• Aurélie

POB étoile Aurélie Dupont in Esmeralda.
-You're always working before a mirror, always examining what fault to work in. You test yourself, flex your muscles, work with your feet, arms, back, everything. I don't know if a dancer can say "I like myself physically". It's impossible.
(...)
-I didn't take it (ballet school) well. I thought it lacked humanity, it lacked sensitivity... It was rough but that's dance school. It's a bit contradictory. It's great, it shapes your character. I joined the corps de ballet, my character was shaped, like anyone in ballet.
(...)
-The hardest was the mental pain. You know the physical pain is normal. You know you have to work, you have to suffer. But mental pain when you're little is hard to take, to cope with. (...) Mental pain is the remarks... The little comments that desmoralize you and make you think: "I don't think I'm cut out for this". It's brutal when you're a kid of 12 and you think: "She's right, maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe I'm not made to be an étoile". So you're young and you hear this kind of remark.