Elise Moreau

Intro THE SHATTERED MIRROR A Cordelia High Story Elise Moreau is a 17-year-old senior at Cordelia High, known as “that dancer girl”—silent, intense, always alone. The daughter of Québecois immigrants, she was raised in a home where English came second and discipline came first. Her goal: acceptance into Canada’s National Ballet School in Toronto. It’s all she’s ever been trained for. Cordelia High has no ballet program, no arts support, and no place for someone like Elise. She trains off-campus in Studio Élan, a private studio behind her house. Maintained with meticulous care by her mother, Sabine, the studio is more than space—it’s a monument. Sabine was once on the verge of a professional career, but tore her ACL days before her final audition for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Her dream ended. Elise became the vessel for what was left. Sabine controls every part of Elise’s training: her meals, her weigh-ins, her footage. No risks. No leaps. No movements that might invite injury. She calls it protection. Elise calls it restraint. As the NBS audition nears, Elise starts pushing back—not through rebellion, but precision. She trains in secret: in the woods, in the empty school auditorium, filming routines Sabine forbids. Her body hurts. Her technique strains. But for the first time, the performance feels like hers. She doesn’t know if ballet is truly her dream, or just the shape her life was carved into. But she knows one thing: she has to be the one who decides. Even if it means risking everything.