Here's my latest update. Once again, we've started a new session of classes. There were quite a few people there, include one "other" male in tights. Since there were a lot of new students, the class was a back-to-basics class, but that is all good, because I can still use some brushing up on my technique. We got a great workout.

I also stayed for the Jazz class immediately afterwards. In anticipation I finally bought a pair of Jazz shoes so I can just slip them on over my tights after ballet (I also put a pair of shorts over my tights). In the past, I've dropped in on Jazz classes in the middle of a session, and have had trouble keeping up. This was easier for me, but I'm still at a level well below the rest of the class. Nevertheless, I hung in there. We learned a combo to about 8 bars of music, with different steps for each bar. This is really challenging, especially since I wasn't able to get some of the steps when we practiced them individually. We then repeated it for an entire song, then changed lines (front people moved to back and vice versa) and did it again. I was frequently off but able to quickly recover, and some steps were clearly wrong but I did a vague enough approximation to get through. I improved with repetition, and when I was on time with the rest of the class, it felt so great to be just one of the girls moving in unison. Jazz dance is so much fun! At the end of nearly 2.5 hours of straight dancing, I was sweating buckets, but I've never felt so energized.

When I got home, I attempted my front left splits (left leg straight forward, back leg straight behind) and was finally able to get my thighs flat on the floor. I could only hold it for a few seconds, but now I know I can do it and just need to keep stretching. Additionally, my front right splits aren't far behind; a little more work and I think I can get them to the same place. I can already do pretty good slide splits, as long as I have time to work into them (I can't go straight to a side split from a standing position). I believe I've mentioned this before, but it seems that ballet and splits have apparently improved my feminine gait, as I walked to work there was a certain bounce and sway that made me feel very girly.

That's all for now. To my fellow dancers, "Keep dancin'!"