When she said this, it freaked us out a little. Had we done something wrong? Was she mad at us? Then she started to speak. “Girls, todays rehearsal was great and I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you!” she began “Okay, so I found this opportunity to go up to Butler University and take a class with Wendy Whelan!” I breathed in heavily. No way. Was she serious? She couldn’t have been! Wendy Whelan is a legend in the ballet world. She had been dancing with the New York City Ballet since 1984! Not only was she amazing but she was also from Louisville. The city was so proud of her for making it in, she even has one of those giant posters of her face in downtown Louisville! This couldn’t be happening. I became overwhelmed with joy. Then Miss. Debbie gave us all of the information we needed to tell our parents about. When she finished, I rushed to the dressing room, threw on a jacket and some flips flops, and bolted out the door to tell my mom the news.

In the car I broke the news to my mom. Her first words were “Oh my gosh! No way? Of course you’re going! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!” I was so glad that she agreed to let me go. The money was due shortly after we found out because we wanted to get in before they ran out of spots. We still had to wait two more weeks before the class even started though. We decided that the night before the class we would all stay the night at Miss. Debbie’s house because the class was at 11 o’clock and we had to drive all the way up to Indianapolis.
Finally it was the day before we went. When we all arrived at Miss. Debbie’s house, we hung out, talked, watched TV, and, had chocolate ice cream. She thought we should have fun before we go because she didn’t want us to be stressed out before taking our class. The next morning, we all got up at 6:30 so we could get ready and eat a little breakfast before heading out on the road. On the way there, we jammed out to so music and talked about how excited we were to actually be meeting this ballet legend.

We finally got to Indianapolis around 10 o’clock just in time for us to get settled and stretched before our big class. When we arrived at the Butler campus I was amazed. It was very beautiful and scenic. We entered the performing arts building with awe because it was very artsy and modern. After we checked in we went into the studio to start stretching and warming up in preparation for Wendy Whelan.
Wendy Whelan leaped into the room dramatically. She was very enthusiastic and excited to be teaching a class. We started off with a plié combination and went from there. All of the variations we did were very different from what I was used to. I’m used to very classical ballet and for this class that we took with Wendy, she decided to make it her own which I thought was really cool and really admired her for that. After the class was over, we had a ten minute break to cool down and eat a little something. When the ten minutes was up we headed back into the studio and found out that we had question and answer session.

The question and answer session was not what I thought it would be like. I assumed that each of the students would be able to ask Wendy questions personally, but instead they had a lady come in with already written questions but we did get to listen in on the broadcast. Although I wish I could of asked her questions myself, I also thought it was really neat because I learned a lot about Wendy that I didn’t know before such as her life leading up to becoming a dancer for the New York City Ballet.

Wendy finished up answering her questions and allowed us to get pictures and autographs. At around 2 o’clock, all the classes were done and it was time for Wendy to leave. We all said goodbye to her and thanked her for having a class for us and for the opportunity. Wendy also talked to me and Miss. Debbie because we told her that we were from around Louisville and she thought that that was so amazing that we would drive all the way up to Indianapolis to take a class from her. Wendy also commented on all of our dancing and said we had great potential and to not give up because we were great. I got my picture with her and an autographed shirt and then we had to leave to get home.

Before we got back on the highway to get home, we took a little tour around Butler to see the campus. After two hours of driving, we finally got home. At the end of the day I was very pleased with my experience. This day had to of probably been one of the best days of my life so far. I got to do what I love to do the most (ballet), meet my idol, and take class from her. If this opportunity ever came up again I would defiantly, without a doubt, take it.