love this photo

I don't think this represents sadness...it's passion and dedication

Amazing

Beautiful

What a price to pay so that others can enjoy the beauty!

She reminds me of a "Morning Glory".

love it!

The Sleeping Swans

Wow!

For anyone wondering, she most likely has Joint Hypermobility Syndrome, a lot of ballet dancers and gymnasts do due to the extra flexibility given to joints. She also has a the best part of a lifetime of very dedicated training, which mayy be why she's as flexible as she is, but yes, JBS can be a very painful condition if the muscles aren't strong enough to compensate for the ligaments and tendons being too loose- bones start grinding together dislocations and slipped disks are common too.

Awe inspiring, and just plain gorgeous!!

It's good to see the reality behind the image,ballet is not just long arms and grace,the dancer's body gets so much pain over the years to perform all these moves,in my opinion it's too much.

love it <3

The amount of hours she had to spend on achieving such a flexible pose payed off perfectly

Cant we just enjoy the damn pictures ? If you want to be good, real good, in anything (..) you need to work hard -blood sweath and tears.

Just beautiful!

so beautiful!!

the grace, the beauty!

Beautiful photo.

this studio is so beautiful (sorry for the wrong focus =x)

What a beautiful photo, her tutu looks like it's made of feathers.

I just realize the first picture is a close up of this one

What a beautiful photo. Her tutu looks stunning.

What is her toe in? In that little box? Chalk maybe?

powerful....

Oooooh... Sansha split soles...

Dreadful damage to their feet. Do they become crippled in later life?

hahaa i have lived this

I've also noticed, after looking at all the pictures, that everyone is talking about the women, and what they go through. Yet when it's a man in the picture, they say things like: So strong....So powerful....etc. They go through the same training, and put their bodies through the same pain as the women do. Why are people not recognizing this??

It's not all tutus and applause their poor bodies