Dance! - The Road to Heavies: lesson 5. November 25, 2011
Class itself goes rather well but I need to refine a few moves. Especially the pointing proves to be a problem: I have to arch my toes way better while keeping a straight leg.
Even though I understand that the teacher wants me to see me arching my toes like mad and how much I'd love to do that, I just lack the power and partially, muscles lengthy enough to do so.
Different things also prove to be of concern when it comes to length and strength of muscles. Something I expected, but it does hit me harder than foreseen.
The teacher tells me to keep the stretching down: I over-stretch things, which is doing more harm than good.
More annoying is the pain, rising in my left foot. At first I think it's just a normal sore muscle, as it was bothering me with practice the day before as well.
I decide to take things a little slower for the last 20 minutes.
Is this to much?
In a sad mood, I travel back by bus and train. Maybe this wasn't for me? Was this a mistake? Maybe I should just quit?
In all honesty: tears were closer to me than laughing and more than once I thought about sending an e-mail when I got home, telling the teacher this had been my last lesson.
Ah well, first let's see what saturday brings: I'm now only remembering everything being said at class today and taking the load out on myself that my left foot was rather painful. Especially the pointing-issue hits me. I can stretch my leg and foot quite far without any trouble, but arching my toes requires such enormous strength...
I did get some homework for that, by simply sitting down, stretching my leg and foot and just try to arch as far as possible for a moment, and than relax again. In 3 series of 8 times, I have to repeat that with left (ofcourse).
The saturday...
'Oh shit...' is the first thing that springs to my mind when I wake up with huge pain in my left foot. When I get out of bed and take a look, I notice a nice swelling around my toes. Now, things start to take a turn for the worse. The monday after I immediately plan a visit to the fysiotherapist to make an appointment. Thankfully, I can already come by the day after.
Thursday, as well as the second appointment on friday, I get tape applied to my foot and leg, which makes the pain dissolve almost completely (to my surprise).
After the first taping, I do shave my leg completely, so the tape sticks better: the feeling of some parts of the tape constantly pulling some hairs was NOT nice.
Being fed up with it...
I take a rest from practice and stretching for a week. I just hate my left foot for causing so much trouble and the fact that stretching will take forever, though I really expected the last bit. The class from the 25th replays in my mind again and again and I just have to take some time off from it.
At the same time, I'm surprised that I'm so fed up with things. When I'd just started, I wasn't thinking about competitions and all other things associated with it. First, lets see where the road would end for me!
Now, I'm fed up with the fact I can't proceed. I want to move on! No matter what! I take a few sighs and than find myself in high spirits again: I wíll dance on hard-shoes some day, sometime, if I just keep up!