This week’s profile is of Nerea from Interpreting en Pointe, a blog that focuses primarily on ballet as well as some translation. Check out her awesome post entitled “Ballet is French.” 

Nerea performing Kitri’s wedding variation from Don Quixote in July of last summer.

Adult Ballerina Project: When did you start doing ballet as an adult?

Nerea Fernández Martínez: I started two years ago, when I was 20.

ABP: Did you ever take lessons as a kid?

NFM: Yes, I started taking ballet lessons twice a week when I was 6. I used to go to school and learn Maths and Science like everybody else, and then in the afternoon I went to the gym to learn ballet with a beautiful teacher. We used to do performances at the end of each year, so I know what being onstage is like!

I continued dancing for seven years (I even got promoted to pointe) and then, when I was 13, I had to stop because the school decided not to offer those lessons anymore. It was very hard for me, but since I lived in a really small village, there was no other option: real schools were very far away from my home.Continue Reading