On the inexplicable obsession with the perfect ballet dancer. By Magda Lena Griffel Illustration by Iris Pope As a child, Grace Li, CC ’28, was transfixed by the role of Clara in Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker . For Fiona Witty-Daughtery CC ’28, it was the older dancers at her first summer intensive. For the late ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince, it was a magazine cover of a prima ballerina that flew to the gate of her orphanage when she was four. She joined ballet classes a

On swenking, Sapeurs, and dressing well . By Nnema Épée-Bounya Illustration by Iris Pope I am in the back of a theater, the smallest theater I have ever been in. The seats are made of wood and have red velvet cushions. The woman next to me is eating a bag of chips extremely loudly, slowly, and self-consciously. The woman in front of me has an afro shaped like a heart, and I wonder if it’s intentional. Two middle-aged Black women sit beside me after arriving with the director

The tale of a freshman seeking fellow Humanities majors . By Ana Sorrentino Illustration by Iris Pope It was in my second week at Columbia that I began to notice a foul scent stubbornly clinging to the air. It lingered in the halls, followed me into the elevators, and coiled itself between the crevices of the stacks. I told myself it was only my imagination. Perhaps I was still getting used to life in a new city. But the more it remained, I began to realize that this was diff