December 2010

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2010-12-07 09:20:00
A week of dancing
After a month off, I returned to dance class. My knee is not better, but I can walk now - so that's a plus. Actually as long as I am doing nothing, my knee is doing pretty well. The problem is when I want to do something... I have a plethora of PT goodies in my house now- leukotape, a resistance band/tube, a foam roller (love), and a mini plunger. I have been doing 2 appts a week since the 1st week of November,and will continue this month except when the holidays get in the way. My knee cap is very tilted and tracks poorly. My hip is just insane, and we haven't quite figure out why. My IT band is super tight and hard as a rock. Something is going on with my fibula (we just found that out last week- holy painful manipulation batman, though not as bad as the hip can be). The work on my hip often puts me at a solid 9 on the hyperbole and a half pain scale ( http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/02/boyfriend-doesnt-have-ebola-probably.html) I often said that I couldn't imagine a worse pain than the nerve conduction test I had done (which felt like being thrown into an electric fence, and hanging out there for an hour), but I'm pretty sure this one might be. But now I can walk on stairs again, so maybe it's worth it? Anyway, I had permission to go back to dance, but "take it easy". I did okay in ballet, better on Saturday than Wednesday. Grande plie is out of the question. Left Passe sometimes hurts, and sometimes doesn't. Left petite battement cannot happen, and my hip really kicks in holding developpe (which is only like 3 inches above the ground) on my left side. I am weak, and I am inflexible. It makes me sad. I did tap class last night. I was really worried, due to needing quick twitch muscles at my knee. It actually wasn't too bad. I have trouble bending at about 70 degrees, and apprently tap never needs the bend to that extent. Only when we repeatedly did very very quick shuffles did the knee pain kick in, otherwise, it almost felt like it helped loosen it up. That made me happy :)
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2010-12-12 13:28:00
:(
I just cleaned out my skating bag and put my skates into our storage closet. And now I'm crying. I want to be an ice skater again. I like ballet, but I love skating. I hate my stupid hip.
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2010-12-14 14:33:00
What would you do?
My current studio just sent out an email that the saturday ballet class is being switched to concert ballet (meaning instead of a technique class, it is a short barre plus recital preperation). I don't want concert ballet- I want a technique class. I would just switch to another Ballet 4 class, but the only other non-concert ballet 4 class is thursday at 4:00. I can't time warp from work. I've figured out a few options- can you help me decide? 1)Just stay in Saturday. I can learn the recital dance, and not perform, or pay the ridiculous fee and perform. I don't really want to do either of these things, because I don't feel like I have enough technique classes to just drop one. Already I'm only taking 2 classes. 2) Drop the ballet class, keep my other one and tap. I don't like this option because I don't think I can progress on one class a week. 3) Beg to be put into Monday ballet 5 class, drop the Saturday class, keep the Wednesday class. The monday class conflicts with tap, so I'd have to drop that. I don't think ballet 5 would be TOO hard for me, but it would definetly be tough. And then, it's only 2 classes a week, not 3, since I wouldn't be tapping. 4) Keep tap and wednesday ballet and take a class at studio across town to supplement. (Okay option, but multiple studios isn't really recommended due to style differences) 5) Drop ballet at current studio and take all my classes at studio across town Seems to be the best option but it's a drive away, and current studio is less than a mile. Then, because it's not discounted, I'd probably drop tap at the current studio and do either 2 or 3 ballet classes at cross town studio. Only problem here other than the drive is if I'm in the kids class I have to buy a uniform, which means all my dancewear is trash (lots of money). Of course, if I took adult classes, it's not issue at all. So what do you think? I feel bad dropping current studio, but except maybe the Ballet 5 class(which I think will be too hard) I don't really think I have any good options there... I'm not sure if cross town studio will let me take kids classes, and if their adult classes areny good. I liked the 2 classes I took there in the summer, but I don't know if they have "regulars" or progress in any manner. Sometimes open classes reinvent the wheel each week.
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2010-12-14 15:43:00
okay, decision made...
I think I'm switching studios. And they are cool with me taking kids classes. And I don't have to wear a pastel blue or pink leotard. Thank god. Now I just have to figure out what level they put me in, so I can determine when my classes are. Only bummer is it looks like regardless of level I'll be dancing Friday nights, that kind of sucks for Kevin, but if I'm lower level then no Saturday class
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2010-12-15 11:11:00
I got into grad school :)
I'm going to start an online M.Ed. in Mathematics Education in February. I don't think the program is selective past minimum qualifications, so it's not a huge deal that I got in, but I'm pretty excited about the it. The curriculum sequence looks really neat, and as long as there isn't too much hidden pedagogy (I'm not a teacher), it should fit really well with my current work.
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2010-12-21 09:31:00
Last tap class...
My last tap class was last night (since I'm switching studios)- I was the only one to show up! Guess December is just busy for most people. Tap is not a good class for a private lesson - now the instructor can hear all the steps I routinely skip so that I get caught up for the bigger movements! I was having a hell of a time with dig-brush-heel-shuffle-heel (repeat other side) and finally realized it's because i'm a counter. As soon as we did 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5-6 I got it right every time! Yay me. Also, I really hate going backwards. Backwards is confusing. And tap has showed me that my balance on my left side is atrocious. My right side shuffles when doing quick drawbacks like this often only have one sound to them because I'm wobbling on my left leg. I took the placement class last Friday at the new studio (a level 3-4-5 combined, but only one level 3 and four level 5s, so mostly a hard class) and it went well. I got corrections from the instructor (still haven't gotten one from the ballet director at "current" studio), and she made me feel welcomed in the class. The class was very hard for me (instead of going en croix front-side-back-side for all the barre combinations we did a more advanced front, inside back, side method. I had done that in Dayton as I moved up the levels, but it had been a long time and it took me awhile to wrap my brain around it.) Afterward I talked with the instructor and she said I'd be fine in that class, or any level 3 class, which is where I expected to be placed. Now I just need to figure out how to register. The walk in rate is $15, and I cannot afford that on 3 classes a week. They offer a class card, but apparently it's for 1 hour classes, and most are 90 minutes. I'm really confused how it works for the 90 minute classes because the class card works out to $13.50 a class, so it can't be a punch and a half, because that would be the walk-in rate. If it's much more than $13.50 what's the point- because well, isn't the reason you pay ahead for a class card to get some savings? There are also non-refundable pay ahead for the semester sort of rates, but they encourage paying for the whole year. If you pay twice a year there is a $5 administrative fee, plus a $5 check fee if you don't get automatic withdrawl. But then, if you pay monthly, there is a $5 administrative fee, plus a $5 check/or automatic withdrawl fee- so $10 a month in fees!!!! That's insane. I asked if it was okay to pay monthly in cash- if it was just the $5 administrative fee then, but I haven't got an answer. I can't prepay more than a month- the second I do my hip will break and my knee will fall off. I know skating is expensive, but ballet is ridiculous. Granted, I got free ice and a free group lesson, so I was getting an awesome deal, and part of why ballet is so expensive is it's all class time, so in that regard ice skating is more ridiculous (imagine 3 90-minute lessons a week! I did 1 30 minute!) so I'm not really comparing apples to apples, but I don't want to go higher than $150 a month. So now I'm really stressed about this class situation, and which classes to take and such.
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