21 Feb Iarina Goga – The petite ballerina
If you only meet Iarina in the hallways, she strikes you as a shy little girl, always with her mind in the books. But, if you have the chance to see her perform on the stage, you would not recognize her. While she dances, Iarina becomes this fierce artist, whose soul shines through her moves. She is bold, putting on a victory smile and enjoying herself all the way.
Iarina is 9 years old now and has been practicing ballet for over 5.
When she was little her grandfather used to play her classical music, which turned out to shape her future so far. Not only did she like listening to classical music, but she started putting on small performances, to express her feelings, as she listened to the beautiful melodies.
Starting to see her potential, Iarina’s family enrolled her in a ballet class so she could develop her skills. From then on, her love for ballet only grew bigger and bigger and she started participating in contests and receiving awards.
The latest award is also the greatest so far, as Iarina won the 1st place at the European Ballet Grand Prix, held in Vienna. The competition lasted for a week and she performed for 3 days in a row. Her winning performance was at the contemporary ballet category, with a choreography based on the ‘Everybody wants to be a cat’ song. She has also recently attended a contest in Croatia, where she won the 2nd place.
She now studies classical ballet and contemporary ballet at the ‘Simona Noja Ballet Studios’ in Cluj-Napoca and she has 4 teachers. Her daily schedule is pretty busy, as she practices 5 days a week. Nonetheless, she says that although she feels tired, the feeling that overwhelms her is happiness. The happiness of doing what she loves is rewarding enough to motivate her to get up in the morning, go to school, do her homework and then study ballet in the evenings. There are sacrifices to make too, such as not spending enough time playing with her friends. This aspect has been bothering her the most, as she spends her free time in the studio and not on the playground with her friends. She is happy with her decision to practice though, which inspires her to move forward toward becoming a professional ballerina.
The scary minutes before getting up on stage are always the most difficult. She is afraid of failure, of not doing her best. That is the time when she comforts and empowers herself by thinking ‘I am going to relax and just enjoy myself on stage’. Iarina absolutely loves being on stage and seeing the admiration in the eyes of people in the audience, and also the thrill of putting her heart and soul into a certain ballet variation or dance.
Iarina’s mother is also her coach, her dress designer, and her mentor, as she attends her practice hours. She has already learned how to help Iarina practice at home as well. She designs her costumes and looks for inspiration so she can create new dresses every time Iarina participates in competitions.
Iarina is also a mentor herself, as she started teaching her younger cousin how to dance. She already has big plans and persuaded her relatives to enroll her cousin at ballet courses in the near future. This is one of Iarina’s pleasures – to share her love for ballet with anyone willing to listen and learn.
Her many roles in life include being a daughter, a friend, a student, a ballerina and a mentor. Oh, and also a cat. As her winning performance was on the ‘Everybody wants to be a cat’ song.
She does plan to become a professional ballerina one day, but she also dreams of creating choreographies. Her desire to improve each day and to put her heart and soul into her performances are obvious to everyone following her progress.
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