#world class women ballet dancers

[ketoandme]

The cover of the Houston Ballet program / company magazine from Spring 2024.

These two dancers are among the world’s leading ballet dancers, and Houston Ballet is one of the finest companies in the US and the world. They are muscled, strong, and they do … a lot of resistance exercise.

I was in Houston back in the Spring this year, and attended the Houston Ballet - stunning performance. And there is no way a dancer could be starvation skinny, underfed and underweight, and do what these dancers do onstage, night after night. I went to the reception after the performance, and one young female dancer told me, the era of the #ed dancer is decades out of date.

[btskitty17]

Object of Curiosity (Park Jimin X Fem! Reader One-Shot)

Please Read: Park Jimin BTS one shot, flirty dance teacher Jimin, shy and slightly awkward fem! character (insert any name of your choice in the blanks), smutty conclusion (oral, fem! receiving), mutual crush, sensual tension and yearning, strangers-to-friends-to-fling-to-relationship word count: 4.4k

masterlist

"No amount of her coquette tantrums could deprive him of his lavish meal now."

Park Jimin is so charming that it is almost obscene.

The silver-hued tassels of a pair of long earrings twinkled on his shoulder as he swerved from side to side in front of the mirror with his eyes narrowed in concentration. Both the men and women in the studio watched, enraptured by his lithe movements.

Park Jimin’s Contemporary Dance Class started off in a somewhat shabby basement as a no-name establishment, however, it had grown into a formidable performing arts institution over the course of five years, certainly in a league of its own and it seemed to embrace and attract people from all walks of life.

Jimin’s rhythmic dance videos had become an internet sensation, broadcasting his delicate yet masterful moves to the world. In the practice videos, he seemed hypnotic, kneeling on an oakwood dance platform, performing the floor-work part of the routine or showcasing his command over body-rolls as a slew of layered necklaces clattered atop his collarbones.

On the subway back home, as ___ mindlessly scrolled through her explore feed, a reel, posted by a local dance academy, caught her attention, bringing her doom-scrolling to an abrupt halt. She did not want to lose the video in a sea of algorithm-pushed content so she saved it before watching it. And she watched it again. And yet again. The raven-haired man in the video, had her wrapped around his bejewelled finger, all in sixty seconds as she stopped herself from hitting replay yet again and explored the page that had posted the video, brimming with the novel temptation of more unwatched videos of that man’s graceful swaying: from stage performances to practice routines, these videos were watched late into the night as ___ pored over her laptop for a better, more focused view, especially that of his elusive abs. Park Jimin was his name.

___ decided to channel her obsession with Jimin into a hobby. Her nightly routine of binging Jimin’s dance videos could be more than just her eyeing him while munching on spicy potato crisps, spilling crumbs on the couch’s armrest. She ended up signing up for the weekend classes, the ones for lesser technical dancers, a euphemism for those amateurs who could not possibly fathom the mid-air flips that Jimin and his disciples perform with ease.

___ had been feeling a sense of mundanity, stemming from her quotidian routine of working at her job and then coming home to a soupy bowl of ramyeon, slurped alongside a loud sitcom blaring on the television, which is the sound that she fell asleep to on most nights; she goes on to perform the very same activities the next day, with a mind-numbingly boring accuracy. Perhaps a dance class could help her feel a spark.  And the prospect of a handsome teacher certainly does strengthen her case: someone that she now had a full-blown crush on, albeit she had only met him virtually.

On an Autumn Saturday, the evening batch of dance students, comprising of about fifty individuals, a relatively smaller group from the other ones learning ballet and hip-hop, gathered before the majestic Park Jimin. So did Y/N.

“Fledglings!”  Jimin clasped his hands together. “I understand that you are all just starting out! We shall begin by doing some stretches and jumping jacks to loosen up,” his feather-light voice splashed across the dance studio, like an oncoming oceanic wave as he looked at each and every participant of the class, attempting to register their unfamiliar faces. ___ felt that Jimin’s eyes sauntered their way over and across her body for a suspiciously long amount of time. Or she could have been mistaken. The curve of Jimin’s plush lips seemed to carry a bit of interest and inquisitiveness.

Clad in her black tank-top, ___ attempted to stretch as decently as she could while the hem of her barely-there clothing started to inch upwards her waistline, unveiling a smidgen of skin. Jimin surveyed the room, comically scolding anyone whose stretching was not fulfilling his standards. Y/N felt his warm presence situating itself behind herself as she continued her exercise.

“The bouncing, the shaking,” Jimin clicked his tongue, “this is not the apt time and place for that.”

___ was suddenly conscious of her body in the impossibly smallest of ways, the slightest sheen of sweat on her forearms, the way the strands of her unruly hair were scattered across her forehead and the unintentional quivering of her limbs, caused by her erratic, almost non-existent workout schedule. If only she had been more regular! She halted her stretching and sheepishly peered over shoulder at Jimin.

___ could feel her mouth dampen from the slightest eye contact with him. Jimin wore a playful half-smile, and he moved forward to place a hand on the small of her back to guide her movements, with his eyes showcasing amusement. ___ nearly shuddered at his touch: the cold metal of his ring was seeping through the waify fabric of her top. Jimin’s nimble fingers deftly clasped her wrists, now taking charge of her workout and, her sanity, too.

“You are too stiff. You need to gradually ease into it,” Jimin whispered into her ear, aligning his chest with her back, assisting her in stretching. Was a dance teacher supposed to be this touchy? Jimin’s breathing seemed surprisingly irregular, especially for someone who is a dancer and very much in control of these tendencies during performances; she could hear the hitches in his breath and the gasps that he was swallowing as her head was synced with his chest, while stretching upwards.  ___ felt as if the warmup section of the class would exhaust all of her energy. It wasn’t the workout that was draining her: it was the red-hot proximity of Park Jimin that made her feel like she was under a constant gaze of burning scrutiny. Jimin’s subtle woody cologne swirled throughout her senses, creating an odd sensation of intoxication. All because the man was helping her stretch.

“Do you think you could reach the climax part on your own, or do you need me to hold your hand through this,” Jimin asked in a sing-song teasing voice, setting ___’s cheeks on fire.

Jimin’s memory pulsed with the close-ups of ____’s curves; since the moment she had stepped foot into his dance class, he had been …distracted to say the least.  He did not want to be inappropriate by any means, he had of course maintained decorum, however, what he had developed was a symptom of an instant crush. ___’s deer-alert eyes as she attempted to follow along his dance-steps nearly pierced his heart because of how adorable they made her seem: she was a strange mixture of charm and clumsiness. Her nonchalant walk somehow captured his attention; she possessed an unmistakable air of purity and had the sort of unassuming beauty that Jimin deems to be as the archetype of the kind of woman he finds attractive.

As several weekends went by, Jimin found himself peculiarly obsessed with ___ and he started looking forward to the Saturday and Sunday classes, nearly waiting by the door like an expectant pet and being both relieved and exhilarated to see that she had not dropped out of his institute, despite the monstrosity that her dancing was. But that was his job, he was supposed to teach her to relax and to stop her body from being so hardened. If only he could stop being hard in places he shouldn’t be when he sees her. Sometimes it was her floral scent, sometimes it was her wide-eyed stare, her evident nervousness or her giggles at her own silliness: Jimin could not afford to peel his eyes off her.

Electric, it felt. Jimin sensed tiny eruptions throughout his veins if their hands grazed each other while dancing or when the ice broke between them and they conversed about the weather and politics, gradually familiarising themselves with the other, or when she stopped to sip from her bubble-pink metallic water bottle and the tiniest of drops raced from her strawberry-hued lips, down her swanlike neck, towards her ample cleavage: oh, how he envied that wicked drop of water!

While Jimin sassily snaps at students for showcasing lacklustre pirouettes in his ballet classes, he pardons the ungraceful stumbling of ____’s feet during steps that involve turning; what a gorgeous little klutz, Jimin laughed quietly to himself.  The songs ___ had suggested made their way to his playlist: a string of songs that he played at midnight and believed that although ___’s dancing was questionable, her music taste certainly wasn’t something to be gawked at. After sharing music, they followed each other on social media, (initiated by Jimin, given his curiosity about her life) leading up to an innocuous exchange of humorous memes. Despite being an introvert, ___ had opened up to Jimin.

Jimin realised that he had been hawk-eyed in monitoring all her moves on the ‘gram, although she barely posted any pictures of herself: it was all pictures of annotated stacks of books, the horizon at sunrise and stray cats. Mysterious vibe, I like it, he thought.  

 ___ had discovered that there was so much more to Jimin than his looks, albeit his looks alone brought a lot of the footfall to the dance classes. He was not a shallow person; there was a latent passion in his heart to change things for better, evidenced by his charitable educational projects for children in the vicinity, which he had spearheaded since the very year that his institute came into being. Jimin was also quite the conversationalist: he could be talking about the global political economy at one minute and expressing his thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter’s new album in the very next breath. ___ admired how his social butterfly self was the total opposite of her wallflower demeanour; he could slither his way into any discussion in the world, just about as smoothly as he moved.

mature content ahead: NSFW, description of physical intimacy

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” Jimin drawled into her ears, his palms firmly planted on either side of her head, as he angled his face downwards to capture her expression with his ravenous eyes.

The studio was empty. The last batch of students had hurriedly scuttered away, given that it was a Saturday night. ___ stuck around just to watch him. Over the past six months, which seemed to fly by, their connection had deepened.

“I really don’t. I feel like I come off as clumsy,” ___ said, her cheeks flustered by the undivided attention that Jimin was bestowing upon her.

“You are,” he sniggered. “But there’s also something that calls out to me. The vocabulary of your body language is quite flirtatious, maybe you are unaware of it; it is the kind of subtle, repressed sexiness that pulls me in. It is innate. One cannot just put on that front and you have that… if I may say so,” After giving it a light nibble, Jimin left the ghost of his lips on the tip of her now reddened right ear and flashed an elusive smile her way.

“Well, I have a confession to make,” ___ choked out, somehow, befuddled by the intensity of Jimin’s nearness and her own wildly thrumming heart. Jimin expressed his interest with his eyebrows raised, his eyes still fixed on her form.

“I joined these classes because of my initial fascination with you, after seeing you on social media.”

“And? You are not fascinated by me anymore? Apologies for shattering your beautiful illusions,” Jimin broke into a teasing laugh, taking back a few steps.

“No! But that was, purely because of your outer beauty. I am trying to say that after getting to know you, there are many more reasons that I like keeping you company. Reasons that are not at all superficial.”

“So you like me,” Jimin said in a hushed voice, as if their clandestine meeting could be interrupted any moment by an intruder who may have been eavesdropping on them. Even though they were all by themselves in the studio; the ferocity of their solitude was just too much.

___ gazed at him, lulled by his presence, unable to do anything but take in the magnificence of Park Jimin who was now stretching his arms, looking like a nymph under a waterfall and heading dangerously close towards her very own self.

Jimin’s beautiful fingers reached out to caress ___’s cheek while reading the emotion encased behind her eyes. Anticipation? Love? Lust? Or all three of them? He was awfully eager to find out, so he dipped his head to the level of her height and delicately enveloped his lips with hers, as soft and sweet as he could be. ___ fervently kissed him back with Jimin snaking his hands around her waist, not even leaving an infinitesimal speck of distance between them. As Jimin stirred for a second in order to give her space and time to breathe, ___ released a groan of disapproval, resenting even a moment of separation from Jimin: a gesture that made him smile.

As he continued kissing downwards her neck, Jimin nudged her towards the couch, guiding her face-first, with an abundant amount of kissing of course. ___ nearly tripped over her feet as she landed on the couch with a squeak escaping her lips, making Jimin simper into the still unbroken kiss as he continued to hold her. Jimin’s fingertips lightly fluttered over the straps of her summer dress, as if seeking permission. ___ longingly stared at him from beneath her eyelashes, and coyly nodded.

The fabric of her dress was peeled off her skin by Jimin with the utmost care as he took it off her frame and flung it sideways. He took a few steps back, and with his eyes gleaming, Jimin looked at ___ from head to toe, as if she were an artwork showcased at a museum, much like the very first day that he had seen her.

“What?” ___ stuttered shyly shielding her almost-bare self with her arms from his wild eyes.

“Exquisite. The pink lace. Of course. Pretty like you.”

Jimin knelt on his knees on the oakwood floor, and deftly placed an open-mouthed kiss on her now exposed stomach, leaving behind a hot patch of wetness as his intrepid fingers began to fiddle with the hook of her rose-coloured bralette, undoing it in no time. Jimin’s eyes had now lost their earlier mischievous glint, they acquired a darker, more sensuous hue as he took in the mouthwatering sight before him.

 The unrestrained galore of ___’s breasts made his breathing inconsistent and his mouth salivate… which was something that he put to good use; he plopped his watery mouth on her right nipple, making ___ gasp in surprise while his other hand fondled the left one (which would soon receive the same amount of affection as the other one), the pads of his fingers heatedly felt each and every inch of her skin. With wetness pooling between her thighs unchecked, ___ trembled from Jimin’s brazen devotion to her chest; she felt as if several jolts of electricity were running through her veins at once.

“The bedframe. I need to pull that out… from beneath the couch. Wait. We are going to need it,” Jimin huffed, momentarily stepping away from their rendezvous to make it more comfortable for them: he had one of those sofa-beds in his personal room at the studio… couches that transform into beds for the evenings that he may be too tired after dancing.

Jimin dragged ___ by her arms to the front of the bed and picked up exactly where he left of. He kissed her chest once again before placing his palms flat against her thighs, which felt warm and buttery soft. Jimin watched her face intently for a reaction when he began to circle ___’s inner thigh with his index finger, lingering dangerously close to her pretty pink panties with the light colour doing nothing to conceal the speckle of dampness smackdab in the centre, begging for Jimin to pay heed to it. ___ bit back her pathetic mewling which was about to spill from her lips.

___’s hands found their way to Jimin’s stylish suspenders, but they lacked the sophisticated restraint of Park Jimin; she was famished for some form of contact with his skin. She tugged at the back yoke of the suspenders’ braces in anguish, looking at Jimin’s clouded eyes; Jimin assisted her in snapping them off as they fell slackened around his waist, his eyes not leaving ___’s alluring bosom.

After painfully forsaking her unimaginably doughy thighs, Jimin’s elegant fingers flitted over the middle of her panties, feeling up their way over her sopping slit, making Jimin scrunch up his eyes and groan at the its drenched state. ___was a blushing mess, mumbling his name out of surprise. His hands tenderly shed the last piece of clothing on her body: Jimin hooked both of his hands at the sides of her thighs and stripped her underwear off her which had grown quite stubborn, owing to the oozing pond of desire surrounding it. After undressing her, Jimin examined her panty, placed daintily on his palm. ___ was flabbergasted to witness what occurred right after. He brought the fabric close to his nose and inhaled her sweet scent, almost as if it was his life-source, with his tongue sticking out.

“What are you doing,” ___ said, with an arm outstretched to grab her panty back and shielding her bare breasts with another.

“This belongs to me now,” Jimin snickered, clutching the lacey number tightly in hand and twirling it with his fingers like a newfound jewel; the core of the underwear was exposed to his nose yet again, as his eyelashes fluttered shut, and a hungry whiff passed through his lungs; ___ was certainly delectable to taste, he mused.

___ succumbed to the discomfiture creeping up on her cheeks in the form of a raging blush and staggered backwards onto the sofa-bed with Jimin’s unforgiving gaze taking in every single movement of hers. Jimin neatly tucked her shell-pink panty into the drawer beside him, securely locking it behind himself as if that piece of underclothing was the kind of treasure that numerous people would covet.  

“I have, in this very room, often fantasised about having you unclothed, I must admit. I have pictured it one too many times. And so much more,” Jimin backed ___ into the mattress, crawling up on the sofa-bed with his knees bent and cornering his very dear and very naked ___. Jimin hastily unbuttoned his crisp white shirt, watching ___’s shy eyes every second and how they flickered rapidly as his toned chest was unravelled before her, wherein the unclicking of each button heightened the delicious ache between her legs.

___ extended her hand to discern a sensation of Jimin’s bare chest; her palms were itching to do so. She explored the expanse of his shirtless torso, gingerly abandoning her bashfulness. Jimin kissed her once again, loosely lacing his forearms around her shoulders; the kiss was unhurried and it was Park Jimin at his best, he could hear her suppressed whimpers from their hot-mouthed smooch alone.

“Jimin-n-n,” ___ sputtered, her voice livid with need when Jimin pulled away from the kiss.

“I know, I know.”

The innermost crevice of her thighs glistened with the dewdrops of her craving and those drove Jimin into a stuporous daze wherein the only thing he knew that he was being devoured by his all-consuming thirst and ___ was spurting like a delicious fountain. Jimin bowed down on the bed to be eye-level with her pitifully wet pussy, providing ___ a glorious panorama of the series of Moon phase tattoos scrolled from the base of his neck to the middle of his spine.

As ___ drooled over Jimin’s body art, she felt a tug at both her feet with Jimin striving to spread her legs; ___ unconsciously rubbed her thighs together, strained by her shyness once again. Jimin clicked his tongue, and this time, with more determination, forked her legs; he anchored both her lower limbs on each side of his shoulders as he greedily observed the congealed strings of juices that swirled in her cunt, freefalling onto the bedsheet. The glimpses of partially-clad Jimin's taut abs and the patchwork of his veins protruding from his forearms could almost propel ___ into a blinding orgasm, untouched.

Kisses were peppered on the undersides of her thighs as Jimin started to salivate, rapturous to follow the enticing trail of aroma being emitted from ___’s weeping centre.

"You are going to make the floorboard leak, running like a faucet," Jimin growled lowly, smacking his lips.

When Jimin leant closer to her pussy, ___ whined, crossing her legs on his bare back out of sheer habit, however, Jimin smirked at the undeniable closeness of her cunt: no amount of her coquette tantrums could deprive him of his lavish meal now.

“Look at you. I had no idea you could be this filthy. Your fucking pussy is overflowing right in front of my eyes and I haven’t even touched you,” upon hearing the so very refined Park Jimin’s extremely lewd choice of words reverberating through her skin, for the first time in her life, ___ almost sensed another tidal wave of wetness gush through her cunt, her breasts heaving up and down with her saliva-slicked nipples glimmering pertly.

Jimin’s leather pants seemed to have deflated, closing in on tightly on his dick, painfully smothering it; but it was his member that was soaked in precum and had burgeoned in size, owing to the starkly naked visual of his crush splayed out before him, moaning with her pussy pleasurably bubbling: the scene sparked a fire at the pit of his stomach, making him needier by the minute. He wanted nothing more than to shimmy off the waistband of his briefs and pants and fuck her mercilessly right into her creaming cunt but, he was aware that that had to wait and he had to practise some restraint; they had a longer way to go for that to happen, at least for now.

Jimin traced the glossy flower-bud of her cunt with his finger, inciting a shocked, incisive intake of breath from ___ and then plopped his mouth on her clit, sucking it with his lips as ___ breathlessly thrashed about, her legs squeezing Jimin’s torso between themselves. One of his hands solidly grasped her left thigh in its place, and another situated itself at her glossily wet entrance as his index finger toyed with the tight trench of her pussy, eliciting a panting chorus of his name from her lips. He inserted a dexterous finger into her most intimate cavity and the midriff of ___’s body rose up from the sofa-bed, as if levitating. Jimin, unfrazzled by her explosive reaction and with a one track-mind to finally relish his personal delicacy, leapt forward with his mouth puckered and settled an open-lipped kiss on her cunt, the sap of her pussy glazing his lush lips.

Jimin’s girthy finger soon acquired a maddening pace as it vanished inside her pussy and then exited and he repeated these motions as ____’s pleading grew louder with each moment. She cleaved around his mouth which was afflicting an unrelenting force on her cunt, licking, lightly biting and mouthing all over it. His skilfull tongue worked in tandem with and seemed to be just as agile as his finger as he rolled her bud around in his mouth with a spinning whirl. The onslaught of Jimin’s tongue had ___ convulsing and scampering to clench his hair in her hands as his head bobbled between her legs.

"I want this taste on my tongue forever. You are so enjoyable; you have no clue," Jimin muttered hoarsely while coming up for air before diving face-first into her pussy once again.

"Jimin, fuck.... I-really, I really need you Jim..." ___ was interrupted by a strangled moan hurtling from her own throat as she felt Jimin's finger traverse through a particularly sensitive spot, and upon reading her bodily reaction, Jimin thrust his tongue in the same area, making ___ quiver and shriek his full name.

"Damn, do you want people to think that I am running a torturous dungeon rather than a dance studio in here, screaming like that," Jimin smirked, pleased with himself as he persistently fingered her right where she needed it the most, with his tongue lapping up all of her seductive juices.

___ started to shiver as a deluge of sensations begin to take over her consciousness; Jimin was ceaseless with his mouth attacking every inch of her cunt, exploring pleasurable places that she did not even know existed as his fingers fucked her into a delirium. His now sweat-streaked hair was plastered across her thighs, tickling her with each rise and fall of his head between her legs as he kept making his craving for her well-known through his dirty monologues.

___ grabbed Jimin's bare biceps to steady herself as he noisily slurped on her clit, drool pouring from his mouth to the shiny folds of her pussy, foreseeing a strong climax coming. She felt a colossal flare forming in her belly, desperate to be released as her moans created even more clamour; in her head, a montage of the vulgar yet beautiful things that shirtless Jimin had said to her played on loop, sending her over the edge. In a hot flash, she orgasmed as Jimin's tongue gave her one final flick and then, after having depleted all her strength, her limbs drooped around him, her eyes closing.

Jimin, with his measured movements, brought ___ an orgasm that would forever be indelible in her mind; it would be the yardstick for the other ones in the future. After she came, Jimin sincerely cleaned her up between her inner thighs with his tongue as she hissed because of her recent climax and oversensitivity in the zone.

"Let me bring you some warm water and a fresh washcloth, I have some supplies in a cabinet right here," Jimin said, walking up to the studio's corridor, while licking his lips, seeking the sweet and briny aftertaste of ___.

"Wait. Jimin. What about you," ___ said groggily, with her eyes half-shut, referring to his evident full-on boner.

"Uh, I will take care of that... later."

"No. I want you."

"It is not the time for that yet. Let me take you to dinner first. Also, have you seen yourself? You will pass out from round two, my pillow princess," Jimin laughed, handing her the rumpled dress that he had discarded off her body a while ago.

A month later

"I could never move like you in a thousand years. I had thought about getting another dancing tutorial class before coming to yours in order to impress you and not be so inelegant in front of you," ___ reminisced about the early days of getting to know her now-boyfriend Jimin.

"Even though your bodily coordination while dancing is reproachable, I must say that I was already quite impressed after holding a few conversations with you, my smarty-pants. Not to mention I was bowled over by your beauty," Jimin affectionately pecked her forehead, cuddling her under a soft duvet as they both drifted off to sleep.

a/n: my first time ever writing smut and all my knowledge about it comes from books and movies...not me trying to avoid writing it in this one-shot for the longest time possible, because you know, context is important. lol.

DISCLAIMER  This is a work of fanfiction with the BTS members as characters; I do not claim ownership to the aforementioned characters. This fanfiction has been written solely for entertainment.

© @btskitty17 on tumblr 2024

[wintfleur]

⚘ ˖˙𓈒ִֶָ☾.˙ ᰋ ── WHERE’D ALL THE TIME GO?

aka ophelia’s timeline

━━━ ❛ it’s starting to fly

ᯓᡣ𐭩 EARLY LIFE & SCHOOLING !

april 11th, 2002: ophelia is born on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon in Vernon, British Columbia.

may 9th, 2006: ophelia (4) takes her first ballet class

2008 - 2013: early childhood / elementary school

august 2010: ophelia (8) joined the soccer team and met her now best friend Amber Jameson; they have been inseparable since.

october 2013: ophelia (11) got an ankle injury during a soccer game and sadly had to quit the sport. Her love for ballet was stronger and she didn't want to risk not being able to dance again.

She had to stop dancing for the rest of the year so her ankle could heal, it was miserable for her.

2013 - 2016: start of her teenage years / middle school

march 2015: ophelia (12) joined the theater club and helped make the costumes for their play, in turn finding her love for fashion designing.

april 2016: ophelia (13) went to get her photos taken for her ballet portfolio and was approached by a teen modeling agency.

summer 2016: ophelia (14) went to south korea for a ballet summer intensive program.

She was housed by a sweet family, where she met one of her bestest friends seunghan and his younger brother park sunghoon who is her age. Seunghan is a fellow ballet dancer and went to the training camp with her.

Ophelia became very close with the family, only becoming closer with them as the years go by, she's an honorary park! Seunghan’s parents think of her as their own child and his little sister thinks of her as her big sis!

2016 - 2020: teen years / high school / start of her modeling career

december 2016: Ophelia (14) was on the cover of pointe magazine.

june 2017: ophelia (15) won first place in the Helsinki international ballet competition, in juniors for women.

august 2017: ophelia finished her first wedding dress that she made for her cousin's wedding.

may 2018: ophelia (16) won first place in the american ballet competition

july 2018: ophelia won first place in the varna international ballet competition

was invited to be on jimmy fallon after her win.

february 2019: ophelia (17) made her debut by walking the catwalk and attending the New York fashion week.

may 29th - june 2, 2019: ophelia walked and attended the miami fashion week

september 2019: ophelia walked and attended the paris fashion week

october 9th 2019: the creation of ophelia's youtube channel

Ophelia created her youtube channel so she could have another way to communicate and become closer with her fans.

She mainly posted vlogs of her days as a model and a ballet dancer, and her just traveling and doing random activities with her friends.

december 2019: ophelia walked and attended the NYFW: December pre-fall and fall-winter, fashion week.

february 2020: ophelia walked and attended london's fashion week, fall-winter.

Ophelia meets Ryan James, a fellow model, they exchanged numbers and Ophelia then got in a relationship with him in may.

June 2020: Ophelia (18) graduated highschool with honors.

july 2020: ophelia moved into her apartment/loft in manhattan, New York. With her best friend seunghan.

Throughout 2016 - 2020 ophelia modeled for many different high end brands, her favorites being Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, and GQ.

She was given the nickname ���the next model it girl” for her sudden dominating presence in the modeling world.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 JUILLIARD & JACK !

september 2020: ophelia (18) starts her first year at juilliard

february 23 - march 1st 2020: ophelia walked and attended milan’s fashion week

march 2 - 9th 2020: ophelia walked and attend paris fashion week

Throughout the rest of the year ophelia really focused on her ballet career, putting modeling to the side, and focusing on her studies.

march 2021: ophelia (19) won the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP)

may 2021: ophelia won first place in the american ballet competition

july 2021: ophelia won first place in the varna international ballet competition

for the rest of the year, Ophelia modeled for many different brands, but she really just focused on her ballet career and getting more known in the fashion design world.

2022 : breakup era

april 11th 2022: Ophelia (20) broke up with Ryan after finding out he has been cheating on her for many months.

april, may, june, july 2022: ophelia took a break from anything that evolved with modeling during those months, trying to heal from her breakup. Throwing herself into training, practices, and her studies.

august 2022: ophelia modeled for celine as her comeback into modeling

was invited back on the jimmy fallon show where they talked about what she's been up to, the celine shoot, and her comeback to modeling

october 6-9th 2022: ophelia walked and attended los angeles fashion week

november 2022: ophelia was interviewed by WIRED where she talked about ballet and modeling and her love for fashion design

2023: meeting jack

march 3rd 2023: curtis gets traded to the new jersey devils

march 28th 2023: ophelia and Jack meet for the first time at a club and share a kiss.

april 18th 2023: ophelia joins curtis out at a bar to meet some of his teammates, and she sees jack for the first time since the club.

they keep what happened at the bar to themselves (besides Jack freaking out about it to Luke), and pretend to just meet each other for the first time.

april 25th 2023: ophelia and jack run into each other at a bar, things escalate and jack ends up bringing her back to his place where they hook up for the first time.

the next morning they talk about what happened, and how they need to keep what happened between them a secret. They want to keep seeing each other, so they decide to become friends with benefits.

july 2023: ophelia models for calvin klein

july 17th 2023: jack confesses his feelings to ophelia after 3 months of being friends with benefits.

Ophelia didn't take it well and left his apartment in haste (girly was afraid of her feelings and commitment) and they didn't talk for two weeks.

july 31st 2023: ophelia goes to jack’s apartment where she apologizes and asks him on a date.

august 1st 2023: jack and ophelia have there first date and officially start dating (secretly)

november 6th 2023: curtis holds a dinner at his home for his teammates, curtis finds jack and ophelia kissing in the garage and did not take it well.

curtis gives her an ultimatum ‘him or me’ in a moment of anger and that leads to ophelia not talking to either of them for a week, locking herself in her apartment.

november 14th 2023: curtis comes to see her early in the day to apologize for his reaction and what he said, later in the day jack comes to see her and they have a sweet moment, happy that everything is now okay between them.

january 12th 2024: ophelia and jack said i love you for the first time

january 24-28 2024: ophelia walked and attended miami fashion week

february 9-14th 2024: ophelia attended new york fashion week fall-winter

february 16th 2024: ophelia and jack's relationship is exposed to the media when videos and pictures of them at the njd’s family skate go viral.

february 26th - march 5th 2024: ophelia walked and attended paris fashion week

may 2024: ophelia did the 73 questions with vogue

june 2024: ophelia did the “10 things I can't live without’ with GQ

may 6th 2024: ophelia (22) attended the met gala for the first time

ophelia did a get ready with me / last looks with vogue for the met

june 2024: ophelia did diary of a model with vogue

july 2024: ophelia and jack do a couple quiz with GQ

may 2025: ophelia (23) graduates at juilliard

ᯓᡣ𐭩 WHAT'S TO COME !

aka phia and jacks future

. . . to be added

ᝰ.ᐟ 𝓇oro's note. I didn’t add every detail about her modeling and dance career in the ‘julliard and jack’ section, it would have taken forever for me to do that 😭 I will update the timeline as time goes! I hope this helps give you a better understanding about the AU >.<

au masterlist

˖ ་ feel free to send in any thoughts/requests you have !! And please let me know if you want to be added to the taglist mwah

˖ ་ taglist : @yoontwin @toasttt11 @winterbarnesblog @iceflwers @cixrosie @bunbunbl0gs

[eatmangoesnekkid]

Belly Dance Week "I have no idea...I imagine I have been belly dancing with 2 different lovely teachers for 9 rebirthing months, but really I have no clue :P)

If most women were to be honest, there is a cellular-deep desire to live the life of a dancer.

"I want to live this life dancing," I wrote in my journal in 2012.

And this is exactly what I have created.

I am a dancer, a dancer archetype..... whirling in pole, aerial, belly dance, the occasional ballet, and my "hoochie mama" shake dances in my living room to incredibly nasty music that I keep hidden just for myself on a private playlist, a code red Kevin Gates level nastiness.

I have lived what I call an “Art-life” for most of adult grown woman life....

....opening, gyrating, arching, pulsing, bending, stretching, elongating, protruding, and widely winding into new narratives in the global world. Women do not realize the amount of real shadow work and repair that's done when we "heal" our relationship with our body parts, when we learn to move in different ways and open up more space in our tissues. We are initiatated into a different level of trust and surrender for our own oracle with somatic care like neck circles. I have always been inspired by art. Muse consciousness. The muse is part of my lineage. Not “me” as the muse always, but life itself —as it is showing up in the moment—as my muse, however uncomfortable or at ease, it may be. Trying new things, being a vulnerable curious doe-eyed beginner at something and devoting to it without giving up. in other words, permitting creative energy to unwind and be redirected through my body is what has helped me to create new narratives.

Women do a lot of "healing" work-but it doesn't translate into something real unless it touches our matter. Dance-especially when it is not curated and so organized is a powerful tool of transformation. Don't get me wrong--there is room for cultivation and actual skill development like foot work or aerial technique, which I honor and work on as well. But when I'm in conscious and deliberate creation of my life, I'm unrefined and messy which open the channels of my body parts for energy to truly flow. Orgasmic.

I am always creating new narratives because I am always dancing.

Today we started class with a dance for Palestine. It was unpracticed and we, the students, flowed by following the lead of our teacher as she twirled us around to a classical Lebanese song. It was truly beautiful and heartfelt.

Then the teacher said we would do something divine to bring forth the Goddess! Our task was to shimmy (shaking our hips up and down in a rigorous expression) to a 9 minute Egyptian song. I love long songs. Long songs tend to send me into a natural trance state. Making the quiet commitment to myself to shimmy my hips vigorously for 9 minutes with 20+ other women without stopping was like a high-intensity workout at first but after a few minutes turned into a ceremony (for me) I imagine because I naturally live very close to the veil between worlds and spirit. I, India, the personality, was gone.

We were melting (sweating and heaving), releasing what didn't serve liberation to our hips and spine down into the floor/earth with long sweeping gesture with our hands. Encouraged to breathe deep from our bellies with our eyes closed to harness more energy upwards from the earth, not one woman stopped or would give up before the miracles happened. We breathed into the depths of spaces in our bodies that usually do not receive breath. Yoga.

What were the miracles for me? At the end of 9 minutes there was a lightness in my being and a greater radiance to my skin. Because when you shake your hips continuously for that long, you are unclogging the pipes. It is like an enema and kundalini yoga on 1000. Although I don't suffer from constipation and get plenty of different probiotics, herbs, and enzymes in my diet, I could feel how I was thawing out calcified density and other emotional accumulations from Intergenerational trauma and soul wounds that nest between the smallest interstitial tissues leading to freedom in the hips and better absorption of nutrition and better blood flow to belly, pelvis, and pussy. If you are a person who tends to intellectualize your feelings, which means that you may have the tendency to bury energy in your pelvis, psoas, and hips, all the hip drops, shimmies, and shakes will help you to release density that you may not fully ever understand or have proper language for.

But as someone who is sensitive to energy, I could feel archaic density naturally melting like ice water like the time I was decompressing my inner thighs at my pubic bone on a block at home and felt heat release that sent my into a real orgasm. In class, I emerged back into my physical body warmer and lighter, less in my head on "how to move," and deeper into my body, feeling grounded and true to my essence. Constipation is a great cause of low libido as we age, mainly because the gonads, pancreas, and pussy are unable to receive proper blood flow due to the blockages in the colon. It's also a great cause of bad body odor.

Try it for yourself. The more times you practice shimmying, the easier it is to access this lightness in your being, from root to crown, when you are ready, and able to breath life all the hardened 'stuff' that anchors naturally in your hips from different stages of your life from girl, teenager, to woman.

With all the shimmying and foot stomping, I touched into a trance state, getting lost inside the invisible in ways that would relax my brainwaves and unconsciously triggered me to touch into altered states. I could feel when this happened because my quality of dance elevated to something more signature to me and native to my bones. I used to really stiff but always knew that I held more fluidity and freedom in my body. I could sense that I had colonial energy trapped in my hips and ass from some parts of my female line.

As I was dancing, my teacher sashays over and exclaimed "yallah," an Arabic expression that means "come on, yeah, let’s go, or that's good," while bent down on one knee, a sign for the other ladies to gather around me to celebrate, clapping and cheering on their knees and cheering. It's a moment of acknowledging beauty between us women, celebrating when a woman is deeply lost in her dance and moving from the depths of her soul. It's pure beauty. When you invoke trance in your dance, whether dancing at home in your living or in a room of over 20 women of various ethnicities, you become a vessel for pure creation to protrude itself through your body. All the walls that differentiate culture, race, size, or class or any other construction naturally fall down. And you are free, not organized or calculated in your movement, but circulating water all around instead throughout your entire body. When you are in this kind of trance state, you are not trying to look cool, polished or pretty. You just are all of it! Your true self. Moments of trance are essential nutrients for the female body. The spaciousness gained elevates your confidence even more.

Courage is one of the major keys to mastering energy. The level of trauma, insecurity, anxiety, frustration and stuckness that lives in the female body and inhibits our expression is asking for us to melt it away. When you think about it, the amount of energy expended trying to be cute, pretty, or organize your essence in any other way buries the stuck calcified energy deeper into your body. It also keeps you in your head worrying about how other people are perceiving you and less in the flow of the present moment. When you have courage, GREATER creative energy can now flow through you. More sun!

Energy doesn't die but transforms. Energetic transmutation, one thing becoming another thing, occurs when we tap in art. Because art, whether dance, painting, drawing, songwriting, singing, etc. is creation. When you you begin to move your lower body, pelvis and belly, you get to know yourself (your cells) as a love poem. In all my years, I have never had so much fluidity in my hips, feet, spine, pelvis, ass, or shoulders as I do at almost 50 years old. I am witnessing the truth of what it means to be liberated and free. In these moments, I am my own muse.

Belly dance for me has been another way for me to open up my mind, body, and spirit and permit myself to be changed from the inside out.

It's one of my north stars at this time.

And every day, whether at home, in a forest, starting my workout at the gym, or making love, I shake/shimmy my hips and I enter ceremony. And I emerge transformed yet again. -India Ame'ye

[women-throughout-history]

Rukmini Devi Arundale

Rukmini Devi Arundale, born on February 29, 1904, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, served as a catalyst in revitalising the traditional Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam and establishing its prominence. Born into a Brahmin family with deep connections to the Theosophical Society, Rukmini was exposed to humanist ideals from an early age. Her marriage to George Arundale, a theosophist and educator, further fuelled her interest in theosophy and dance. While travelling with her husband and Annie Besant, Rukmini learned of Western ballet and began studying ballet at the suggestion of the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova. Pavlova also encouraged her to explore classical Indian dance forms, which allowed Rukmini to pursue Bharatanatyam To challenge the norms and re-establish the artistic integrity of the dance, Rukmini undertook formal education at the Bharatnatyam master Pandanalur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai. In 1935, at the age of 31, Rukmini made her debut in Bharatanatyam, defying societal expectations and setting a precedent for upper-class women to participate in the dance form. Witnessing the transformative power of Bharatanatyam, she established the International Academy of the Arts in Adyar in 1936, later renamed Kalakshetra. Through Kalakshetra, Rukmini aimed to teach and popularise Bharatanatyam through this institution, saying that she felt she had been "ushered into a new world of rhythmic beauty and meaning." Rukmini Devi Arundale's contributions extended beyond dance. In 1934, she founded educational institutions that blended theosophy and traditional Hindu values. Her vision for Kalakshetra went beyond preserving Bharatanatyam; it became a hub for various Indian traditions and the propagation of theosophical ideals. Her efforts earned her accolades, including the Padma Bhushan in 1956 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1967. As an animal lover, she chaired the Animal Welfare Board and played a key role in passing the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 1952. In the same year, she made history as the first ever woman in Indian history to be nominated as the Rajya Sabha member In 1977, she declined the offer to become the President of India from Prime Minister Morarji Desai post the death of President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. In a 2013 speech at Kalakshetra, President Pranab Mukherjee delivered the first Rukmini Devi Memorial Lecture, emphasising on the significance she has had on the revival of classical dance and her commitment to the cultural renaissance of India. 

further links:

[itsisla-dubois]

CHANGED

"not a what. a who."

tw: age gap relationship, power dynamic relationship, general scuzzy man behaviors

Isla met Jean Paul "JP" Dumont when she was only eighteen at the ballet academy she was attending at the time when he was brought in as a guest instructor. A decorated competitive and theatrical dancer, classes with JP were usually highly coveted and ridiculously expensive. Luckily, her primary ballet instructor happened to be a long-time family friend of the Dumont’s, and was able to snag him for a semester to help prepare the girls for the professional world. During their first class, it was obvious that he took a quick liking to Isla. He constantly complimented her in front of the class, even using her as an example for some of the lessons (causing much envy to be directed towards her from the other girls). Isla couldn’t help but feel awestruck by the man. Here was this talented, successful (not to mention gorgeous) man who thought she had a ‘talent that couldn’t be matched’ as he told her. So when, at the end of class, JP offered to carve out an hour from his schedule to provide her with private lessons after the group class, the girl couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.

Their lessons started innocently enough: corrections on form, customized advice and warm-ups, and perfecting competitive solos filled the hour. Sure, when he placed his hand on her waist to help adjust form, the young girl’s heart skipped a beat and her stomach fluttered with butterflies but she was a eighteen-year-old, admitted boy crazy girl, so the feeling wasn’t a shock. To her, it was another silly little teenhood crush. However, as the weeks went on, she could feel those thoughts changing to something deeper. Her ‘little teenhood crush’ was becoming an all-encompassing, utter infatuation with JP. Every look, every touch, every single moment of closeness made her want to act on her feelings that much more. Nevertheless, there was no chance that he reciprocated her feelings. She was just some young student he saw some promise in and nothing more. At least that’s what she initially thought.

A few weeks into their lessons, their relationship changed. It started innocently enough: a rehearsal for a tango-inspired piece to show off partner work. As they worked closely together, bodies intertwined in choreography, there was a moment of pause. Then a kiss. Then a deepening of the kiss. Then much more than a kiss. Then Isla lost her virginity to JP. From that day on, both their professional and personal relationship began to bloom. However, the personal side of that relationship had to remain a secret for the time being. They both agreed it was for the best and with the secrecy, they could be together in relative peace. Despite the secrecy and the eleven-year age gap between them, Isla found herself genuinely falling in love with him. Sure, the securing of professional opportunities, introducing her to influential colleagues, and providing her with even more private lessons was a welcomed addition to their dynamic. Besides that, she was falling for him: The man who threw himself into his work, who was passionate about life, and brought out a new, more confident side to her never seen before. She fell for the man that she and she alone got to see. 

As their relationship continued, JP introduced her to the importance and power of her body and sexuality when it came to getting what she wanted. With any connection he introduced her to (that happened to be male and sexually attracted to women), JP would encourage her to exchange sex for opportunities or to get ahead. He called it her ‘industry hack’. The first few times she tried it, she was absolutely mortified. Isla worried her actions would hurt JP’s feelings eventually and their relationship would crumble. He quickly explained those fears away by explaining that he knew there was no romance behind these actions, so he knew that at the end of the day, she’d be his. With that explanation, her trust in him knowing what’s best for her, and getting the results he promised and then some, she decided to continue. Sex in exchange for personal or professional gain is something Isla still does to this day.

Even with his semester-long stay being extended to a year-long residency, the day he left to tour with a French ballet company was not any easier. Though, as he promised her, they continued to stay in touch. Thousands of handwritten letters, texts, and FaceTime calls were shared between the two to keep their relationship connected. As that next year went on, Isla became more and more hopeful that the two could go more public with their relationship especially as she was due to graduate from the ballet academy, meaning she'd no longer be seen as a student. However, any time she would bring up going more public with their relationship or even the future of it, JP would either change the subject or simply brush the conversation off. Soon, her graduation came and went with no improvement of their situation on the horizon. In fact, as the days went on, conversations with him became shorter and shorter. Then, eventually, they stopped all together. No matter how much she tried to get in touch, how much space she gave him, or how much she wanted to go back to the way things were, she knew otherwise: he was officially ghosting her. To drive the knife of heartbreak further into her, five months later a picture was posted to JP’s Instagram: a picture of him and his supposed new girlfriend. His new, fellow ballerina girlfriend had similar features to her. For the first and only time in Isla’s life, she felt broken. Not only heartbroken but as if her very soul was shattered in that moment. 

Nowadays, JP is Isla’s only weakness; her kryptonite. He has since gone on to marry that girlfriend and has never offered any kind of explanation for why he suddenly and completely dropped her from his life. Despite the hurt he caused, Isla is utterly oblivious to the fact that what JP did was sleep with her when she was too young and then pimped her out to his industry buddies. She only sees him as a run-of-the-mill shitty ex-boyfriend and not the slimy monster he truly is. This ignorance is a huge reason why she still uses her body to get what she wants. It’s her ‘industry hack’ after all.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Still Point by Tammy Greenwood

A well written story that made me once again wonder if parents help their children fulfill dreams of or if they push their children to live out the dreams they once had for themselves. As a child, I wanted to take ballet classes but was never allowed to do so. I love attending ballet and have enjoyed stories and movies since childhood that had ballet as the theme. As I began to read, I realized that this was not a book I was willing to invest time in reading word for word. I could not relate to the mothers or their daughters, become invested in the plot, or feel moved. In the end, I read the first part, the end, and skimmed the middle.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars

BLURB

Dance Moms meets Little Fires Everywhere in award winning author Tammy Greenwood’s addictive new novel set in the hyper cutthroat world of ballet girls and their mothers as they compete for a prestigious prize… “She had never seen Bea dance like this. Ever sat spellbound as her daughter grew from a little girl into a woman before her eyes…” Ever, Lindsay, and Josie have ushered their daughters—Bea, Olive, and Savvy—through years of dance classes in their coastal California town. They’ve tended bloodied feet, stitched ribbons to countless pairs of pointe shoes, and in the process, forged friendships that seem to transcend rivalry. But now Etienne Bernay, enfant terrible of French ballet, has come to their conservatory. Not only will he direct this year’s production of The Nutcracker , but he’s brought along a film crew to document his search for one special student who will receive a full scholarship to the Ballet de Paris Academie. For the girls, this is the chance to fulfill lifelong dreams. For Ever, recently widowed and struggling financially, it may be the only way to keep Bea dancing. And Bea is a truly gifted dancer—poetic and ethereal, breathtaking to watch. Lindsay, meanwhile, frets that Olive is growing tired of the punishing reality of training, while Josie has no such qualms about Savvy, who is a powerhouse of ambition. From auditions to casting to rehearsals, the cameras capture the selection process, with its backstabbing and jealousy, disappointment and triumph. But it’s behind the scenes that Bernay’s arrival will yield the most shocking revelations, exposing the secrets and lies at the heart of all three families—and the sacrifices women make for their children, for friendship, and for art.

[writingfortheheart]

Counting to 30: Marcianna 4

The previously empty halls in the campus complex were now full of students going to their respective classes. Marcianna attempted to weave through the throng of women hurrying to their next destination, but found it quite difficult. Among the sea of leotards were also dotted a few students wearing street clothes. They would be going to theory classes where they'd learn dance history, among other things. Those were the only classes at the academy to be co-ed.

Women had an entire side of the campus to themselves with all the amenities, men had a separate side, both sides joined by a taller building in the middle that contained the clinic Marcianna had just come from, a bunch of classrooms, a large auditorium where practical exams and end of year productions took place, and a library.

A familiar bun caught Marcianna's eye as she entered the dance studio wing, Beth had just stepped out of her current class for a quick break. She still had her leather ballet slippers on, normally a faux pas in the hallway, but she wouldn't be very long. "Hey, newbie!", she said as Marcianna waved, "How has your day been so far?"

Marcianna did a quick shrug. "Fine. I still haven't done a class yet. That will change soon, though. I only have one today, then I think I'll just go back to the dorm". Beth nodded, "Who's your prof?". Marcianna responded, "Professor Julie".

Beth gave Marcianna a large smile, "Aww, I love her, she's awesome. I think they give her the intro students so they don't get scared off. She'll put you through your paces, though".

Beth's big, white smile and friendly voice suddenly made Marcianna feel a lot more comfortable. "I can't wait to hang with you back at the dorm", Marcianna grinned. Beth threw back her head and laughed, "After today, I'll be glad to take care of you". She did a quick check of her watch, "I gotta get back in there, and you should get to your class, too. I'll see you later".

The hallway where Marcianna's classroom was smelled of flowers. Just a faint smell, but noticeable. A large glass wall gave her a peek inside where several dancers were milling about, some doing warm up stretches on the floor, some standing with groups talking. A long wall opposite the one she was looking through was also made of glass, a window displaying the outside world, a cliffside overlooking a wooded area. The sky had gone grey and it had started to rain. It caused Marcianna to shiver, but she admired the beauty of it. The entire perimeter of the studio, including the glass walls, was lined with a barre, along which many students chose to stretch.

Marcianna stepped in and found a place to pull off her nylon booties and get comfortable. She sat in front of the large window to the outside and rested her back against it, feeling the coolness of the glass against the area cut from the back of her leotard. She stared at her feet for a moment, pointing and flexing them, making the leather on her slippers wrinkle. "This is real...", she thought to herself. She contemplated her slippers a bit more she a woman in her late 30s walked in. "Good afternoon, ladies! I am professor Julie, you can just call me Julie, welcome to intro to ballet here at Hope International".

Julie's long skirt flowed as she walked to the front of the class, her teaching shoes, black shoes similar to jazz shoes with a large heel, clicking on the shiny wood floor. "Most of you are already on the floor, let's start with some floor work!", she said, clapping her hands together. Marcianna listened to Julie's instruction and followed along to Julie's counts.

A hour later, Marcianna was drenched in sweat, her body was aching like it never had before, she was done for the day. She trudged back to her dorm, pulling her keycard from her bootie and swiping it against the lock. A beep, a click, the door opened. Beth sat on the couch, a plate of raw veggies in her hand as she watched TV. "I told you she wouldn't be easy on you", Beth said, placing her plate on the counter. "Go get undressed, I'll get you some ice".

Marcianna sat down on her bed, taking her modesty skirt off and tossing it to the floor, followed by her leotard. She swung her legs up and laid down on the bed, suddenly very comfortable, she felt like sinking in. "Are you decent?", Beth's voice came in through the door. "You're fine. We'll probably see each other naked at some point", replied Marcianna, a groan of pain in her voice.

The ice packs were cold as Beth carefully laid each one over strategic parts of Marcianna's body, but with the cold came relief. Beth started to massage Marcianna's calf muscles. "Trust me, this gets you feeling better faster". Marcianna closed her eyes and let Beth do her work. "How did you learn to do this?" she asked. "Lots of years of doing it myself. I started in sports medicine, fell into ballet, I figured if that falls through I can go back to sports medicine again".

"It's only our first day and I already like you, Beth", Marcianna forced a smile. Beth stopped a moment. "I think I like you, too..." she said, red filling her cheeks. She continued massaging. "There's supposed to be a welcome party tomorrow night. I'll be going to help out, but we can hang out after. I know a good place."

Marcianna took a deep breath in and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds nice..."

TO BE CONTINUED

[oli]

The sooner people start realising that gender is something forced on us/assigned by society based solely on a dangly bit or no dangly bit when we’re born, the sooner people will understand others desires to have the choice rather than accept what society has deemed one’s “gender”.

And for those in the back of the class who aren’t paying attention (looking at you here Ben Shapiro): Gender is not the same as Sex.

(To illustrate the point I’m keeping this simple to 2 genders and sexes, I know in reality it’s more diverse)

Sex: male of female - dictated by biology (chromosomes and what not)

Gender: man or woman - totally made up by society as a way to assign societal traits to a human

Sex is the science/physical bit, determined by chromosomes and physical biology. Usually dictates how the body will develop, hormones, body hair, and most obviously reproduction abilities. And as we all know, physical characteristics are a broad range, from huge lumberjack to petite ballet dancer and everything in between. Your genes and chromosomes decide what you look like, and that can be anywhere from exceptionally male or female, to more androgynous. Human beings vary greatly between race and sex, I think we all understand this to be a spectrum.

Gender is a societal construct that determines a whole load of things, but the most obvious are clothes, makeup, hair styles, jobs (still), leisure activities, education options, and in some parts of the world the ability to drive for example, the list goes on.

Take clothes as the most obvious example; in the western world women’s have a much wider access to clothing options than men do, so if a male wears a dress many people will still raise an eyebrow, but if a female wears a suit (a traditional “man” outfit) no one blinks an eye. Society has accepted females wearing suits but not males wearing dresses.

Now extrapolate that example out to ALLLL the other things that are separated into “men or women” things, none of which are inherently “male or female”. Heck, men used to wear dresses all the time!

Just like sex, gender is a spectrum too, but not a linear one. And gender is fluid too, it can change over time, even on the same day.

Just let everyone be whoever they want to be, stop forcing YOUR preconceived ideas of what a male or female human should look like, or present to the rest of the world.

In conclusion I identify as cis+

I’m a cis man sure but i also wanna opt out of the gender binary. None of that shit is my fault or my responsibility and i don’t want any part of it

[sitaramasilamani]

The Divine Dance: Princess Sitara’s Inspirational Journey

Embracing Destiny: The Transformation of Sitara

Princess Sitara is not just a dancer; she is a symbol of strength, celebration, and an embodiment of cultural diversity. Her journey in the world of dance is not merely a personal accomplishment but a testament to the power of passion and persistence. Her story begins in a small village, where she discovered her love for dance at a young age. Despite facing numerous challenges and societal expectations, she remained determined to pursue her dreams. With unwavering dedication, she trained rigorously and honed her skills, mastering various dance forms and techniques.

As Sitara's talent blossomed, so did her impact on the community. Through her performances, she brought joy, inspiration, and a sense of unity to people from all walks of life. Her graceful movements and captivating expressions told stories that transcended language barriers and touched the hearts of audiences worldwide.

Beyond the stage, she became an advocate for cultural preservation and empowerment. She founded a dance academy that not only taught the art of dance but also instilled values of respect, discipline, and self-confidence in young aspiring artists. Through scholarships and community outreach programs, she ensured that talent knows no boundaries and that every individual can shine. Sitara Masilamani - California

From Ballet to Heels: Discovering a Passion

Her fascination with dance began at the tender age of four, when her mother recognized her love for movement and enrolled her in ballet classes. From the very first plié, her passion for dance flourished, and she dedicated countless hours to perfecting her technique. While her childhood dream of becoming an en pointe ballerina may not have materialized, she discovered her true calling as she ventured into a dance form that is both edgy and sensual: Heels. With each step, she effortlessly blends grace with attitude, captivating audiences with her mesmerizing performances. The fusion of her technical precision and expressive artistry sets her apart, making her a rising star in the world of dance.

This specific discipline, known as stiletto dance, showcases women delivering powerful performances while gracefully wearing 4-inch stiletto heels. It seamlessly incorporates elements of jazz, modern, ballet, and floorwork, resulting in a captivating and unique blend of styles. With each movement, the dancers exude elegance, strength, and confidence, captivating audiences with their artistry and showcasing the incredible versatility of dance as an expressive form of art.

She celebrates femininity in all its mystique through her captivating performances. Trained by the renowned choreographer Mitchell Kelly in his MKS Jewels program, she honed her skills and found an avenue to express herself. With each step, she tells a story, captivating audiences with her grace and passion.

A Performance to Remember: Embracing Cultural Roots

On October 28, 2023, a significant milestone marked a pivotal moment in her illustrious career. With grace and passion, she took the stage and mesmerized the audience with a breathtaking Bollywood heels performance. Every step, every movement, intricately choreographed by the renowned Saleena Kamakar, perfectly synchronized with the enchanting beats of the song "Mayya" composed by AR Rahman, beautifully sung by Maryem Tollar, Chinmayi Sripada, and Kirti Sagathia.

This awe-inspiring performance went beyond showcasing her exceptional talent; it became a powerful symbol of empowerment for South Asian women. Through her artistry, Princess Sitara aimed to inspire and encourage women to embrace their sensuality, beauty, and femininity, while proudly representing their rich cultural heritage. It was a moment that resonated deeply, leaving a lasting impression on all those who witnessed the magic unfold on that unforgettable night.

Her performance was a true celebration of diversity and cultural heritage. Through her choreography, she beautifully blended traditional elements with contemporary dance forms, creating a mesmerizing fusion that captivated the audience. The intricate footwork, graceful hand movements, and expressive facial expressions showcased the rich storytelling aspect of Bollywood dance, leaving a lasting impression on everyone present.

Moreover, her dedication to representing her culture went beyond the dance itself. She collaborated with a team of talented costume designers to create stunning outfits that combined traditional Indian textiles with modern designs. The vibrant colors and intricate embellishments added an extra layer of authenticity to her performance, making it a visual feast for the eyes.

Princess Sitara's performance served as a reminder that art has the power to bridge gaps, break barriers, and bring people together. It was a testament to the universal language of dance and the ability of cultural expression to transcend boundaries. Through her talent and passion, she inspired not only South Asian women but also people from all walks of life to embrace their roots, celebrate diversity, and find strength in their cultural heritage. Princess Sitara Masilamani

The Road Ahead: Melding Cultures and Styles

Princess Sitara is now carving a unique niche for herself within the entertainment industry. With her exceptional talent and passion for music, she dreams of providing a platform where Bollywood and Indian culture can blend seamlessly with elements of RnB/Hip Hop, crafting a one-of-a-kind fusion that celebrates the beauty of diverse cultures. Having kick-started her career in Los Angeles as a model, she made her mark with captivating appearances in iconic music videos like "Jalebi Baby" by Tesher and Jason Derulo, which marked her first professional dance industry exposure in the vibrant city.

In her remarkable journey thus far, Princess Sitara has shown that dance is more than just a form of art—it's an outlet to express raw emotions, a therapeutic escape, and a powerful connector of communities. With unwavering determination and a heart full of passion, she encourages anyone harboring a dream to dance to follow their heart, regardless of age or flexibility. She believes that dance has the power to heal the mind, body, and soul, providing a safe and transformative space for individuals to explore their deepest feelings. Her inspiring story serves as a testament to the profound impact of dance and the magical rewards that come with dedicated pursuit.

[thewidowstanton]

The Widow's Best of 2023

Jane Hobson 2023: Following such a desperate year for so many in the world this quotation by Nietzsche seems pertinent. "We have art in order not to die of the truth." So, in an effort to uplift whoever might read this, here's a somewhat curtailed list of a few of our favourite things we've seen this year. It wasn't the hottest time for live shows; we walked out of five! One every few years, maybe, but five! Disappointing. However we still managed to find some wonderful things, not all of them new. Let's begin with…

MOST SPECTACULAR: Phelim McDermott's Akhnaten at the London Coliseum. We'd been asked so many times: "Have you seen Akhnaten?" No, we hadn't but now we have and, OK, it's a Philip Glass opera (pictured above and below) but really, with a set by Tom Pye and costumes by Kevin Pollard it's a full-on feast for the senses, with the ever-inventive Gandini Juggling, choreographed by Sean Gandini, doing what they do best.

Jane Hobson BEST CIRCUS SHOW: Cirque Le Roux's thrilling and ambitious Entre Chiens et Louves – staged at Le Bon Marché department store in Paris (take note Selfridges) – took our breath away even without the sublime Lolita Costet in the cast; and Circa's Humans II at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London's Southbank Centre.

COMPANY TO WATCH: Hoops Désolé! A “crazy” six-strong troupe of artists drawn from the circus school in Quebec, Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Éloize.

Emma Kauldhar BEST DANCE: Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works at London’s Royal Opera House, with the mesmerising Alessandra Ferri, who at 59 was the same age as Virginia Woolf when she died. Another dancer with astonishing longevity is the Spanish Lucía Lacarra, now 48, who appeared in the Ballet Icons Gala at the London Coliseum.

BEST SHOWBIZ MEMOIR: Walking Through Walls by performance artist Marina Abramović; Do It For Your Mum by Roy Wilkinson, then manager of his brothers' band British Sea Power.

MOST TERRIFYING: He's done some daring things in his time and on World Circus Day Hungarian high-wire artist Laci Simet performed a sensational walk across the River Danube – 40 metres up in the wind – with only a balance pole to keep him safe.

BEST FILM: German film Afire or Roter Himmel by Christian Petzold (he’ll never let you down); Babak Jalali’s Fremont, set in a fortune cookie factory; and the Mexican film The Empty Hours directed by Aarón Fernández.

BEST ARCHIVE PIC: Josephine Baker and Dalida at L’Olympia music hall in Paris in 1968. A legendary pair!

LONGEST-SERVING FEMALE DJ: Texan Mary McCoy, who at 85 has been on the air for almost 72 years, and entered the Guinness Book of Records.

BEST DESERT ISLAND DISCS CASTAWAY: Actor/comedian/writer and so on, Adrian Edmondson; snooker star Ronnie O’Sullivan.

MOST INSPIRING: The Maricarmen dance school in Chorrillos, south of Lima, in Peru, run by retired dancer Maria del Carmen Silva, offers free classes to girls of all abilities from low-income areas.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Never Be a Punching Bag for Nobody by indie rock musician Naomi Yang; My Indiana Muse, in which artist Robert Townsend discovers his Kodachrome muse, Helen.

FOND FAREWELL: Actor David McCallum, who, as The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s Illya Kuryakin was an enduring heartthrob for a certain generation of girls and women. Closer to home the UK lost its leading circus director, Phillip Gandey (above), at 67, whose shows – including Cirque Surreal, The Chinese State Circus and The Lady Boys of Bangkok – were always far and away the most creative and exciting; and The Circus of Horrors – a show I reviewed more times than any other, except perhaps Cirque du Soleil – lost its co-creator and frontman, Doktor Haze (below) at 66. Along with Gerry Cottle, they were notable as two of the nicest circus men I met during my reviewing years, and are greatly missed.

LAST WORD: It wouldn't be a Widow Stanton 'Best of' without some showgirls. This picture was taken by the Argentinian photographer Luisita Escarria, who with her sister Chela, documented all the artists appearing in revues in Buenos Aires from 1958 to 2009. Their story and wondrous archive might have been lost had it not been rescued by filmmakers Sol Miraglia and Hugo Manso. Their documentary Foto Estudio Luisita will warm your heart… and fortunately both the sisters lived long enough to see it.

Compiled by Liz Arratoon

[finalprojectgroup20]

Gender and Sexuality: Unit 3

Sports carry gendered expectations. This idea of sports for certain genders is pushed onto children at a very young age. In elementary school, picking teams during recess is girl's worst nightmare. There is this innate idea that girls are “weaker” or “slower” than boys which leads to the girls always being picked last. It makes the girls feel as though they are unworthy of being on a team with “big”, “strong” boys when in reality the girls are just athletically talented. This idea of gendered athletics is continued into highschool. At my highschool and many others across the country, some sports are only offered for females and some are only offered for males. At my school specifically, wrestling was only offered for boys. This meant that any girl interested in the sport would have to play club and pay extra money or play with the boys. One girl the grade above me was interested in wrestling and decided to participate on the boys wrestling team. Not only did she fully immerse herself in the sport, but she was one of the star athletes on the team. If we had a female wrestling team offered at my school, so many others could be inspired from her success to try out the sport. It is always the “manly” sports and more “feminine” sports that are only offered for each designated gender. My highschool only had boys football and wrestling teams and girls field hockey and volleyball teams. These gendered sports limit students' ability to branch out in sports they have a passion for.

One of my personal experiences with gendered athletics is through ballet. I have been a ballet dancer for 15 years and there are major stigmas that come with the sport. For instance, it is not considered a “manly” sport so many of my male dancer friends had a hard time at school because kids would bully them saying ballet was a “girl sport”. This was also seen on a world wide scale a few years ago when Prince William's son, Prince George, decided to start ballet. Lara Spencer, a talk show host on Good Morning America, made an insensitive remark about Prince George's participation in ballet by saying “I have news for you Prince William, we’ll see how long that lasts." (O'Kane) and laughed after Prince Willam expressed his son's joy for the sport. The whole dance community rallied behind the young prince including major celebrities like Travis Wall, a famous dancer and choreographer, who sparked the use of the hashtag #Boysdancetoo. Not only that but there was a 300 person rally in support of prince Groegie and male ballet dancers (O’Kane). This issue is the same for females trying out predominantly male sports. For example, many female bodybuilders get backlash for becoming too buff and losing their feminine figure. These expectations of boys to be manly and girls to be feminine are running the athletic experiences of many children to be able to explore all of their interests. 

The stigma around gender in sports connects to what we learn in Gender Women’s Sexuality Studies, specifically unit 3. One reading that stood out to me was Joan Wallet Scott's “Gender: Still a Useful Category of Analysis?”. It really makes you question what it means to be a woman and to be a man and what that brings to your everyday and sexual life. One quote that relates to the topic of gender stigmas is “Gender was a  call to disrupt the powerful pull of biology by opening every aspect of sexed identity to interrogation,  including the question of whether or not male/female,  masculine/feminine was the contrast being invoked” (Scott). It dives into the topic of male versus female and feminine versus masculine which is connected to the feminine versus masculine stigmas around sports. How can we give gender to an activity? Your sex should not determine what sports you can play. As Scott states, “gender is an open question” as it is meant to be explored just like taking different classes in college (Scott). Another reading that helped me understand the connection of gender to everyday life was “Identities and Social Locations” in Gendered Lives. One quote that connects to this topic is “Using social categories is not the same as being “labeled”(Kirk). It is explained that labels are used to undermine people and make them feel bad for what they enjoy or believe in. In relation to sports, a common label is to name male ballet dancers as gay. This is a common stigma around the dance community and though there are male ballet dancers not all of them are and they are all being grouped together in a label that might not fit them. Sports and gender go hand in hand in help of self-discovery so limiting sports to certain genders can impact a child's life greatly when trying to figure out their passion. Your gender does not describe your physical ability.

Work Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Intersectional Perspectives. 7th ed., New York City, Oxford UP, 2020.

O'Kane, Caitlin. "300 Dancers Show up in Times Square as Lara Spencer Apologizes for Prince George Ballet Comment." CBS News, CBS Interactive, 27 Aug. 2019, www.cbsnews.com/news/300-dancers-class-in-times-square-as-gma-lara-spencer-apologizes-for-prince-george-ballet-comment-travis-wall/. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

Scott, Joan Wallach. Gender: Still a Useful Category of Analysis? Vol. 57, ICPHS, 2010. SAGE Journals Online, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0392192110369316. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.

[aayushi1806]

Leather shoes for men and women

Introduction : Leather shoes for men and women

Whether you identify as a man, a woman, or are gender non-binary, there are countless leather shoe types to choose from. Whether you are looking for something to wear every day to the office or for special occasions, there is a leather shoe that will suit your needs. Kiwi Enterprises, which ranks among the best in the leather manufacturing industry, makes custom designs for brands. You can give us your designs to manufacture, or you can even refer to our roster of designs and put your brand’s label on them.

Different types of leather shoes for men and women

There is a plethora of leather shoe types in the market now, and we can tell you with full confidence that they are versatile enough to suit everyone. Here is a look at different types of leather shoes:

1. Ballet flats: These are modelled on ballet dancers’ shoes that they wear while performing. They are a slip-on style of shoe with a leather body and rubber sole. They are comfortable and fashionable, and can go with Western and Indian outfits. These are a great reliable seller in almost every footwear and fashion brand’s catalogue because they will never go out of style.

2. Brogue shoes: These leather lace-ups are made for both men and women. They started off as dressy or office shoes exclusively worn by men, but now have expanded to women’s footwear as well. They are also available with high heels. The name comes from the term broguing, which is a pattern of holes that is made on the wingtip of the shoe.

3. Sneakers: This style of shoe has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years, and sneaker culture has slowly taken over the world. You can find a wide range of retailers selling sneakers for both men and women, in different colour ways and designs too. Be it sporty-looking leather sneakers or sleeker suede sneakers for special occasions, most brands have now added sneakers to their offerings.

4. Flip flops: Another functional unisex style of footwear, flipflops are considered to be a wardrobe staple. Many people have specific flip flops they like to wear around the house, but these can also be worn to run quick errands or even on beach vacations. Also known as thong shoes in some parts of the world, flip flops are a no-brainer when it comes to shoes your brand should carry.

5. Juttis: This type of ethnic footwear originated from North India, more specifically Punjab. They are traditionally made with leather but often are also embroidered. Think of them like ballet flats but with an ethnic twist. They are usually flat soled with a rounded tip. However, sometimes juttis made for men also have a tip that’s curved upwards to resemble a regal moustache.

6. Boots: Boots are usually worn in the winter because they are warm and can feel constricting. But if your outfit to have an edge, then you can always go for boots. Some popular styles of boots are:

Cowboy boots that usually have a pointed toe and decorative stitching

Ankle boots that are usually lace-ups but can also have a side zipper or slip-ons

Knee-high boots that are dressy and can be worn with skirts, shorts, and dresses of any length

Combat boots are modelled after boots worn in the military. They have thick and heavy sole and are durable enough to be worn in bad terrain

Chelsea boots became popular during the ‘60s because they were worn by the Beatles. You can spot one instantly because they usually have elasticated sides

Jodhpur boots they have pointed tips and can be confused with Chelsea boots, but often have a buckle and strap around them so they stay snug around your ankles

Custom-made shoes for women at Kiwi Enterprises

With an undying passion for sophistication and style, Kiwi Enterprises has been in the premium leather business for over two decades. We are a family-owned and operated business, bringing you a world-class design platform with endless customization options. If you work with us, we will bring you state-of-the-art manufacturing mixed with traditional craftsmanship and attention to detail. From our raw materials to our custom packaging options, we strive to create top-tier leather products that will elevate your brand.

[bancab]

Week 6: And Then We Danced

The film And Then We Danced directed by Levan Akin follows Merab a Georgian dancer who had been working and competing for a spot in the national Georgian ensemble. When a new student, Irakil, joins the class it starts a rivalry and tension between them. Throughout the film, this rivalry and tension start to turn into sexual desire. Homosexuality and dance have a long history of being tied together. At the beginning of theater when women weren’t really allowed to act, the men would have to play the role of a woman. Masculinity is a big topic in the film. There are multiple times when the dance teacher states to be more masculine when you dance. This idea that masculinity and homosexuality can never be intertwined is mainly constructed by society. In the reading by Jennifer Cambell, she talks about how ballet has a deep history of men playing both the male and female roles. Ballet and dance have been challenging the idea of masculinity for years. As stated in the reading ballet had been able to queer masculinity on stage. The ballet was able to combine the two worlds and bring something that geared toward “chivalrous heterosexuality and male homoeroticism”. The film beautifully depicted the relationship between homosexuality and masculinity. In the film, we see Merab struggle with these two ideas. At first, it seemed like a choice was to be made. It brings me to the moment that stood out to me the most which were his audition dance. His dance was kind of a depiction of his story throughout the film. Although Merab thought he needed to choose between the two he started to realize that both masculinity and homosexuality could live together. 

[joestylee]

How To Dress For A Kizomba Class

There is a way my daughter lights up when she hears her favorite dance songs. She points to her prettiest swishiest skirt while shrieking, ‘Ballet! Ballet!’ and beckons on me to put it on for her. Then the joy in her eyes when she’s swinging away in it. I know, right? Who doesn’t want to feel like a princess and twirl around the room? And that’s the sweetness of dancing, the ability to escape for a moment into another world where everything is perfect.

How Does Costume Affect Dance?

It’s very easy to see that costumes provide enchantment for dance since a 2 year old already understands that swishy skirts make dancing more fun. If dance is the ability to escape into another world, costumes give this escape realness and fluidity. Costumes have been worn for ages as long as dance itself to portray different characters and as a medium of self-expression. Many dancers were icons of style and enhanced dance through their focus on costume, jewels and fashion. Fashion’s love affair with ballet is well known but there is not much information about how fashion has forged a Kizomba style. So, now to Kizomba what it is and how do you dress for a Kizomba class?

What is Kizomba?

Kizomba is a Kimbundu word meaning ‘party’ and is both a type of music genre and a dance style originating from Angola. It is a slow, romantic dance where the leader guides the follower using his right arm and torso. When Samba dancers from Angola started slowing their dance steps to the tempo of the Kizomba music, Kizomba dance was born.Kizomba is sometimes called the ‘African Tango’. This is mainly due to the Cuban elements in the dance infused from Cuba’s presence in Angola during its civil war.

What is Urban Kiz?

Urban Kiz is a couple dance derived from Kizomba. This is Kizomba that has been influenced by a wealth of styles as a result of the dance being exported to other countries. Urban Kiz can be danced to Ghetto-Zouk, Hip-Hop, R&B and Rap; and Urban Kiz is most likely the type of Kizomba outfit you had your first contact with.

How To Dress For A Kizomba Class?

Since Kizomba is a dance of steps and not many turns, women need something free for the lower body but can be fitted at the upper body.  Women can pick from a variety of outfit combinations including tea length dresses or short fit and flare dresses, leotard top and high waist trousers, crop-top and leggings, casual jeans and top, a tunic and leggings, or a stretchy jumpsuit. Not to forget heels. Heels give a certain daintiness to the elegant footwork required of the dance and enhance the sway of the hips.

For men, a nice T-shirt and jeans, or a fitted shirt and pants work well with sport shoes.

Where To Buy Kizomba Dresses or Outfits For Men & Women

As a dance with an African origin, it is good to wear something that is African inspired when going for a Kizomba class. An African inspired short wax skirt paired with a fitted top (shown below) and for men, this tunic (shown below) can be paired with pants or jeans.

Dance is indeed a catalyst for fashion. Fashion designers have often been inspired by the ardent bodies of dancers creating entirely new styles of dress serving as flexible forms of expression. The Tango Visiteor semi-evening gown for example, was a new style of dress created because of the Tango Teas. The Tango Visite was a dress that could be worn on afternoons and yet not be too warm for dancing. 

From ballet to tango, fashion has always drawn from dance to produce clothing that allows for beauty of expression. Just like Tango inspired the Tango Visite, I hope Kizomba dance inspires you to take a closer look at African inspired fashion and its intrinsic beauty.

[apollopigeon]

Good movie:

But in some ways the Chinese (the bosses and several hundred imported workers) have a bigger adjustment to make. They are required to attend classes to understand Americans, who, unlike the Chinese, “say what they are thinking directly. They are very obvious.” The Chinese learn the U.S. is a very casual place: “You can even joke about the president.” But their output is pathetic. American workers, the Chinese managers observe, are “pretty slow. They have fat fingers.”

Actually, they have more fat in general — which isn’t something the filmmakers underline (there is no narration) but is hard to ignore. The Chinese are slender, with excellent posture and ready smiles, while the Americans slump and frown. Also, they complain. When they have to spend ten minutes in a 200-degree room, they have the audacity to show fatigue. (��Our American counterparts are very afraid of the heat.”) They seem oddly averse to being seriously injured on the job. They want to unionize.

The Fujian-factory scenes might have been choreographed by the Fritz Lang of Metropolis. The movements of the workers are balletic. They are at one with one another and their machines; and the film’s composer, Chad Cannon, gives them music they deserve — fluid like Glass (Philip, not auto) with a parodic but good-natured edge. The visiting Americans (all men, all large, somewhat cloddish) look dazed, like astronauts observing lissome green Martian women in a ’50s sci-fi cheapie. The singers and dancers of a New Year’s celebration are identified as Fuyao employees, and none of them misses a step or wobbles on a note. It’s a gorgeous vision. And tragic. And gorgeous. The filmmakers’ triumph is to make us see both sides at once.

TSMC’s uncompromising attitude toward employment has resulted in a crop of unfavorable reviews on sites such as Glassdoor in the U.S. TSMC's U.S. operations have a paltry 27% approval rating on the anonymous employer review site, according to a report by Fortune. This is pretty dismal compared to firms such as Intel — which has an 85% approval rating.

[...]

Regardless, disgruntled U.S.-based TSMC employees have anonymously shared scathing reviews of the company's work culture on Glassdoor. Nearly 100 reviews for TSMC in the U.S. have been published on the site, and common complaints mention: Heavy workloads Poor training Long hours High expectations from bosses / supervisors Limited breaks Work-life balance issues ‘Military style’ controlling atmosphere Stress Some of the most concerning comments highlighted in the Fortune report included complaints about the "brutal" corporate culture, about 12-hour days being standard practice, and about employees sleeping in the office for a month.  The average review of TSMC North America (not specifically Arizona) on Glassdoor appears to have improved since the Fortune report dropped. At the time of writing the company’s overall approval rating on the site is around 58% — which still isn't great compared to Intel.

Bringing manufacturing back.