Scratch Monday. Let's do Tuesday and Thursday

Monday I didn't feel like getting out of bed. I logged in to register anyway, only to discover that Floor Barre had been canceled. I took that as a sign that I should stay home. And it was: some idiots decided to hold a protest blocking a major highway causing major traffic snarls.

One of the problems -- or benefits -- of buying the monthly class pass is that it only makes economic sense if I actually go to about three classes or more a week. Having blown off two classes Monday, I resolved to go Tuesday and Thursday evening.

Why is my easiest class the hardest?

I arrived for my Beginner II class early Sunday morning. I did some warm-up, then practiced a few pirouettes: left and right, en dedans and en dehor, from fouth. All working fairly well. I was feeling pretty good.

Class started with barre, of course. There were hints that we'd be working on pirouettes in centre, giving me that spooky feeling again. Barre went on and on, with lots of time spent rising to passé relevé and balancing. I told myself to conserve energy by doing some of the exercises flat-footed instead of demi-pointe, but I didn't. Finally, after 50 minutes, barre was done. I was feeling tired and a bit sore already.

We got to the pirouettes section of centre. Starting in fifth we rose to passé relevé and returned to the same fifth. Then an en dehor turn closing in the opposite fifth. Tendu to fourth and a pirouette en dehor landing in the same fourth. Stepped to the opposite fourth and a pirouette en dedans landing in fifth. Repeat in the other direction.

I told myself, go slowly; don't over-do the turn. But I was already tired and wobbly. We did it again, with some general corrections. I didn't fall over, but I wasn't happy: an hour before I was doing pretty decent turns.

This class is the slowest class I take, aside from Floor Barre, yet it's exhausting. It's because it's slow that it's hard.

Righty Loosey

The old saying about screws is "Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey". This does not apply when it comes to my legs, though.

Sunday, I was thinking I should thank the instructor for giving me a key correction for fixing my turns, but I decided to wait until after class to see how well I did. This is the slowest class I take, and I have time during barre to really focus on getting all the details right (or as right as I can manage). The problem is that this sometimes leaves me rather tired, and this affects me in centre. Compounding this, I ate leftovers from dinner as breakfast, rather than something that has simple carbohydrates. The turns segment in centre was a mix of passé relevés and pirouettes, and I didn't do all that well. I was just too tired by that point. Oh well, there's always next week.

I'm trying to get to class more often, so I bought the 1-month pass rather than my usual 10-class card. This is fractionally cheaper if I take 12 classes a month — roughly three classes a week — and gets better if I take more. Now that my schedule allows me to take daytime classes too, I've been taking Floor Barre® class Monday mornings, followed by the Advanced Beginner class that used to be mid-day Wednesday. Adding in a weekend (Sunday) class brings me to three a week, plus I've been dropping into the occasional Thursday night Beginner 2.75 class.

Taking Floor Barre not only helps practice proper positions without fighting gravity and balance, it gives me a chance to warm up slowly before the Advanced Beginner class. However, I still need to conserve energy during the AB barre. Today we had an interesting centre exercise that included several pirouette turns. I found that those standing on my left leg were pretty good, but turning on my right leg was wobbly. Toward the end of the exercise I made specific effort to get that leg fully straight and that did a lot toward making them more stable.

We also did a piqué turn exercise. Again, one side is better than the other. But I can work on that.

Little, incremental changes.

Feeling like a pincushion

I'd only been able to get to a couple classes this month, and hadn't been to one in over two weeks. A few hours ago I looked up at the clock and realized that if I rushed I could make it to this evening's class.

By the end of barre I was feeling really tired. We get a short break between barre and centre, which helped some, but by the second centre exercise I felt exhausted. I sat on the side until I felt better, then packed up and excused myself.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to go to class two days after receiving flu and pneumonia vaccinations? And barely 10 days after receiving a bivalent booster against the current plague? Yeah, that might not have been the smartest idea.

An unexpected surprise

I was fully prepared to wake up this morning and find a repeat of last week's stiffness and muscle spasms, especially since I don't seem to be able to take the easy path (staying on flat instead of demi-pointe) even when offered.

I can walk again!

The week in bullets, with no exaggerations:

• Tuesday, finally going back to class was thrilling!
  
• Tuesday night I slept only fitfully because of muscle spasms in my legs.
• Wednesday morning I could barely walk from my bedroom to my home office. Stairs worked only if I stepped up with my left leg. 
• Thursday I couldn't raise my right leg high enough to get into the car, and had to use my hands to lift it in.
• Friday I could sort-of waddle up the stairs using both legs, but had to hike my right hip to do it 
• Saturday (today) I could finally walk without pain.

Anyone taking bets on my post-class condition next week?

 

Back in class!

 It took a bit longer than I expected, but tonight I attended my first in-person ballet class in 16 months. That's the longest I've been out of class since I started taking classes again ten years ago. Even heart surgery only kept me out of class for 10 weeks.