Once upon a time I wanted to be a ballerina. When I first moved to this country I had never even heard of ballet and so on my first field trip during the Christmas holidays I was introduced to ballet when we attended "The Nutcracker" performed by the local ballet company.


It was love at first sight! By January I was enrolled to take ballet, jazz, lyrical, and tap. But my first love was ballet... and these beautiful photo collection from the LIFE Archives entitled "Ballet Boom, 1965" by photographer Gjon Mili, just have me reminiscing over my days in the dance studio trying to perfect my pirouettes, improve my arches, and practice practice practice till perfect.


In the rehearsal photos in the studio you can see George Balanchine, ballet master and founder of the New York City Ballet. Images are all from LIFE Archives and originally spotted on Good Night, Day in the blog post Ballet Boom, NY 1965.