Don't Judge Me By My Tights

I came across an article entitled "Don't Judge Me By My Tights" this evening. It's a commentary on the challenges a male dancer faces in current American society. I thought it well worth passing along.

Washing dancewear?

Ok, I'll admit ignorance of the finer details of washing dancewear. What's the best way to clean stuff like microfiber tights really well, but not damage them? At around $30 each I don't want to be tossing them in the laundry when they say "hand wash".

What's your technique?

Ow. Just effin ow.

A couple weeks ago I checked with dance studio regarding the resumption of classes after the holidays, and was told they started Jan 10th. With my new barre assembled I figured I'd spend a bit of the five days remaining doing gentle stretches in preparation.

This morning I got an email asking who was showing up for class tonight. Huh? Apparently our instructor decided not to take this week off after all. Dummy me, too stupid to stick to the original plan, grabbed my dance gear and went to class.

Ow. Effin' Ow.

My balance was definitely off, but got better as class progressed. I've lost some stretch in my calves, making plies uncomfortable. I've lost a lot of stretch in my hamstrings. Ow. And in my hip flexors. Ow ow.

I'm not looking forward to getting out of bed tomorrow morning. But I'm back in class!

Received the new barre today

My barre arrived from Vita Vibe. The name of the company makes me think of something that would be sold only late night on some obscure TV channel, but the product appears to be well engineered. It was well packed, with everything nicely padded without a lot of waste. Once I had it unpacked, setup took all of 5 minutes.