Dancing Longer Dancing Stronger by Andrea Watkins and Priscilla M. Clarkson

Title:  Dancing Longer Dancing Stronger:  A Dancer's Guide to Improving Technique and Preventing Injury
Author:  Andrea Watkins and Priscilla M. Clarkson
Genre: Non-Fiction
Length:  296 Pages
Weight:  1.0 lbs
Date of Completion:  May 28, 2013

Thoughts:

So...I'm not a ballet dancer.  I'm not any kind of dancer.  In all honesty, I can't actually dance.  For the health and safety of those around me, I usually refrain from anything that resembles dancing.  Why then did I, a bona fide non-dancer, purchase and read a self help book about improving ballet technique?  Impulse.  Curiosity.  Jealousy.  Take your pick; any of them work.  

When I was younger, I was involved in gymnastics, soccer, and other activities.  However, with four young and active children, my parents had neither the time nor the money to support us all in multiple pursuits.  We were each given a choice:  pick one.  Following, as I always do, in my older brother's footsteps, I chose soccer.  Thus, for the remainder of my youth and life as an teen, and now as an adult, there are moments when I question that decision.  

I never went to ballet classes and learned to be flexible and graceful.  I stuffed dirty shin guards and soccer cleats into a bag and played roughshod with the boys.  It has taken me years to shake off much of the tomboy shadow.  Don't get me wrong, it is who I am and I don't regret the time I spent in soccer.  I miss it a lot these days.  What I do regret was the complete lack of femininity and grace in my development.  I relate this to dance.  

More often than not, this nostalgia follows a performance (modern dance, ballet, etc.) that I have attended.  I always leave with this insane jealousy eating me up that I never got the chance to try that.  The twirling, the jumping, the beautiful, sweeping movement.  It is completely ridiculous of course, but I can't help but think how different my life would have been if I had chosen dance instead.  For a while, I nearly decided to take adult ballet classes.  Thankfully, common sense returned and reminded me that I have NO dance background at all and that attending something like that would simply be humiliating.  

I've accepted that I will never be a ballet dancer, but that doesn't mean that I can't be more flexible and graceful.  This book goes over basic muscular and bone anatomy, which means I read it with a highlighter and colored pencils.  Some habits never go away.  I also suffer from terrible IT band issues, and thought there might be information in the book about knee and hip alignment exercises.  Turns out, I was right.  Though not as detailed as anything in a class would be, the exercises are simple and are meant to be done at home in a private workout session.  This is ideal for my situation.  I've added it into my morning routine stuff, so I guess we will see what happens.