Japan is a nation that means a lot to me as a ballet dancer. I truly don't think I would have been able to become a Principal Dancer without the constant support of some of my most devoted Japanese fans. The unbelievably generous gifts, surprise Stuttgart visits and heartfelt appreciation for the hard work that it takes for me to prepare and share a role with a huge audience is one of the most valuable parts of my profession. It is nice to know that when I go out onstage, I am taking you with me. Because I love you all so much, I could feel your pain when you were hit with such difficult circumstances a week ago. I monitored my Twitter account every hour during rehearsals in hopes that things would start to look a bit better for you. They just seemed to get worse. I was touched to read about your people sticking together to overcome the obstacles.
In my career, I have suffered some injuries that almost ended my life onstage altogether. It can be so difficult because they hit you when you least expect and they can devastate. A serious injury can lead to other complications in other parts of the body until sometimes you ask yourself ''how could this happen?'' and ''how will I possibly fix this?'' Feeling like you have lost all control and dealing with major losses is awful and can be so depressing. This is what I imagine your nation might possibly be feeling right now. I know that you are all experiencing things on a much larger and more important scale but as a dancer, dance is my life and when the world threatens to take this away from me it can be awful.
Looking back though, I realize that yes, I have lost parts of my muscles and bones that I will never get back and lost roles because of these injuries but it was actually my heart, soul and time, itself that made these problems eventually go away. I saw that when all of my body parts worked together then I became much stronger physically and spiritually. This is something that can be learned by seeing how all of you in Japan work together as one beautiful force that is already starting to heal.
I cannot imagine how you feel. In my head I can only come up with the above comparison to my personal struggles in my artform. But this gives me hope because if there is one thing that all ballet dancers can agree on it is that we always emerge from these dark times as better artists. My injuries have made me more aware, creative, flexible, resourceful and compassionate and with each ugly scar I carry new invaluable wisdom. I am stronger and I am so grateful to be able to share that with you during performances because you are the strongest nation I know. You might not realize it now, but you are inspiring the rest of the world with that strength and it's undeniable grace.
your,
Evan
