I did another double class this week. First ballet and then jazz. When I arrived, there was a young woman in class who had the coolest leotard. It was black with white racer stripes and a zipper in the front. I wanted to compliment her on it and ask where she got it, but chose to hold my tongue. Maybe if she was a regular I would have felt more comfortable talking to her. After a few minutes, we got started. I had missed the last few weeks, so I was a bit rusty. The teacher used me to point out some problems with my arabesque (a classic ballet position where you stand on one leg, with the other extended behind you). After she made the adjustments, she said that it looked lovely. However, when we started dancing, she chastised me for not being able to do it as well as I did at the barre. Otherwise, I did pretty well with the combinations, and felt that my pirouettes are really coming along. We had do a sequence of them across the floor, and apart from a little dizziness near the end, I felt like I was doing okay. I even felt good enough to try the slightly more challenging version of them.
Jazz class did not go as well as last time, but it was still fun. The combination started off with a jazz pullback and kick that I just can't seem to do at speed. I muddled through, but I was mostly following other people in the class and would often do the wrong step or be just a beat behind. At least I didn't give up. Further insult to injury is that two weeks off was enough to lose some of my flexibility. When doing the side splits, I couldn't get my chest to the floor, only to about three inches above. Alas, it takes so long to gain flexibility, but it can be lost so fast!
