When Laurie Hernandez was 3 years old, she had to be bribed with sugar cookies to attend ballet classes.
“Way below my attention span,” Hernandez said this summer, according to the San Jose Mercury News. “I was there for the sugar cookies at the end of the workout.”
Hernandez didn’t last long and began doing gymnastics at age 5 or 6 instead. The shift worked out pretty well, as Hernandez took team gold and balance beam silver in Rio at age 16.
So it was perhaps mildly surprising to see Hernandez with New York City Ballet dancers, learning a “Nutcracker” routine.