Today’s post is hyper-brief (for me at least). Wanted to say, my dancing shoes aren’t collecting dust, but I am doing lots of Pilates to help build my core to make all the dancing easier. It is helping, and I lost another pound. No ballet teacher yet, so I’m still going solo (with my NY City Ballet dvds). It’ll all work out in the end. I’m sure. Thanks for checking in on me!

Today I started calling around for dance classes. One offers stretchersize on Saturday mornings, and if I ever feel frisky, pole and exotic dancing classes on weekday evenings. I left a message, something like this, “Um, I wanted to know what stretch-er-size is and uh, what your rates for private lessonsarebecauseIsawonyourcalendaryoucandothemonSaturdayafternoons…(gasp)” I hope the poor woman can understand what I said because I blurted it all before I could chicken out. I’ll let you know if she calls back, and what her rates are. Another school has a 1.5 hr class once a week…on a day I work late. I asked about private lessons, and the woman on the other end, who sounded like a granny said, “Private lessons? For what?” I said, “For ballet for adults. If we can’t make the one class you have per week are we out of luck?” She replied in a snarky tone, “Well, I guess you are.” No, granny, YOU are. I’ll never recommend her school not matter how fabulous their Nutcracker is touted to be.

So, for tonight I went online for my basic practice. Jodie Gates, formerly of the Joffrey Ballet, has several free videos online, even if they’re all about 5 minutes long. What did I learn today? The answer my friend is in the rotation of the hips, not the knee, lest one desires pain and injury. Rats. My hips don’t rotate much when I’m behind a desk all day. I think one of Ana Caban’s Pilates mat workouts will help here. Off I go!