Ballet with Megan Burbank

Megan Burbank’s gotta dance. The centuries-old dance style known as ballet has been stereotyped in our modern world with images of refined, wispy, frighteningly disciplined young women fighting viciously for roles in ethereal productions. For this episode, Adult Dance Correspondent Megan Burbank shares with Sarah the history and transformation of this misunderstood art from its early days as a fancy French aristocratic performance, to its post-French Revolution embrace by the working class, and finally into 20th century America when the expected body of the ballerina began to take shape. Megan also shares her own experience as a late-onset ballerina, dispelling myths about what ballet is, who can participate, and what we can learn about ourselves through its techniques. Together they discuss the line between art and sport, the aspects of horror found in many ballets, and whether it is too late for all of us to become the prima ballerina of our dreams. Digressions include: Final Destination acupuncture, the smell of the Scholastic book fair, and the questionable advertising employed by Tab soda.

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Referenced:

Ballet Evolved

How Political Anxiety Turned Me into a Late-Onset Ballerina

eXit SPACE Dance Studio

International Adult Ballet Festival

TAB Soda Fever Dream

More Megan Burbank:

Burbank.industries

Burbank Industries on Substack

Produced + edited by ⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠

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