Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
—Albert Schweitzer, French philosopher, physician, and musician (Nobel 1952)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Plie, Pas de bourree, Rond de jambe

A while back, I wrote about stepping outside your comfort zone. My whole life, I have been a rough and tumble girl who loves her hip checks and slap shots. Sports have been a huge part of my life and have helped shape the direction my life has taken (would my husband have asked me to marry him if I didn't like the Yankees???). I still do, and will always, love the world of sports and pushing myself to the limit. But this year, I have found a new way to do that and it doesn't involve skates, zoomers, or Garmins.

Ballet.

That's right, ballet. Some of my readers may be familiar with the terms in the title of this blog. For me, the only knowledge I had of them was from my years of studying French in school (sorry for the lack of accent aigu--Madame Kaufman would not be happy!). But I have, since high school, loved to watch ballet. I think it is an absolutely beautiful form of art. And yes, I'll admit it, I have twirled around my kitchen when no one was looking! Now I am in a time of my life when I wanted to give it a try for real. So I found a school, bought some pink tights and shoes and signed up for my first class. I usually feel pretty comfortable walking into any athletic situation. But I have to admit that I was slightly intimidated walking into that class and telling the teacher this was my first ballet class... dance class... ever. The good thing is, I was not alone.

Let me tell you, ballet is hard. It is hard physically and mentally. My legs were sore the next day. But it was so much fun and continues to be each class. This past Thursday I remember thinking in the middle of a challenging sequence of steps, "I am loving this! Ballet, where have you been all my life?" It is humbling to try something new that I know nothing about. But each night I come home from class and talk to Brian about what we did like an excited teenager. I am so happy to have found something that is enjoyable, physically demanding, and able to push me beyond what I am used to.

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