I woke up and my puppy's face was swollen. Oh, no, so I called the vet and managed to get him in the office for an checkup. The vet said it could have been a number of things, but he was gouged by something. I believe it was the cocker spaniel at the beach because I heard him shriek, although he often does this while playing. I remember my last dog's trainer said that you must always watch who your dog plays with. Some people think their dogs are angels when they're not, and they always blame you when your dog is rough, but they let their dogs run around and don't care about you. Lesson learned, I thought. Seems like all good lessons are learned the hard way, unfortunately. Still, I have to admit that Yasir's biting everything, including me, gets out of line and the other dog was probably trying to put Yasir in his place, but it is up to me as an owner not to get into this situation in the first place. Safety first...
I did manage to get to early Pilates with Pamela, a dancer I know, before getting Yasir ready for the vet. Might as well use the hour to profit, I thought, and the early Pilates prepared me for the rest of the day nicely. It was cold and rainy later in the day after I got puppy home but I went to ballet class anyway, not really having time for a swim, but there is always tomorrow. I finally got the pet stroller I purchased through the internet assembled and it was fun taking Yasir out in his "baby carriage." He really liked the ride, too, looking out at things and relaxing in his new resting place. This is a good way to keep him conained and away from other dogs until he heals, I thought. There is just so much to learn about working with animals. My dad lived in a farm and he knew all these things...
The class was taught by the same guest artist as in Friday's class and he will be teaching quite a bit, which is good, because he is a wonderful dancer who keeps telling us to extend our torso and head and curve the arms. It adds so much dimension to steps, to elongate the body this way. After class, we did the "superman" banana, lie on back, arch arms and legs like a swan, roll over on back and do Pilates teaser, roll over again and do the swim, roll over one last time and do pulses up with torso and legs; repeat other way. Fun and good for the core...
Class
Barre:
1. Demi plies with port de bras. Extend the arms, look at the fingers.
2. Tendus in 1st with plies and releve balances.
3. Degages front, back, 1st to side. Really extend legs out...
4. Ronde jambe 4x, fondu ronde jambe around 2x, 8 ronde jambes forward, 8 back, fondu developpe leg through passe to arabesque.
5. Fondu front, plie and extend to seconde, fondu side and extend to arabesque; reverse; ronde jambes en l'air, passe balances.
6. Battu with wrapped foot, frappes en croix and doubles to side.
7. Developpes front, side, extend to "wrap in attitude" and extend.
8. Grand battements front, side, back, balanacoire.
Center:
1. Tendus croise, en face, efface, swing leg through, passe and turn pirouettes.
2. Adagio: grand plie, developpe a la seconde and ronde jambe to arabesque, promenade in arabesque, move arms to second position and developpe leg through.
3. Pique arabesque balance en tournant, chasse pas de bourre pirouettes, pirouettes again, turn to back of room and pirouettes again, tendu croise, plie fondu, pique developpe efface with arm moving in circle toward body, ending in sou sou with arms elonge. (Pretty).
4. Jumps 1st, 2nd, 5th, 5th, 4th, 2nd, 5th, 2nd with beats.
5. Chasse in efface 2x, pique arabesque temps leve, pas de basque temps leve, chasse forward, chasse back, temps leve arabesque temps leve, chasse pas de bourre pas de chat. (Fun but I kept stumbling over the steps and the first time I forgot what came next -- shame, shame).
Paying attention is the key to retaining movements and being able to remember them and take notes like this, which reinforces the movements and adds to your memory bank...
