I walked into Joel Hall Dance Studio yesterday and smiled.
The fishbowl was full of dancers. There are new dressing rooms in the front, benches are in new locations, fresh paint on the walls and dancers are stretching on the floors and in the hallways.
I sign in with Not David 2.0 and swap out my shoes. I walk into the usual studio and drop my things on the piano bench. MDB and the Swan are there. There are 9 women in total, 10 with MDB. I made it in a little late and I go to the center floor barre instead of squeezing in on the wall.
I notice my mistake right away when the thinnest woman in the room stands in front of me. After MDB, she's the closest thing to a ballerina in class. She's tall as me, but weighs half my body weight.
As we roll through our plies, tendus, degages, and rond de jambes, MDB walks around poking, prodding, pushing and pulling on different dancer body parts. We ouch, squeeze, suck in, let out, release, tuck in, up or under whatever she's touching. It wouldn't be MDB if she wasn't asking for the world and then for the hell of it - saying she wants the moon and stars too!
We move into our frappes, barre stretches and grand battements and I find myself watching the blonde ballerina in front of me. I am not envious of her size, just her grace. All of her movements look easy, fluid, and smooth. I was attempting to be graceful when MDB pushes my hip down, ruins my concentration, and practically tethers me to the floor. So much for grace.....aiming for balance is good.
When we moved to traveling floor combinations, she looked most like MDB. And I felt more like an elephant in a china shop - not my size - my lack of grace. And even though I knew I wasn't the only person in the room struggling with the combinations, like most people you don't compare yourself to the worse - only the best - but never to the teacher!
If Mary can be full of grace - watch out Mary ;)
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