At the age of 16, Margaret Qualley moved to New York City to attend a summer program with the American Ballet Theatre. According to Vogue, she was dancing eight hours a day, six days a week.
One Sunday, her only day off, Qualley was dancing at the Upper West Side studio Steps when she spotted a woman in a wheelchair in her class. "We were in the middle of barre, and I just started watching her," Qualley told C in 2019, adding, "She was so happy, really listening to the music and taking it all in... She can't even stand up, and she's not getting anything out of this class other than the joy it brings her to watch ballet, to listen to the music, to learn these combinations. I was like, 'OK, why am I here? I'm not having fun, I'm not enjoying myself. I'm tired, my body hurts, but I don't want to give myself a day off because I'm competitive and I just want to be perfect.' At that point, Qualley got emotional, left the class, and never returned.
Although Qualley was set to begin a prestigious apprenticeship at the North Carolina Dance Theatre Company, she realized that it was not what she truly wanted. She no longer had family in Asheville to return to, so she decided to stay in New York, enroll in the Professional Children's School, and figure out a new path forward.
