THE REMININISCENCE

(For all those ballerinas out there)

It was a cold winter’s day and she was seated in her rocking chair by the fire. She was feeling lonely and missed her husband who had died several years ago and her children. She had three; two boys and a girl. They were grown up now. All three were dancers.  Igor, 30, was with the Cincinnati Ballet Company. Natalia, 32, had her own dancing school for children and Rudolf was lead dancer with the Pittsburgh Ballet Company. She was thinking of them and was so proud to be their mother.

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She started to reminisce about her own life. She was born in Russia to a musical family. Her father was a violinist in the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and her mother was an accomplished singer. From an early age, she wanted to study dance. Her name was Tatiana Petrova. Little Tatiana did very well and progressed through many levels very quickly. In the end, she became a famous dancer known only as Tatiana. She traveled the world over dancing in many lead roles.

All these memories quickly passed through her mind. It left warm feelings in her heart. Perhaps it was time to go to “the room of reminiscence.” This was a special room in her apartment and was locked by key. Tatiana lived in an apartment that had been in her family for years. She got up from her rocking chair and shuffled to the kitchen to the secret place where she hid the key. Reaching down to a little drawer, she took the key in her hand and lovingly caressed it. Her heart began to pound as she thought of “the room” and what was in it. So many fond memories were to be found in there. It was a year ago since she visited it. Would everything be the same? Would she still get the warm feelings of reminiscing?

She lit several candles on an old candelabra and made her way to “the room of reminiscence.” She reached the room and tried the key. It was an old key and worn by so many turns. At first it didn’t work but she tried again and finally it turned ever so slowly in the lock. It made a creaking sound as it opened. She pushed the door gently and thrust the candelabra into the darkness. There were cobwebs everywhere but everything was the same. She was so excited to be back in it again after a whole year away.

Slowly she lifted the candelabra so she could see better and there they were! Hanging from the ceiling was every ballet slipper and toe shoe she had worn; those she had worn as a child and those she had worn as a famous ballerina. She turned to the right where the ballet slippers from her childhood were hanging.

The first pair of slippers that she touched made her smile and almost laugh out loud. She was just learning to dance with these. She remembered the time she forgot what to do next during a performance of a Chinese dance in the “Nutcracker Suite” and went the opposite direction from her fellow dancers. She was so embarrassed but she quickly joined the others and went right on dancing. In another scene the dress she was wearing was all white with pink satin bows. How proud she was of it! Her mother had made it for her. It was expensive to make but her parents saved especially to buy the material.