These Moments ...

Yesterday was a frustrating day. Even dance was frustrating, which doesn't often happen. As I was driving back to Orem last night, though, I was thinking about how even on bad days at dance, it's still a good day at dance. Somehow.

Two weeks ago, I landed a jump wrong while practicing dance and twisted my toe pretty badly. It still hurts. From TWO WEEKS ago. The more I dance on it, the worse it gets, but I have a hard time not dancing on it, since I dance every day of my life. It's hard to dance, especially in hard shoe. I was particularly having a hard time with toe stands yesterday. Doing them HURT, but we do a whole lot of them and I really need to practice them. It's really frustrating me.

My hard shoe is broken. The heel is missing a nail and every time I click my heels, the entire bottom part of the heel comes off. It's annoying, because then while dancing certain steps, I have to be careful of not actually clicking. I'm worried that I'm going to get into this habit, so that once my shoe is actually fixed, I won't be able to click anymore. It's also harder to do the steps and it looks terrible. This, combined with my toe, makes me wonder if I shouldn't just dance without shoes for now.

It's also a little difficult sometimes being in a class without a teacher. I love my class and I'm really glad things are the way they are. We've learned a lot, grown so close as a class, and been able to come up with really cool dances. I love the way we work together and I love coming up with choreography as a class. Sometimes, though, it would be nice to have someone there to make executive decisions for us (especially as performances approach) and to have someone there to keep us focused. We work hard, but we're a group of teenage girls. I mean, really. There are a lot of times we spend goofing off or talking that I sometimes think really should be spent dancing. It's hard to remember to stay focused, though, and to stay motivated when we're tired. Our technique isn't as good as it could be, though, because of that and because we spend a lot of time choreographing and discussing dances, instead of actually dancing and practicing. It's an important thing to be doing, but it still takes time away.

I'm so glad to have dance in my life, though, even on frustrating days. Dance holds something special for me, something that I will never be able to let go of. Everything about it--my dance class, the steps, even the pain and frustration--adds to my life in a way nothing else could. I wouldn't trade certain moments at dance for anything in the world. These moments ...

Core.

Stalker stories.

Finally being able to do a dance step or trick.

The cheesy traditional music. I really do love it sometimes.

Our inside jokes. We have plenty.

The studio itself.

My friendship with every single girl in my class.

Teaching dance. Best thing that's ever happened to me.

Actually choreographing something cool as a class.

Laughing while trying to dance. It's quite the workout.

Slip Jig. I still laugh thinking of that one time ...

Hot tamales.

No-sugar November fails.

Pie.

Our funny videos and pictures that are so random.

White elephant parties.

Performances like Sugar Space.

Just laughing with my class. That's probably the best feeling in the world.