Tuesday...

I went to Mike's class early this morning.  He was saying how when we are in his class to move, otherwise we would not be there.  I am feeling more and more like a dancer, although I still get looks from some people that seem to say, why are you here and why are you working so hard for no reason?  There is a group of dedicated dance students who will always take class because they love it...I remember once asking my voice teacher how far I could get with singing because I am obviously never going to be a professional and she told me to go for it and be the best I can be.  Why not?  Why must there be a reason for everything that prevents us from doing something challenging and out of the norm?  I met a runner in the pool this afternoon and we were talking about how most people will never understand why we knock ourselves out to be fit.  She is not a professional athlete and yet she has trained for marathons to the point of ruining all of her joints at the age of 40.  "I think people are jealous," she told me, and I told her that it's more than that, it's that it's somehow not "proper" or acceptable to be different from the average mindset.

As I have said before, when I look back and think of how much fun I'm having, I really don't basically care about what people think.  Why should I?  They are simply strangers and we will part ways and is it worth it to get so involved...I think I am finally getting more poised and learning how not to diffuse my energies, too.  I think the teacher was impressed today that I actually got his combinations right and actually did decent pirouettes and really tried to use my arms and torso.  Now to fix my feet, I commented to a dancer after class...

I went downtown to purchase a ticket for a Friday performance of the Joffrey Ballet and noticed a flyer about a spring benefit with a picture of a dancer wearing pink pointe shoes on it.  Ballet is like love, I thought, pretty and graceful, not harsh like the world can be.  Why not lift your spirits and do something pretty and fun?  Why be normal, ha, ha...

Then, heading home, I went to the pool and got out just in time for yoga, my hair soaking wet.  After class, after moving inside and out, my hair took on an interesting shape and I kind of looked like Shirley Temple.  The class was so much fun and I was next to a young curly-headed man who was wearing a weird looking t-shirt and he was quite good at yoga, too.  Another Japanese girl was amazing and she did a great bow pose.  I have to learn this, where you lie on your stomach and invert yourself as you reach for your feet with your arms and make a curve with your entire back, like you used to do when you were a child.

At break time after Mike's standard barre, I just walked around the studio to the music of Romeo and Juliet (the teacher always plays real classical music scores for our combinations), thinking of the young girl who was being taught how to "walk" in Sunday's class.  Kind of like little developpes, with the foot grazing the ankle and then stepping forward.  Imagine walking down the sidewalk this way...

Some center moves:
1. Tendus: tendu croise 2x, arms 1st to 5th, cou de pied, tendu elonge, efface, moving arms up, tendus seconde to other side; repeat croise derrierre; do facing away from mirror to "feel" it.
2. Run 4 counts to center, demi plie 5th, move working foot out and turned in with twisted and then move foot out with forced arch and elonge arm; soutenu to pirouette en dehors; pique arabesque, faille to pirouette en dedans, flick foot out turned in, rotation to efface, run off.
3. Step developpe ecarte, detourne, rotation waltz in line, chasse pas de bourre pirouettes to both sides.
4. Temps leve arabesque, glissade assemble, faille, faille, glissade pas de chat 2x, run off with step of choice.
5. Pique turns en diagonale with turning turns in center, continue en diagonale.  

I knew he would do this step today -- I commented to my teacher yesterday that he likes to do these turning turns and I asked her how they are executed.  She told me to look at the corners of the room and sure enough, the more schooled dance students did them exactly this way.  The teacher had said previously to look at the walls, which is about the same thing, but somehow looking at the corners was more logical.  Also in class today I found that really staying with the music made the steps so much easier to do.  I noticed this in Sunday class, too, that music and dance are so similar and, having studied music at a young age, I hope someday my dance movements will be more "musical" like the teacher in Sunday's class, who moves so musically.