ouch, but good

I went to my first dance class in a year (excluding one class I attened in November when my foot was far from healed and that I mostly blundered about in). It was the first time I'd danced since October. It was a ballet class, the first ballet class proper I've been in since I was about 10 years old.

Ouch.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

My foot held up fine--I did tape it, but there was no pain. This is good. It was a good class. It was beginner/intermediate level and although my strength and flexibility are lacking (a year off will do that), I was a stronger dancer overall and more technically skilled than the other class participants, most noticable when it came to turn combinations. I also outweighed everyone in the class by a good one hundred pounds or so. I think this will be a good class for me to regain my strength and flexibility, and then I can move into more technically challenging classes (not to say this was not a challenge--I was sweating and breathing hard). I liked the instructor and he complimented me which made me feel better. It was scary going into a brand new class, at a new studio, with a new instuctor after a year of not dancing. Fortunately, the jazz and lyrical dance training I've had has had a lot of ballet incorporated into it so I did fine in terms of terminology and comfort with basic exercises.

I am, however, incredibly sore today. And the skin on my poor feet has softened over the past year and it hurt dragging my feet all over the floor. The tights and shoes only helped some.

I will probably go back to this class on Tuesday. I also need to find a jazz dance class to get myself into.

Today, however, is a day off.