December approaches. We learn to put muscles and skin on the bare bones. Recovery of the Lost Commandment: Thou shalt not wiggle thy eyebrows to show emotion. Thou shalt breathe life into a dance through indication of motivation, using head, eyes, and hand. Thou shalt push off the floor with a superhuman strength such as that which has the power to move not just thee, but the entire planet down a few notches. Thou art the Chosen One.

Analogy of the day: At the organizational level, ballet is very similar to grocery shopping. Milk, eggs, bread, avocados-- check, check, check...But if you keep following the person in front of you, you'll just end up with a bunch of coffee!

PS: Analogies are not meant to be taken as perfectly isomorphic one-to-one mappings. All analogies come with an implicit understanding that they are to be taken half in jest; ie: not too seriously. They should be taken just seriously enough to ease understanding of the concept at hand and no more. Cake, eggs, milk, butter-- each of these items could have been replaced by any other item found at a supermarket; peanut butter, for instance. Also, the habit of making grocery lists need not be a universal one in order for this analogy to function as a learning tool.