13 Chapter 12 The Swans

Chapter 12 The Swans When Maria was forty-one years old, she realized her time in the spotlight was ending. She was watching a young dancer in rehearsal lift her leg higher and higher. The dancer's balance was off, and Maria corrected her. The girl was so eager to please, so hungry to learn. Maria thought with surprise, Why, that was me a lifetime ago!

当玛丽亚41岁时，她意识到自己在聚光灯下的日子就要结束了。 她正看着一个年轻的舞者在排练时把腿抬得越来越高。 跳舞的人失去了平衡，玛丽亚纠正了她。 这个女孩是如此渴望取悦别人，如此渴望学习。 玛丽亚惊讶地想，咦，那是很久以前的我!

Practically all her life, Maria had been dancing. If she stopped, what would she do? A whole new generation of young girls were just now tying on their toe shoes for the first time. Perhaps she could teach them what Madame Nijinska and George Balanchine had taught her—passion and discipline. Still, the thought of being "retired" frightened her. Backstage, whenever she had felt nervous, Maria had lifted her chin and stepped forward to show the world what she could do. Was it time

玛丽亚几乎一辈子都在跳舞。 如果她停下来，她会怎么做? 新一代的年轻女孩第一次系上了脚趾鞋。 也许她可以把尼金斯卡夫人和乔治·巴兰钦教给她的东西教给他们——激情和纪律。 不过，一想到“退休”，她就害怕。 在后台，每当玛丽亚感到紧张时，她就会抬起下巴，走上前来，向世界展示她的能力。 是时候了吗?

now to show the world again what she could do as a teacher? The decision tormented Maria. "Should I... or shouldn't I?" she asked herself over and over again. When Elise was younger, Maria took her on tour with her. In the hotel rooms late at night, Elise set out plates of food for her mother. Sometimes, if she wasn't too tired after a performance, Maria draped a silk scarf over the lamp to create a soft glow, and she read to Elise. Once, Elise had written a poem that began:

现在再一次向世界展示她作为一名教师能做些什么? 这个决定折磨着玛丽亚。 “我应该…或者我不应该?”她一遍又一遍地问自己。 当伊莉斯还小的时候，玛丽亚带着她一起旅行。 深夜，在酒店房间里，伊莉斯为她的母亲摆上了一盘盘食物。 有时，如果演出结束后不太累，玛丽亚会在灯上盖上丝巾，发出柔和的光芒，然后给伊莉斯读书。 有一次，伊莉斯写了一首诗，诗的开头是:

Because she is my mother, every night she turns into Cinderella. After the final performance of a tour in Venezuela in 1966, Maria returned to her hotel room alone. Buzz and Elise were not waiting in the wings. They were home in Chicago. Maria longed to be with them. That night, she made up her mind. It was time she stopped turning into Cinderella. A few days later, Maria returned to her family in Chicago and left the stage for good. She began to build a new life for herself. She made a studio on the top floor of her house and gave herself lessons each day. She began to work with performers at the Chicago Lyric Opera and later, helped to begin the Chicago City Ballet. All along,

因为她是我妈妈，每天晚上她都会变成灰姑娘。 1966年，在委内瑞拉的最后一场巡回演出结束后，玛丽亚独自回到了她的酒店房间。 巴斯和伊莉斯并没有等在旁边。 他们在芝加哥的家里。 玛丽亚渴望和他们在一起。 那天晚上，她下定了决心。 她是时候不再变成灰姑娘了。 几天后，玛丽亚回到芝加哥的家中，永远离开了舞台。 她开始为自己建立新的生活。 她在房子的顶楼做了一个工作室，每天给自己上课。 她开始与芝加哥抒情歌剧院的表演者合作，后来帮助成立了芝加哥城市芭蕾舞团。 一直以来,

she never lost touch with her closest friend, George Balanchine. In 1983, Maria received a frightening telephone call. George was in the hospital. Maria flew to New York City. As she hurried down the hall toward George's hospital room, Maria felt as if her life was about to change again. George had created a golden age of ballet in America, and she had been part of it. "I couldn't imagine the world without him," she confessed. Maria entered the room and drew a chair close to his bedside. George was too weak to sit up, but he smiled when he saw Maria. A short while later, the nurse asked her to leave. Maria knew she would never see George again.

她从未与她最亲密的朋友乔治·巴兰钦失去联系。 1983年，玛丽亚接到了一个可怕的电话。 乔治住院了。 玛丽亚飞往纽约。 当玛丽亚匆匆穿过大厅走向乔治的病房时，她觉得自己的生活又要改变了。 乔治开创了美国芭蕾的黄金时代，而她也是其中的一份子。 “我无法想象没有他的世界，”她坦白道。 玛丽亚走进房间，把一把椅子拉到他床边。 乔治虚弱得坐不起来，但当他看到玛丽亚时，他笑了。 过了一会儿，护士让她离开。 玛丽亚知道她再也见不到乔治了。

Soon after George died, Maria wrote, "The ballet world in which I grew up is gone." In the years that followed, Maria found joy in new experiences: her daughter's success as a writer, walks along Lake Michigan in Chicago or along the beach in Florida. Although she no longer performed publicly after 1966, she never put away her toe shoes. Each day, she gave herself a class at the barre. Sometimes she taught. When Maria was seventy-one years old, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., named her "one of the outstanding artists of the twentieth century." Many in the world of ballet believed

乔治去世后不久，玛丽亚写道:“我成长的芭蕾舞世界已经消失了。” 在接下来的几年里，玛丽亚在新的经历中找到了快乐:她的女儿成为了一名作家，在芝加哥的密歇根湖或佛罗里达的海滩上散步。 虽然1966年后她不再公开演出，但她从未收起她的鞋。 每天，她都在巴利上自己的课。 有时她教书。当玛丽亚71岁时，华盛顿特区的肯尼迪中心称她为“二十世纪杰出的艺术家之一”。 芭蕾舞界的许多人都相信