December-Dancing: Week 1
I'm back into exercising! After the dreaded sprain that occurred while I was bouldering I am now able to move about relatively freely(as long as I am on a flat surface). The decision to do dance happened before my ankle got hurt and walking became difficult. One thing that has really resonated with me this past year is that I enjoy dancing. I wanted to end on an activity that I have been really wanting to do for a long time. Ballet is the only place I have started and can discuss now.
A few problems, outside of my ankle, occurred when I was thinking about doing dance. Most studios have classes at night. For people who work at night, as I do, it is hard to decide where to go or how to make it happen. Also, I wanted to do ballet. There are not a lot of Introduction to Ballet classes at all. Since I have absolutely no experience dancing in any technical sense my options were really limited because it's not like I could jump into any class that would work with my time schedule. Making my dream of dance come to fruition became harder than I thought.
Then came along suggestions from my super supportive friend Stacey. She used to do ballet, her best friend Sam who is a complete gem did also. So after talking about how I wanted to try it, Sam agreed to teach us introductory classes on her day off. Stacey geared into action and looked for studio spaces to rent. It turns out that studio spaces are relatively inexpensive. Granted, if you had to practice everyday the toll would dent the pocketbook for sure. We decided upon once a week and I am going to try to find a drop in studio that works with my schedule for other days in the week. Hopefully this way I can also experiment with other forms of dance. Hip-hop classes are a form that I will experiment with for sure this month.
It is hard to say how I feel about ballet now. I am one class in and I already know that I am intrigued. My legs felt the burn and my posture was considered as much as if I was in a yoga class. I did the class with three other friends so of course I had a good time. My ego may be tested when I do it with people who don't already love me but I am willing to take that chance. I think the reason why I haven't tried dance until now is because it is so vulnerable. It'll be a lesson in being more comfortable with my body and movement.