Ah, the time-honored tradition of having non-baseball people throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a major league game. It's usually a cute non-event, a fun photo opportunity for a politician or a local celeb. Which means that while it's happening, most of the folks in the stands are rolling their eyes, eating their hot dogs and generally ignoring the scene on the field.
But when a world-class ballerina like The Washington Ballet's Maki Onuki gets the opportunity to throw the first pitch? She RUNS WITH IT—or, more accurately, tour jetés and saut de chats with it. You, Mr. I'm-Just-Here-For-The-Ballgame, are going to watch her, goshdarnit.
Behold Onuki's exuberant take on the first pitch, which happened at the Mets-Nationals game this weekend:
She straight-up loses a shoe and keeps right on saut-de-chat-ing. Because that's how ballerinas roll. 👏🙌
(And for the baseball die-hards snarking about the accuracy of her actual throw at the end? Let's see you do a credible tour jeté, and then we'll talk.)