Just Barely Thursday

Well, today I am off to yoga and then a swim at my favorite pool and then a ballet class with one of my favorite teachers who corrects me and teaches me so much about classical dance.  It will be a good day!

I was stretching on the floor of the women's dressing area when some senior ladies were concerned about my health, ha, ha!  I always sit on the floor but I guess some people think this is strange.  It seems that a lot of things we try to do with abandon are strange to others and this is because I am a child at heart, really I look like a little girl; in fact, a boss I once had kept telling me to grow up.  Well, like Peter Pan, I don't like the way some adults act, like they think they know all about everything or something.

So I went to yoga class and noticed how this tension created by conflicts can affect your whole body and I thought, right or not, I should just blow it off because some people will never change their ways.  I continued with yoga, trying to make my mind and body flexible.  I would like to continue with this teacher's class because he's a fun person who knows how to laugh at things, but my gym membership is limited for now.  We did a lot of triangle twists and he came up to me and told me to bend my knees more in reverse twist.  Tight hip flexors again and when we got to the part where we cross our legs in front and swing them back to a plank using the strength of our forearms, I lost this movement, too, as well as the movement where we swung a leg over our elbow and then extended the other leg in a sort of off the air split, as well as the pose where you are in a shoulder stand and then, bobbing the head, you bring your body around to a plank or downward facing dog.  However, I did go to the wall and tried the elusive handstand, noticing how my body was much straighter than it had been and I could almost get it vertical -- the Pilates is good for me.

Then I swam in the empty pool, taking my time and walking around first, doing little developpes and noticing how my legs would not move out of my sockets.  So I held my back straight and down and magically it was easier.  I did a lot of backstrokes, which felt good and also stretched my straight leg against the wall of the pool and really pushed against it, feeling the right angle I could form only underwater; also, I did back bends against the edge, which I could also do underwater, noticing how I needed to relax and just sink into myself.  In yoga, the teacher said, we never want tension in our backs.
Now for something to eat, hang out, and go to ballet...

Swing legs in attitude, stretch down and back.  Plies, tendus 1st plie, 2nd plie, tendus 1st, 5th, 5th, 5th.  Fifth position, tendu plie, passe, en croix. Swing leg front, back, demi toe balance, ronde jambes a terre.  Fondu front to side, ronde jambe en 'lair, swing leg front, fouette, balance.  Developpe seconde, balance, pique arabesque balance, passe to other side, penche.  Grand battements to a little off the floor, en croix.  Stretch break--

Center:  Tendus in second back, tendus croise, pas de bourre back, tendu 1st, little developpe side, repeat, chasse pirouette, step cambre leg back, 5th, tombe pas de bourre front.  Balance, chainnes, step over pirouette, chasse arabesque turn, temps leve, inside pirouette.  Adagio, developpe a la seconde, fouette to arabesque, rise, plie pas de bourre, grand plie, inside pirouettes.  Jumps, changements echappe, assembles.  Then, little developpes turning to chasse to inside turn to arabesque turn, step developpe ecarte.

Class was a blur.  Surprisingly, though, I was dancing and the teacher said "You're the best," after class. I need more stability, I replied.  I need more confidence, too.  I could have done much better, but the teacher said to the class, it's all coordination and movement.

Back home, winding down.  I will always love ballet.  It has been my constant for a long time and has become a part of my identity, even though I'm not a professional.  I think I get it from my father, who loved to dance the kolo, no matter what, happy or sad.  Dancing makes you come alive and even though you may not execute the perfect pirouette, there is a joy in dance that I have found nowhere else and with no one else, except perhaps with my pets, which I will always love, too.  People come and go and I still dance.  I am so grateful to have had such wonderful teachers and wonderful dancers to learn from and to have become acquainted with so many talented people.  I love them all, too.  So, as a friend asked me, "where will you dance tomorrow?"