The art of ballet is serene.
There’s a certain elegance to ballet. For a viewer, there’s no denying how graceful and purposeful the moves are as the dancers seemingly glide across the stage—but the seamlessness of the dance actually comes with great effort. Ballet requires a multitude of elements including physical endurance, poise, stamina and flexibility. There is great discipline involved. With all of this, you would imagine it to be a young woman’s avenue.
But for those unfamiliar, meet Madame Suzelle Poole.
She is most certainly here to prove that age is but a mere number.
She leads a pretty normal life in her older years.
She actively writes poetry, takes plenty of walks and tends to her plants. And at the tender age of 79, she still teaches, choreographs and performs ballet.
Ballet truly is ruthless on the body.
It takes complete devotion to achieve the level of flexibility and strength needed to perform precise and flawless routines.
It presents itself as a challenge that requires many years and thousands of hours of practice. Of course, the result is a tear-inducing level of on-stage grace that tells the story of just how amazing the human form really is.
But the cost to achieve such a level of perfection remains high.
Dancers devote not just their personal time, but their entire lives to the art.
And the ultimate sacrifice, as with many athletes, are their bodies. In fact, due to this, the average retirement age of ballerinas is 35-years-old.
Madame Poole reflects on this fact with Plano Magazine:
“I thought when I was about 26 that I wouldn’t be able to dance much longer.”
But her adoration for the craft prevailed, and she stayed involved by turning to teach ballet to a younger generation.
Poole was born in 1940 during World War II.
She can even remember the back of her house being bombed in London. Fortunately, her life returned to normal after the war ended. It was then that her parents exposed her to fine arts at an early age.
At just 10 years old she had already danced as a professional.
After her family moved to Canada she began to study ballet.
She became proficient in the Cecchetti ballet method among others, and her training followed her all the way to Houston, where she continued her training with Madame Tatiana Semenova, an established Russian ballerina and the founding director of the Houston Ballet Academy.
Her vitality is endless and has followed her well into life.
Just check out this 2018 performance where Poole flawlessly performs a ballet routine.
With immeasurable grace, Poole enters the stage adorned in a beautiful tutu and slippers.
It is truly exceptional to see her body move with such ease despite the years behind her.
Since being uploaded to YouTube, her passionate video has received over three million views!
Many viewers share the wonder and amazement of her feat:
“This woman’s dancing was both graceful and touching. At her age too, the pain in those pointe shoes would be heavy. She showed strength and talent. This world is full of talented people. We just can’t find it sometimes. This was a huge inspiration to me. And I hope it inspired you all too. This proves that age is just a number and that if you believe, you can do so much!”
Watch Madame Poole defy the years and celebrate timelessness in the video linked below!
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