Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

I haven't been experimenting with food lately, but I have picked up a new fitness hobby. DANCE! I took a lot of dance classes as a kid and I never knew just how much I missed it until wonderful husband got me a gift card to the Civic Ballet.

Over the past year or two, I've been collecting different dance shoes and randomly surprising my husband with impromptu dance workouts. For example...

• Kevin was working on the computer one evening after work, when I decided to break out the ballet shoes and some 90s music. The scene reminded me a lot of that Garrison family video of the Christmas Carol, where the Garrison trio were eloquently playing their roles a la the Mickey Mouse version. There's a couple of shots of Glenn reading the news paper totally ignoring the spectacle. Well, Kevin was Glenn and I was the trio. We're goofballs!

Anyway, I guess I finally drove him crazy enough that he wants me out of the house when I'm dancing. Ha! Not really, but it makes for a good story.

Speaking of story, let me get back to it. Locally they offer hour-long "community classes" for people who are not in training and just want to have a good workout. So far I've taken a Broadway dance class where we learn the dance steps to a Broadway musical each week. Lots of spirit fingers! Several of the people in that class were in their 30-40. I even went out to eat with several of the ladies after class. They were all, "what are you 20," and I'm like "no, closer to 30."  That made me feel good. They talked a lot about their kids, but it was fun! I did borrow my knowledge from my visits with my new nephew. Came in handy, Kayla and Terrell! Sorry for using your son!

Two nights ago I took their modern dance class, which is a mixture of Jazz and Ballet. I liked it even more than the Broadway dance class because the dance moves weren't as corny, but more fluid, and the other students were more my age with similar backgrounds. One of the girls graduated with a minor in dance while in college. I was in really good company! And the language of dance is coming back too (slowly, very slowly).

In terms of a workout, it's pretty good. Nothing can come close to running as a high impact sport, but dance can be pretty intense. Mainly a lot of controlled, anaerobic muscle movements coupled with periods of aerobics. I actually feel more fit now in these classes than I did when I was a kid because I've got more power. When we were doing several jumps the instructor commented on my "air time." So cool! Then in the same sentence she reminded me to point my toes while jazz walking. Darn!

I think there's no doubt the strength I'm feeling is from the running. I wish I had developed a love for the run at a lot earlier age. But that's okay! There's no pressure now to memorize, practice, practice, improve, and move to the next level. Now it's just DANCE! Fun dance. Plus it's really motivating me to stay fit now that we've regained our sanity and are not training for a marathon.

After the dance workouts I'm so pumped that I get home and have to show off the routine to my husband and sometimes I have to ride the bike so that I can get out all that excitement and energy. So I think I'm still driving Kevin crazy, but now I can say that I'm not nuts and that "other people are doing it tooooo!!!"

Thanks Mom and Dad for encouraging me to dance!