Monday Morning

Well, I finished Pilates and my swim.  I was tired after Pilates but I just made myself do it, as my pointe teacher always says.  Now I have a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes with effort.  My favorite teacher led the Pilates class and we worked with magic circles and I tried today to focus on my shoulders.  I noticed that when I placed the red Pilates ball under my neck how stiff my neck was, which is probably why I can't keep my shoulders settled.  So, in ballet class, which is coming up, I will really try to use my head, as one teacher always used to say.  I did not realize how important this is until I played with the ball today.  That is what I like about the gym; I get to experiment with my body and see what works and what doesn't.  In ballet class, you are not always permitted that luxury of indulgence in yourself...

The hardest part of Pilates today was the planks from a prone position and the side work:  kneeling on one leg, we did leg lifts with the free leg, leg circles, and pulses and my side was burning.  I think that working the sides, or obliques, is often overlooked and with this side motion, ballet is very hard, especially to do attitudes and arabesques without lifting the hips.  I am sure the teacher will grill me on this shortly, but I would rather get grilled and get better...

So the teacher came up to me again and said I wasn't using my leg muscles.  She said when she was a student they told her to pretend she was squeezing a newspaper between her thighs and then she commented to the all girls' class that we tend to get mushy in our thighs.  Then in center when I was having trouble standing up straight, she said, that is why she is making me engage my thighs.  Well, at barre also, she told me I was late with the rhythm.  As for plies, she said they were better, except when I moved back up, I was still releasing my back.

She also said how important it is to really use the floor.  We move in ballet from our feet because we also have to balance, she said, not with our hips, like that other kind of dancing...

The center was very dancey again, with tendus and degages and pirouettes.  Then we did an adagio where we did degage ronde jambes with pirouettes en dedans and we also did tour de finis, and she said to try to throw in a double for the last one.  The allegro was nice, too, chasse pas de bourre glissade grand jete, pique third arabesque to fouette back, chasse pas de bourre glissade grand jete.  A simple class but one requiring structure and attention to detail...

Yoga class at the gym was very relaxing after all the day's activities.  I stood next to an amazing girl who who so flexible, she just could curl her back into a ball and bend backwards and touch her head to the floor, in the camel pose.  I aced the others with the lotus position and then, placing my arms between my crossed legs, trying to touch my face with my hands like a happy baby.  "Good," the instructor said.

I finally figured out how to set up the new digital box I got in the mail, so now I will watch TV and catch up on my mail and other "business" things.  I loved working out all day, though.  Even a dreary day is fun when you can spend it doing the things you love.