100 Days Of Ballet - Round 1

The Alchemist’s Journal is a living archive of my daily ballet practice through my first 100 Days of Ballet, unpolished, embodied, and honest.

These entries are not performances or progress reports. They are reflections on devotion, discipline, resistance, softness, and becoming. Some days are technical. Some days are emotional. Some days are quiet.

Here, ballet is treated as an alchemical act: repetition becomes ritual, effort becomes awareness, and the body becomes a place of listening. This journal exists to document the work as it unfolds, not to rush outcomes, prove worth, or perfect form.

You are invited to read slowly, take what resonates, and leave the rest. This is the practice in motion.
Day 10
I started with a strength-based barre that lit up all of the quiet muscles and warmed my body from the inside out, the kind of heat that turns effort into clarity. From there, I revisited the skills I've been refining, noticing how much more available they felt once my body was fully engaged. Nothing forced, nothing rushed, just presence. The glissé class that followed was pure joy. Light, quick, playful. A reminder that technique doesn't exist to cage us, it exists to set us free. Today felt like proof that... Read more...
Day 9
Today was strength as alchemy. Deep turnout work, hips firing, stabilizers learning their quiet roles. I moved slowqly, carrying every correction and piece of advice into my body, letting it reshape me from the inside. This is how alchemy and progress happen, not loudly, not quickly, yet unmistakably. Lead into gold. Correction into embodiment.   Read more...
Day 8
Focused on turnout today with slow, intentional exercises, then finished with tendus. I filmed at terrible angles which felt fitting, the work is unseen but that's where the alchemy lives. This work is internal, quiet, and not always visible yet.  Read more...
Day 7
Today was all about tendus, slow, intentional, and honest. There's something in my tendu that feels slightly off. I can't quite name it. And instead of pushing past it or correcting blindly, I am choosing curiosity.  Sometimes clarity arrives through community, not control. This is where practice becomes alchemy. Listening to the body. Asking better questions. Letting refinement emerge instead of forcing it.  The body knows before the mind catches up.  Read more...
Day 6
More pliés. Turning repetition into ritual. Breaking down to rebuild. This is where strength is transmuted. Read more...
Day 5
Today was pliés and battements, foundation work that asks you to stay honest. I thought I recorded. I didn't. So I did it again. Still didn't record. So I did it again. And somewhere between the burn and the breath, the need to prove I did the work disappeared.  There's something powerful about showing up without an artifact. No evidence, just time under tension, and presence in my body. The legs are burning, the work is done, and that's enough. Let what's ready rise. Read more...
Day 4
No sugar plums today, just tendu and glissé. This is where repetition becomes alchemy. The work is quiet. The transformation isn't. Read more...
Day 3
Challenging, fast, and so much fun.  Mirrors help me learn faster both in dance and in life.  When you can look at your own reflection with a loving and critical eye, growth happens in real time.  Without a mirror, when you're distracted, hazy, or turned away, you can only replay instead of adjust. I'll be buying a mirror tomorrow.  Read more...
Day 2
Desire doesn't always look loud, sometimes it looks like choosing consistency over intensity. Let my desire be the fire.  Read more...
Day 1
This is a return to ballet with fresh eyes and new body. I'm relearning ballet slowly, humbly, and with a lot of curiosity.  This 100-day ballet journey isn't about being good at it. It's about being present with it. About letting alchemy happen through repetition, patience, joy, and play. I'm turning awkwardness into awareness, and effort into trust.  Some days will be clumsy. Some days will surprise me. All of them belong.  I'm here to honor where I actually am, not where I think I should be. No perfection here.... Read more...