My damn tight knees plague me. I can only lift my leg so high in front of me, which means even though I have the strength to hold it up just so, the pain from the pulling in my tendons makes it so I sometimes can't quite do it anyway. Developpe devant, or when you lift your leg bent directly in front of you and then gradually fully extend it, is ridiculously difficult for me.
I am pretty strong. Fitter, I think, than most of the other students in my class. I think that helps some. But my flexibility everywhere except my hips is so poor that my progress is suffering for it.
My Achilles tendons aren't in pain anymore, but they seem different all the same. Maybe it's my imagination, but I feel like I'm not plieing as deeply lately. I make sure to stretch them very thoroughly before each time dancing but I think they're not as good as they were before I hurt them.
My turned ankle hasn't healed, at least not completely. It's still weak, and I can feel it uncomfortably every time I stand on just that leg. It's worse when I try to plie one-legged just that side. I'm afraid it's never going to be quite right, which bugs me.
I also get dizzy so easily. We were learning chene turns yesterday and I could not do more than two in a row without my head spinning. I know you're supposed to spot, but I suck at it, and end up staggering. I theoretically know how spotting works but I never seem to be able to do it right.
My arms are still ugly. I don't know why it's so damn hard for me to keep my shoulders relaxed and hold them bent in the proper way at the proper placement in relation to my body. But I am consistently criticized about how I do them wrong. It's not that complicated, but for some reason they always come out ugly.
I like both the Tuesday and Thursday night teachers. One is a middle-aged French woman thin as a whip, the other is a pretty young American with a soft figure and a face straight out of an Edwardian painting. She's nice-looking enough by today's standards, but I think if she'd lived a hundred or so years early she would have been considered a great beauty. They are both good teachers, though I think the French lady's instruction is a little more rigorous. Still, perhaps because I like that it feels a little easier, I prefer the younger woman even though I like both.
I have not made as much progress as I would have hoped to in twenty-one classes. I know this is something that's supposed to take years to get good at, but I feel like my body holds me back so much that lots of things don't improve no matter how hard I try. I don't mind it being hard, but I want the feeling of working toward a difficult goal that I can make progress with enough time and effort.
0 comments:
Post a Comment