Ballet is one of those athletic art forms that never ceases to amaze. From a butterfly to a grand jeté, the moves of ballet dancers around the world are, to us laymen, gravity-defying acts of superhuman capacity.
The Washington Ballet has attempted to unlock some of the secrets of ballet's hardest dance moves, in a video uploaded by The Washington Post. In it, dancers Maki Onuki, Andile Ndlovu, Chong Sun, Corey Landolt, Francesca Dugarte and Luis R. Torress demonstrate stunning lifts and miraculous turns, breaking down the body movements involved in a Cheshire Cat or a never-ending series of fouettés en tournant.
Watch the two-minute, slow-motion video above and let us know your thoughts on the professional magic in the comments.