everything hurts sometimes

At one point in my recent past, when Adage (pronounced "a-DAHZH", a dance term, for those of you who don't know) was open, I was taking about 6 dance classes a week - ballet, modern, jazz, and hip hop, with the occasional tap class thrown in, too. Since the dance studio closed in May of 2005, my opportunities for quality dance classes diminished drastically. Furthermore, when I became preggo and eventually gave birth, my ability to fit multiple dance classes into my weekly schedule also became a factor. We Adageans still have one regular modern class each week, and I look forward to shakin' it with all my dance friends every Tuesday night. However, anything beyond that is a bit difficult. So, it's been over a year since I've taken a ballet class. Well, this past Tuesday (3 days ago), I had the opportunity to take the advanced ballet class at Western Ballet in Mt. View, from 6:30 to 8pm, right before our regular Adage modern class. I was so excited to be able to take a ballet class again! After work, I raced over to the studio, changed into my ballet clothes, and took my place at the barre, ready for some balleting. By the end of the second exercise at the barre , my body was already screaming at me - "what the hell do you think you're doing? we haven't had to use these ballet muscles in over a year, and you expect them to still work? are you crazy?" I fudged my way through class, trying to reprogram my body and brain to move and think like the ballet dancer I once was. It was pretty sad, really. Let's just say that I was thankful for our Adage modern class right after, since it helped remind me that I'm still a dancer in some form...I just need to de-rustify my ballet dancer self.

So, three days later, every muscle in my body is still hurting from my three hour dancing stint on Tuesday night. My "turn-out" muscles (the ones in your butt) hurt, my quads hurt, my inner thighs hurt (you use those a lot in ballet), and my calves are the worst. They feel like they're going to snap with every step! Ouch! Hopefully, I'll have recovered by next week. The plan from here on out is to take ballet every other week, in the hope that my ballet dancing self will make a comeback!