For those of you who didn’t know, Meghan was a dancer for
about seventeen years. (Notable
performances include Alice in her dance company’s rendition of Alice in Wonderland and Velma Kelly in
her town’s production of Chicago…I
like to brag about her.) Anyways, this
training has left Meghan with a sense of poise and grace that dancers tend to acquire.
I, on the other hand, have a motto: Kara Doesn’t Dance.
I am the opposite of poised. My mother used to very sarcastically call me her “little
gazelle” as I tripped and stumbled through life, banging elbows on doorways
that had been there my entire life, and falling up the (thankfully carpeted)
staircase. I have permanent bruises on
my knees from falling down so often. My posture is shit, and I know it – I try
to blame it on the fact that I was a swimmer for so long and “swimmers just
have bad posture!” – but really I’m just lazy and don’t feel like changing my
ways.
I was perfectly content stumbling through life in this
manner, but the trouble is that I’m also starting to get into yoga and
meditation. These things require stillness
and control that I have never
even attempted to learn. (They also require a flexibility that is far beyond my
nature.) In order to aid me in the process
towards reaching my gazelle-like potential that my mother always knew I had in
me…………..Meghan is giving me dance lessons.
We’re starting off with the basics and just doing bar
routines – pliés and such. And, dear lord, I have never been in so much pain.
Remember, this is coming from someone who was a competitive long-distance
swimmer since age six. Doing basic dance movements that six-year-old ballerinas
can do reduces me to a shaking, sweating mess within minutes. I am learning how to control muscles that I
never knew I had.
The benefits have not yet become automatic, but I have
already noticed an improved awareness in what my body is doing when it is doing
it, which is good, right?
Here’s hoping it pays off in the end!
-K
