“I am 14 and have been dancing since I was two. Dancing en pointe is mental and physical – it uses a lot of strength. My teacher made me work at the barre for six months before I could go en pointe in center, without the barre. The tips of pointe shoes are made from cardboard and some plaster. They go soft after about 12 hours and no longer support weight, so we are always buying another pair. New York City Ballet dancers may go through two pairs of pointe shoes in one performance. 

I will dance through high school and hopefully college, but I want to be a journalist someday because I love to write. I am writing a horror novel. It started as a class assignment and I kept going. The first sentence had to be, ‘There was a knock on the door’. The novel is called ‘Trick or Treat’.” 

Avery