Cyborg Dance Projekt: Whiskey Tango....

Because of a combination of the holidays plus my wedding, I haven't danced much in the past month.  Sure I've done some really low-key drilling (less than ten minutes at a shot), but nothing that really keeps my muscles where they need to be.

Snipped snapshot

This became really clear when I went to an ATS class at a new studio in a nearby town.  For some reason, I decided that I didn't want to use my crutch to walk from my car to the studio (I also didn't know that there was a flight of stairs).  That probably didn't help my spine at all in hindsight, but alas, hindsight is twenty-twenty.

Photo description: A snipped snapshot of the author with auburn hair pulled back, rimless glasses, red cheeks, black sleeved shrug, black tank top, and a burgundy skirt with hands on hips.

I didn't think I was doing too badly today (hence no crutch) until I started to do a taxim (the first move in this video).  Then a slow bodywave (about six minutes in on this video).  Stabbing pain with a stuck feeling on both of them.  I wouldn't say that my spine eased up at all during the class, but I pushed through by trying to keep the movement small and cheating where necessary.

After the class, a couple dancers I know from a workshop earlier this fall came up to me and assumed I was doing So Much Better because I wasn't using a crutch. Being honest to a fault, I told them that I'm not doing better than when they saw me last, but that I just choose to prioritize dancing above everything else and that I use the crutch the rest of the time.  I was trying to be nice about it because their comments were meant to be nice....but it hurts sometimes.  I'm not one of the lucky ones that Gets Better.  I admit that I am better than I was a year ago (surgery was 1/16/13), but I'm pretty much stuck at my 4-5 month post-op point.

I'm just doing the best I can with what I have....and that's all I can do.