When Ophelia Martin Weber dances, she feels free. And the passionate ballet dancer now shares how dancing has helped her overcome a traumatic childhood experience.
"When I was 5, long before I was dancing, a teenage boy whose family had been very close with my family repeatedly abused me before my parents found out and put a stop to it," she opened up to the Huffington Post.
She does not remember a lot of things about the abuse, but what haunts her is the fear and shame, which the boy used to control her. The boy told Ophelia that her parents would not love her anymore if they found out about it, and that they would hurt her. He also threatened to harm her family if she ever revealed what he is doing to her.
"To this day, even with lots and lots of counselling, I still struggle with that fear and shame," she admitted.
When she was 11 years old, Ophelia told her parents she wanted to take ballet class. She told her parents she would never ask for an MP3 player, iPhone, or even a car just as long as she could start ballet classes, and if they could not afford it, she would happily settle for "ballet in a box" - a video and book set to learn it herself at home.
"My parents decided that maybe they should make real ballet classes happen," she shared, so Ophelia began taking classes. She started dancing late so she was the tallest kid in her level 1 class. Everybody else was only seven and eight years old, and she "stuck out like an awkward sore thumb." But Ophelia loved every minute of it.
"A secret hope began to bloom that maybe I could do ballet professionally. My instructors and my parents kept encouraging me, telling me that I had talent. In a leotard and tights, when dancing, I was so oblivious of my technique, I just felt free," she shared. "Being able to move in such a different way was liberating. The music, the movements and the lack of fear were and still are my favourite things in the world."
Ophelia remembers wanting to dance because it was fun, but what she did not realise that it would be a good healing process too. When she's on the dance floor, she's distracted from stress, and all she can think about is herself, her teacher, and her body.
"Frustration, fear, anger, I can squash them on the dance floor, sweat them out of my system, leap over them to music. I never imagined that it could so healing, sometimes dance feels as important to my vitality as breathing. Dance is my favourite therapy. I feel so alive and free when I dance, even with other people's steps," she said.
Through ballet, Ophelia learned to trust her parents and feel comfortable dancing with young men and teen boys. They helped her gain confidence and overcome her insecurities.
"I'm not done growing and I still have a long way to go," said Ophelia, "But any time I put on my slippers or pointe shoes I feel like I'm getting closer. Because when I dance, I feel free."
