We all have opened a book in our life. Different topics, stories, themes and so on.

Most of the time they have been written by consecrated writers in various fields of life and not only.

Have you ever wondered how it would be that one day you go to the library and choose a book and when you open it is your name on the cover as an author. Subject : YOUR LIFE .What would it be like? What would you write? Would you like it? Would you share it with others?

I have been invited at the beginning of this week to participate to “The Living Library’. An online meeting between students and people from different fields that are meant to inspire them in their journey initiated by  The Leaders Foundation.

The guests were called “Human Books”. I was one of them. I was never in such a meeting with more than 80 people. After we introduced ourselves, we were divided into different break rooms where we talked with the students.

I come from a domain that is not very popular let’s say or just not so well known. At the beginning I felt a bitt of shyness from some students or even the “I am not sure what to talk or ask a ballerina” feeling.

The artistic world represents for many, as i believe, a source of fascination and for some, something totally new. I have received very interesting question regarding my road, if I had doubts following it. How did I do it? Did I have hard moments in my career? How is to be a ballerina and what does it take?

Some of the questions came also from an area of motivation. How do you keep it up when it is hard? Do you listen to others when they say it is a hard profession, it is badly paid and that you won’t make a living out of it?

I tried my best to answer the questions I had received with honesty and at the same time I wanted to build a bridge between the artistic life of a dancer and the life of a normal person.

What does it take to be a dancer? Is it just 3 steps to the left, one to the right, a turn, maybe a lift, sparkles, glitter and applause.

Well no.

From my own experience, the life of a dancer is probably one of the most complex and versatile ways of living. We have our body as our instrument so if we only start from here, you already have met a first challenge.

In order to cope, work, understand your own body, it requires a training that you must start form early age and you continue developing it all your life. The requirements, the pressure, the competition, the high level you ought to be physically, mentally and so on.

Balancing emotions, moods and integrate them in your daily work. Building a strong mind set, learning how to rise when you fall and keep going. Learning from an early age what failure means, success, disappointments, joy, integrity, respect, discipline, pain etc.

Another great and important point: balancing the personal life with the professional one.

It is a rough world in a way. The beauty everybody sees it is like the tip of an iceberg. Sharp beautiful, even wild. The work and all that baggage lies underneath.

I am not trying to say that being a dancer is horrible. On the contrary. Here I want to link this to the experience that I had earlier this week.

So yes, we do have a certain way of living, us. Probably another way of feeling and expressing ourselves. More and big. We need strong sensations, adrenaline and the feeling we are on the top of the mountain as often as possible. And then again, we also need balance, peace and constancy. It is crucial to find the balance between these two extremes and try to navigate as smooth. Float.

Being a fulfilled artist means being a fulfilled human being. It means that the more you dig inside yourself, the more honest you are with yourself, the more you keep being curious, you shall evolve. And these hidden treasures you shall find in your personal life, they will automatically enrich your professional life no matter what the domain. We perform on stage and that is the most vulnerable place you can be on. One cannot lie and fake. On stage you are naked physically and emotionally.

I have worked with my body for more than 16 years and I still do, to the point that I created a special relationship with it. Body, mind, soul.

Looking back to my journey I realised that at the beginning of my career I was going often on a sort of automatic pilot, not listening to anything that was inside me. I was chasing perfection, recognition, acceptance, validation through external factors. And that’s has impacted my life on all levels.

Another thing I was asked in the meeting was: “What would you tell the little Marina of you could go back?’ Instinctively I said immediately: To trust herself much more.

Years have passed, my experience grew, and I have started understanding that pretty much all the keys and answers we hold inside of us. It is just that sometimes we don’t know exactly how to read, decipher it. So, then we need help, someone to guide us. But we need to ask for it.

Another major discovery for me was to realise and to be aware that I was not listening enough to my body and my intuition.

For me personally as a dancer, one of the biggest challenges was to balance the body and the mind. Mind is like a Ford Mustang racing on a highway , while the body can’t keep always with that speed. So that is how the gaps are being made. The bigger the gap the bigger the unbalance.

In the moments when I did connect with me, and let go of fears and outer factors, the results were fantastic. And the public said it the best through their reaction. Those are magical and unforgettable moments every dancer dreams of.

I have also heard in the meeting “I am not sure which way to go, I am trying various things and directions”. I was asked how I chose my path. The answer was: I loved ballet, dance from the first moment.” It is something I FELT, in the body. It was like a spell, a feeling of good, something magic. Like a force. And that was the key for me to keep going no matter the obstacle. I knew from an early age that ballet was what I wanted to do. What I am trying to say: listen to your gut before taking a decision. Leave the mind to do its job but then connect also to your heart and see what it tells you. Do mistakes and keep going. That’s the best way to discover, learn and evolve.

I have also been asked if my profession is a field from where you can live. The answer is yes.

It depends of course the place you are in, country, company and so on in terms of good, proper conditions, support and care for this Art form. But there is a big Yes.

I never looked to close into these details when I started dancing. Call it craziness. Or lack of pragmatism. I call it destiny. As no matter where I landed with dancing, and despite difficulties I managed to find my way through. For my mind, there was no second option. It was dance and I went for it.

Even more, in many places I got the chance to get and dance, a professional dancer is seen at the level of a Hollywood star.

Being a dancer and living in this world and having this rhythm means to have a colourful, intense beautiful and unique life.

I am so grateful for everything I have learned during my career, and I still do even now and for how this form of art has shaped me as a person, not just an artist. It is a school of life. Through dance I learned that each challenge comes to you to teach you something new and get you out of your comfort zone. Or put you on the right track.

The experiences that I have lived on stage have been many times out of this world. I found it always fascinating and a real gift that we have this power of transporting ourselves in other realms, even other dimensions and then take with us in this journey the souls of the audience with us. Isn’ t that pure magic?

This requieres of years of work, to achieve these feelings and levels. But it is 200% worth it!

Work is great, we all need it. But let’s not forget to enjoy what we do, let’s not lose ourselves and our identities in work. Let’s try trusting ourselves more, listen to ourselves and be brave to put down our masks, our fears and simply LIVE.

Have you not been so far to a concert, ballet, opera or a concert? So, what! Time is not lost! Buy a ticket and just go! I know there are so many barriers in the society now. This, that, it is for the elite, I don t know how to listen, it’s snobbish etc…

I would like to encourage everyone to go and be aware of how a performance from this area has impacted them. Leave the mind barriers at the door and just enjoy something different!

The purpose of art is to move, to change something in you, to awaken something in you. More or less pleasant. It is up to each one of how it is perceived.

The “Living Lybrary” conference was very inspiring moment for me and I was very glad that I have been invited to be part of it as a motivational speaker. In the same time it made me realise even more, how beautiful and complex is the world I am coming from. I was glad to share my experiences with the students and at the same time grateful to have met them and listen to them but also deeply moved in reading their feedback.

I find such initiatives truly fantastic. They have the ability to connect different generations, allow us the be vulnerable and learbn better how to do that and explore new perspectives, ways of thinking and get inspired!

Congratulations to the organisers and to many more!

As an ending note i will say that I believe that we have been all given a blank book when we came in this life. And each chapter of our lives represents a page from our book. It is up to us how authentic we are when we are writing it, in order for it to become a good unforgettable and unique book!