I Don’t Wanna, You Can’t Make Me — Third Thought Third Thought

I Don't Wanna, You Can't Make Me

18th of June ~

Dancing was an early love for me.  I studied ballet, then tap and jazz, even baton twirling.  For many years I made my living performing, teaching dance and choreographing.   Then I ‘went corporate’ and mostly stopped dancing.  Happily, in the last few years I have started moving again and especially love NIA classes.   The movement is so free and expansive.

Imagine my disappointment then when I arrived at class this morning and a tiny woman walked in and announced she was our sub and we would not be doing NIA.  Instead she would offer us a kind of ‘ballet barre’.  Yuck.  Ballet is tight, disciplined, serious.  I almost left immediately as did two  other women.  But, dag nabbitt, I needed to work out and I reeeeelly hate the elliptical machine.

Sure enough, we did plies, tendues and other tight, controlled things.  Every few minutes I thought about leaving.  I haven’t done ballet in 20 years and I haven’t missed it.  Hold yourself erect.  Extend your arms.  There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to do ballet.

Still, I stayed with it and my muscle memory responded.  I used to love ballet.  Performing those classic movements was nostalgic.  Persisting with the class reminded me of the value of pushing through to greater skill.  I was also reminded that sometimes we’re served exactly what is needed in the moment.  I’ve been feeling a little untethered and the structure of the ballet steps had a grounding effect.

The discipline and structure is exactly what I need right now.  To read more about the mind-body connection and how to use it for breakthrough performance, read this.

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