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It's official
May. 14th, 2003 09:10 amI am an old old lady. Sitting hurts, getting up requires leverage on both sides, I can't walk properly, and just standing around brings tears to my eyes. Why, you ask? Because I am an idiot, of course.
What, that's not a good enough reason? Well, you see, last night I decided to try a new bellydance class at one of the studios where I study. The winter session ended with the Spring Gala (sidebar: I bought the video of the Gala last night but I'm a little scared to watch. What if I look like a spaz? I may never dance again.) and there's no summer show, so it's a good time to change levels, try new teachers, experiment. This class was with the head of the studio, and I had heard that her classes were pretty intensive*, but I thought I was ready.
Except that what I hadn't heard was a)how much she likes floor work, and b)that she is eeeevil! Yikes. At the end of the class, after we'd just spent at least 15 minutes doing body waves while crouching down and standing up (it sounds ugly, but I can't think of the right wording -- you know how they always say "use your knees" when you have to pick stuff up? Do that for 15 minutes while trying to dance on top of it) the teacher decides to do some zar. Zar is a state of trance that women in (mostly) rural Arabic communities go into in order to drive out the demons. As a dance it consists mostly of variations on dropping from the waist and coming back upright, to a very hypnotic beat. It's excellent for releasing tension, and I can see how it could easily put you into a trance if you blocked out everything except the beat. Sadly, it's also murder on the back.
Hence, my inability to move. Last night, I was so wobbly that I barely made it up the stairs to my apartment. Then I draped myself over the back of a chair (much to Vestra's amusement) in order to stretch out my back. Naively, I thought that after doing extensive stretching last night, I'd be fine today. I was so mistaken. Not only does my back feel like it's pushing for a return to fetal position, my thighs are violently protesting the concept of keeping me upright. Sigh.
Still, I'm going back to that class, because (say it with me now) I am an idiot.
*by which I mean I had heard that she took a sadistic joy in making her classes admit defeat -- "okay, you all got that? So let's add a shimmy! Still with me? Throw an undulation on top of that! What, some of you are still standing? Walk with it! New arms! Double-speed!"
What, that's not a good enough reason? Well, you see, last night I decided to try a new bellydance class at one of the studios where I study. The winter session ended with the Spring Gala (sidebar: I bought the video of the Gala last night but I'm a little scared to watch. What if I look like a spaz? I may never dance again.) and there's no summer show, so it's a good time to change levels, try new teachers, experiment. This class was with the head of the studio, and I had heard that her classes were pretty intensive*, but I thought I was ready.
Except that what I hadn't heard was a)how much she likes floor work, and b)that she is eeeevil! Yikes. At the end of the class, after we'd just spent at least 15 minutes doing body waves while crouching down and standing up (it sounds ugly, but I can't think of the right wording -- you know how they always say "use your knees" when you have to pick stuff up? Do that for 15 minutes while trying to dance on top of it) the teacher decides to do some zar. Zar is a state of trance that women in (mostly) rural Arabic communities go into in order to drive out the demons. As a dance it consists mostly of variations on dropping from the waist and coming back upright, to a very hypnotic beat. It's excellent for releasing tension, and I can see how it could easily put you into a trance if you blocked out everything except the beat. Sadly, it's also murder on the back.
Hence, my inability to move. Last night, I was so wobbly that I barely made it up the stairs to my apartment. Then I draped myself over the back of a chair (much to Vestra's amusement) in order to stretch out my back. Naively, I thought that after doing extensive stretching last night, I'd be fine today. I was so mistaken. Not only does my back feel like it's pushing for a return to fetal position, my thighs are violently protesting the concept of keeping me upright. Sigh.
Still, I'm going back to that class, because (say it with me now) I am an idiot.
*by which I mean I had heard that she took a sadistic joy in making her classes admit defeat -- "okay, you all got that? So let's add a shimmy! Still with me? Throw an undulation on top of that! What, some of you are still standing? Walk with it! New arms! Double-speed!"