Ballet

 

My Neurosurgeon told me to keep doing the things I normally do before surgery, so I complied. This summer I was thinking about how excited I am for Franny to start Ballet when she is 3. I felt that by her starting it, it would make me understand and appreciate it. Then I got to thinking more, and I thought, why do I have to wait for Franny? Maybe I could just do it myself.

To be honest, that was a thrilling thought for me. I know ballet is intense and demanding, but it is also graceful and beautiful.  I have never done any dance as a child except one ballet class as a 3 or 4 year old. When I had to dance for musicals for school, I would always just do the basic movements as perfectly as I could, but that wasn’t all people wanted. You needed attitude or style or something that I was clearly missing.  Still, this seemed like a good adventure for me. Something to try and learn and improve at.

I scoured all of the local dance studios and there were quite a lot of options, but most were not feasible because of my job. The one I settled on was one downtown that had lost of beginning adult ballet sessions including a fundamental class. This is the one I signed up for weeks ago.

I didn’t know about my acoustic neuroma at that point. I tried to cancel but couldn’t find an easy way to do it online, so I just decided to go for it. If anything it would be a good distraction.

So I went, and it was wonderful.

It was a very full class of beginners like me. There were quite a few guys there. Most were younger than me, but a couple were older. I didn’t feel out of place at all. I didn’t really have a ballet outfit, so I wore leggings and a t-shirt with my newly purchased ballet shoes. I looked like everyone else.

The teacher of the course was a professional dancer for 20 some odd years and seemed to be a great guy. He was interesting, funny and gave us the basics in both English and their official name.  We did lots of things; learned foot and arm position, did barre work as well as learned how to walk ballet style.  None of it was especially hard work for the body, but it took concentration to get thing right.  The hour and a half session was over in a heartbeat. I felt great.  It was fun, and I felt normal again, if just for a little while.

I can’t wait to go again