Message to Knee

My hand rests on the ballet barre: it triggers a flashback. How long has it been since my parents enrolled me in children’s ballet? More than sixty years. Plié, tendu, port de bras, rond de jambe. Does this simple exercise conjure up endorphins within my body? Something deep inside me recognizes the movements; a sense of elegance is awakened. What my muscles and joints actually manage to execute, however, presents a rather different picture. After all, I haven’t practiced ballet—or later, modern dance—for more than twenty-five years. It is eight degrees below zero, and Berlin’s public transport workers are on strike on this February day—the very day the workshop series "(K)nie zu spät" begins. Yet, despite the conditions, the participants have made their way to the Deutsche Oper ...