Cambré -- pop!

"Cambré" means "arched" in French. "Pop" is the sound my back makes when I arch too much.

Thursday evening our regular instructor was preparing her college students prepare for performances, so we had a substitute. The sub was a woman I've seen taking advanced classes elsewhere; apparently she's a professional dancer and yoga instructor, and she definitely knows ballet.

Since she was a bit of an unknown, we didn't interact with her the way we might with an instructor we knew well, which made for a very quiet class. I have to remember to tell her that I thought she did a good job next time I run into her, because the lack of interaction may have given her the impression that we were unhappy.

Of course every instructor has their own ideas of what we should do in class, and she was no different. I thought what we did was all good. But one particular action was a cambré derrière with the left foot tendu devant, the left arm low (first) and the right arm high (fifth). It made a rather nice line, at least until something in my upper back went "pop" and I felt a small stab of pain. Nothing horrible but unpleasant. Apparently I said "ow!" or some such as the instructor immediately asked if I was ok. Everything moved as usual without further pain so I said I was and we went on with class.

The next morning I felt a tightness running diagonally from below my left shoulder blade to the top of my right shoulder and up the right side of my neck. It slowly got stiffer until the afternoon when I visited my neighborhood chiropractor. They were backed up a bit, but warm, moist pad his staff put on my upper back helped it relax a bit. When he palpated the area he announced that I'd "popped a rib head". I asked if that was good with barbeque sauce. He made a series of "adjustments" to get things aligned and moving again, and I scheduled an appointment with his massage therapist for Tuesday morning.

Saturday morning I was still stiff and achy, so I decided to skip classes this weekend. Now, Sunday morning, I'm thinking that was the right decision; I think Tuesday evening will be soon enough. It's not like skipping a dance class is going to keep me from getting a job with a professional company!