Michelle Herman: “In that very first class, long before I had any idea what I was doing, … I had a moment of what seemed like perfect clarity: My body and my mind were working as one. And this was something I had no experience of. During the brief periods of my life when I’ve exercised — when I’ve taken up swimming or aerobics or yoga — I had always turned off my mind in order to attend to my body. That was why it was fun (when it was fun), and I wanted it to be fun — how else could I get through it? But I saw, that first day in the dance studio, that it was the work of ballet that appealed to me — the mental work, I mean.” – Slate