Irina V. (1) (EIE) - Love for the stage, artistry, the ability to take on different personas

At fourteen, I started dancing; we had a dance ensemble. Those were golden years. Everything changed after I joined that ensemble. I discovered the element of dance, and it consumed me for five whole years. All my pains and ailments disappeared. Medicines and hospitals were forgotten.

For those five years, I had a heavy workload: school, then entering technical college, classes, rehearsals, concerts—sometimes several times a week. I didn’t get enough sleep, but I managed everything—did well in school, socialized with friends, and danced, danced… I wasn’t a soloist or an outstanding dancer. That didn’t matter. What mattered was that I transformed while dancing, stepped into different characters, felt incredible joy, and simply reveled in it. But for some reason my parents never saw any talent for dance in me.

<…> When I was told that EIEs are great actors, I was so stunned; but then I admitted to myself that deep down I would have liked to be an actress—maybe I just wasn’t led quite far enough down that path. When I danced, I stepped into roles. Even our director said, “You dance in a way that makes it impossible to take your eyes off you.” Not because I danced exceptionally well, but because I carried the character. I didn’t realize how easily I slipped into a role—it just happened naturally. After that I thought: Who knows, maybe I really could have become an actress. But at the very least, I wouldn’t be working at the job I’m forced to work now. And the fact that I wasn’t fully realized—this torments me. Now I understand even more clearly that I’m not doing what I once dreamed of doing.

My dreams were fragile, and my wings were torn off.