We did Essentials this morning, which was enough for my recovering respiratory system.  Our friend Kelly came and was able to hang in throughout class.   Yay!

Barre was lovely.   A week off the bike means my hip flexors were nice and loose, so I had high extensions and an effortless full left split.   It was just like, “Oh, look, here I am on the ground!”   (The right was pretty close, but not all the way there).

Except for chaînés across the floor, we didn’t do turns today (not even at the barre).  Just little jumps followed by grand jetés.  The grand jetés were fun, as always, and I focused on keeping my upper body together and not going all squidly.

At one point one of the girls whose names I don’t know because I’m a  horrible person and I went together, perfectly synchronized but on opposite legs (this makes sense to you if you’re a horse person :D).  We looked really cool in the mirror, even if it wasn’t actually something we planned (I started on the wrong foot, somehow).

I was reminded of that cool synchronized dressage drill where you and a partner canter (with lots of collection, ideally) down the centerline on opposite leads and turn off in opposite directions at C (looks even cooler in counter-canter).  Ballet: it’s people-dressage!

Margie wanted us to focus on really traveling in our leaps.  I didn’t quite have the aerobic capacity today to manage to clear the studio in two jetés, but I got across in three every time.  A couple even looked pretty 😛

In other news, my chaînés are magically becoming solid.  This feels awesome, because chaînés are basically my nemesis, you guys, and also something I shouldn’t struggle with at this point.  I made the mistake of noticing this during my first pass and promptly ceasing to spot halfway across the floor. (You know how it is: “OMG I’M DOING IT AAAAAAAUGH!”)

Fortunately, because I have bizarre ear problems sometimes and thus have tons of practice moving while dizzy, I managed to finish my pass and not fall down at the end, even if I did wind up tracking a bit diagonally.  So that was cool, too. Thereafter, I paid attention to my spot.

For what it’s worth, while Kelly would disagree, I think she looked very good considering that this was her first class back after a significantly longer break from dancing than mine. 

She has beautiful feet, and her leaps may not yet have been super high, but she did them with straight knees and pointed toes.   She also has a very graceful way of carrying her upper body and arms.  Her musical theater (like, actually-performed-in-New York musical theater!) and modern dance backgrounds come through there.  She’s also not at all afraid to ask questions in class.

I am happy to have Kelly in class and very much looking forward to watching her re-emerge as a dancer.   Exciting stuff!