#melissa schade

[thesweatspotla-blog]

Slow Jams took us back to the 90s last Sunday! Who could say no to Fiona Apple on a rainy Sunday afternoon?!

[rustydancers-blog]

Even more ALIVE

As kid growing up in ballet class, I was restricted from all outside physical activities. For both risk of injury as well as developing my muscles in a counterintuitive way. 

Well now, as an adult, I’m also a surfer. And most mornings I’ll be in the water -- and on Sunday morning before Nathan’s class I went for a surf. It was a BLAST but as usually I missed a wave, tumbled and the top of my board WACKED the top of my left foot. 

Going into class, it was quite swollen and pretty nasty looking. But the minute the music started, it didn’t bother me an inch. Whether it’s the focus or the blood flow from the movement, I was immediately immersed in the class.

The pre class surf also leads me to something else in Nathan’s class. He does a pretty intense series of push-ups and my arms are already pretty fatigued from all the paddling. But I still do every push up, just with my knees on the floor. Cheating? well maybe.. but who cares, I’m already pretty proud of my guns. :-)

Now, let’s talk about the combo. Perhaps its the focus a small injury gives or the fact that we repeated the choreography (we already know how I love that) but I found space in the movement. By space I mean, I was able to hit the movement while also bringing my personality into the mix. Make artistic choices. Even further, the teacher Melissa Schade was in class and we couldn’t keep our eyes off of her. In fact, that’s how we discovered she was a teacher. Both Catherine and I left class asking who she was... and now we’re excited to take her class on Thursday AM.

Melissa used that space in the choreography to bring her full heart into the movement. It was spectacular to watch but even further gave me permission to do the same. The years of rigid ballet training had me striving for perfection. And barely let me discover ‘me’ in the dancing. There’s still a full journey of discovery ahead. But I’m finally at the beginning. And wow, do I feel ALIVE. 

- Jess

This is about Sweat Sunday’s class on Feb 13 @thesweatspotla