Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
The instructions were simple: From first position, demi plié twice, grand plié once, tendu to the right into second position, repeat the pliés, tendu into third position, repeat the pliés, tendu into fourth position, repeat the pliés, then tendu back to third, repeat the pliés, then élevé into a sous-sus and remain balanced for four counts.
No, honestly, they truly were simple. Everyday, across the globe, a million ten-year-olds are running through sequences of steps like these with ease. But, three months into the Boston Ballet School’s 18-week Foundations of Ballet 1 class, the sequence was a mental and physical puzzle, an artistic Gordian Knot I had only eight bars of music to untangle.
I enrolled in Foundations of Ballet 1 last fall to learn more about the artform I’d fallen hard for. Over a decade, I expanded my arts beat at the Herald, moving slowly from Janelle Monáe and Iron Maiden to “Hamilton” and the Boston Pops to the Boston Ballet’s “Cinderella” in 2019. Nothing hit me like “Cinderella” (until Boston Ballet’s “Swan Lake” in 2022, then the company’s “My Obsession” in 2022, then “Cinderella” again in 2024, then last autumn’s “Fall Experience”).
Reviewing the 2019 performance of legendary choreographer Frederick Ashton’s 1948 vision of the fairy tale was the hardest piece of work I’d done in years. Just decoding what I saw on stage was a challenge — my reporter’s notebook was scribbled with things like, “look up what it’s called when somebody spins around a lot on stage” (it was a series of chaînés), and “find out if there’s a name for duet dance” (there is, pas de deux).
Between the furious jotting of ridiculous notes, I marveled at the sublime grace and beautiful force the dancers put forth.
What I discovered in the Foundations course is that grace and force have to be earned over, well, a lot longer than 18 weeks. Oh, and the long journey toward the two doesn’t leave a ton of room to absorb instructions if you don’t have a ten-year-old’s wonderfully spongy brain.
While my ballet vocabulary did expand over the course, it was hard to pick up the language when so much of my strength, stamina, and brainpower focused on not lurching around like oaf. Thankfully, many of my fellow students were in the same boat. The Boston Ballet’s introduction course welcomes hopefuls of all ages, abilities, experiences. And in the fun, judgement-free zone, each student received equal doses of encouragement and enthusiasm from the instructor.
What I did absorb was ballet’s governing logic: The aesthetics stand firm on the athletics. Proper posture isn’t decorative but is used to maintain balance. Foot position isn’t for show but to avoid injury. Eventually the aesthetic and athletic add up to grace and force (again, not in 18 weeks, no matter how hard an aging Gen Xer tries).
That aesthetics through athletics logic was there in principal dancer Seo Hye Han’s performance as Cinderella in 2019, even if I couldn’t see it back then. I will look for it when I watch Seo Hye Han or one of her fellow principals, Chisako Oga, Chyrstyn Fentroy, Viktorina Kapitonova or Ji Young Chae dance the role of Odette in “Swan Lake” (Feb. 27–March 16 at the Citizens Opera House). But I won’t look too hard.
I’m not afraid the magic will be lost if I can see more force than grace. Seeing through to the building blocks of any art form — ballet, Broadway theater, Iron Maiden epics — enhances the magic. But I now know concentrating too hard on any ballet sequence will put me back in front of the tangled Gordian Knot. Sometimes it’s best to not puzzle. Sometimes you should just let the sublime beauty of ballet wash over you.
For details on classes and performances, including “Swan Lake,” visit bostonballet.org.
This time, the people marched in resistance to the harsh treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration.
“We descend from Immigrants and Revolutionaries,” read a battle cry beamed onto the side of the brick meeting house Tuesday.
“The society that stops seeing the people at the grocery line or the people that ride the bus with us, as human beings with beating hearts, then it’s not far off before our society devolves into no society at all,” Gilberto Calderin, director of advocacy at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition said to the crowd of hundreds.
The protest was organized by activist groups Boston Indivisible and Mass 50501, and began at the Irish Famine Memorial Plaza, just steps from the meeting house.
The lively crowd held up signs, waved American flags, and chanted during the march along Milk Street and Congress Street to the harbor.
Janet England of Brighton held a sign that read, “Democracy Needs Courage.”
The protesters, she said are “true patriots because we want freedom and democracy.”
“Although protest is a long game, we can’t give up. If you think about women’s suffrage, gay rights, the civil rights movement, it took years, but we just can’t give up,” she said.
Gloria Krusemeyer, from Alrington, used a walker to join the march.
“I’m irritated that I haven’t done more, and I’m just lucky that I can walk fast enough to be doing this,” she said.
Rick Mueller, from Cambridge, was dressed as Uncle Sam and held a large sign that read, “Liberty and Justice For All.”
“We’re fighting for America, so I’m gonna be America,” he said of his costume.
He handed small American flags out to protesters who waved them enthusiastically.
Ice dumping duties was limited to volunteers and select people.
Among them was Sarah, a mother who brought her 4-year-old daughter, Fiona.
Sarah declined to share her last name for her daughter’s safety.
After throwing ice into the harbor, Fiona shyly said that she wanted to come to the protest to “help families stay together.”
Through tears, Sarah said her decision to bring along Fiona came from wanting to teach her daughter to care about people from all walks of life.
“Kindness and compassion are things we learn in kindergarten and she will be in kindergarten so it’s really important for her to be kind and compassionate,” Sarah said, kissing her daughter’s check.
Likewise, Sara Sievers, from Cambridge, brought her parents, sister, her nephews and niece to dump ice.
“I think this is one of the most brutal regimes we’ve had in this country, and I want my niece and nephew to remember that it’s important to protest, and that we in Boston are part of a proud tradition of dumping things into the harbor with which we disagree,” Sievers said.
The family wore costumes of historical figures including Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and King Charles.
As the protest came to a close, Martha Laposata, spokesperson for Boston Indivisible said she wanted protestors to walk away knowing their voices matter.
“We cannot stand down,” Laposata said. “When people rise up against an authoritarian government, if they stay consistent and they keep growing, ultimately an authoritarian government will stand down.”
Camille Bugayong can be reached at camille.bugayong@globe.com.
Crime
An MIT professor was shot and killed in Brookline on Monday night.
Brookline police responded a report of a man shot in his home on Gibbs Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning, the DA says.
Loureiro was the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and a professor of nuclear science and engineering and physics. Originally from Portugal, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs announced his death in a regulatory hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities on Tuesday, according to CNN.
“Sadly, I can confirm that Professor Nuno Loureiro, who died early this morning, was a current MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” an MIT spokesperson wrote in a statement.
In January, Loureiro was honored as one of nearly 400 scientists and engineers with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from former president Joe Biden.
The investigation into the homicide remains ongoing. No further information was released.
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
A man was hospitalized after being shot Monday night in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The shooting happened on Gibbs Street. There was a large police presence at the scene.
The victim was brought to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His condition was not known.
Police said the victim was shot three times and grazed by another round.
Authorities did not say if any arrests had been made.
No further information was immediately available.
Addy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
LIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
Matt Campbell reportedly bringing longtime Iowa State staffer to Penn State as 1st hire
How much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
Man shot, killed at downtown Cleveland nightclub: EMS
Chiefs’ offensive line woes deepen as Wanya Morris exits with knee injury against Texans
Elementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
Frigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland