"Black Swan" co-star, Mila Kunis, says, "I will never dance again"

In a recent interview by given to W Magazine, Mila Kunis describes part of her experience in the 2010 thriller movie, Black Swan.

As a girl who had never danced before, Mila was thrust into a movie in which ballet - one of most challenging of dance forms - was featured. Mila confesses that she had to train for four months, seven days a week, five hours a day. She expresses her naivety when she though that she could handle pointe shoes simply because she was able to wear an expensive pair of Christian Louboutins high heels.  And in a shocking statement, Mila says that she will never dance again.

This rebuke of dance is simply embarrassing. Hollywood has cast another pretty face to try an capture the spirit, hardship and beauty of an ephemeral art form and what do we get? A quitter!!

If there is any one trait of a dancer - especially a ballet dancer - it is that they are not quitters. If a professional dancer suffers a minor injury, that doesn't mean they get to go on vacation. They are usually expected to attend rehearsals even if they are unable to dance. Most dancers will find a way to be part of dance even if they aren't wearing their "pointe" shoes.

Of course, ballet is a special genre of the dance family. It is uniquely difficult and the ability to dance en pointe (in pointe shoes), requires years of training, incredible strength and a high tolerance for "discomfort" (pointe shoes are never called comfortable). However, dancers who are unable or do not want to live the life of a classical ballet dancer have many other options: contemporary ballet, jazz, modern dance, musical theater and many other forms further from the classical realm.

But the one things dancers don't do is quit. For dancers, dance is like air they breathe - they need it to live. If they're not dancing, they're thinking about dance, watching dance, surrounded by people who dance. Even if a classical ballet dancer hangs up her pointe slippers, she is still able to take class in soft slippers or let her dance evolve into something more social based like Ballroom, Swing, Hustle, Salsa or Argentine Tango.

So, thanks Hollywood for giving us a pretty face who tried to learn one of dances most difficult forms and tried give a dramatic portrayal of the professional dance world but is possibly anything but a real dancer. By making a broad statement like, "I will never dance again", she negates everything that a dancer is.

As a final note: why do we keep talking about the dancing of Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis? Why aren't we talking about Sarah Lane, Marina Riccetto, Kimberly Prosa, Benjamin Millepied. Those are some of the real dancers from American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet who should be featured as the real headliners of this movie.