The ankle that I injured so badly at Nationals is finally healed. Had I believed the doctor when he said "The only thing that will fix this is surgery" I would just be able to start walking now, as opposed to the painfree existence that I’ve been leading and the full-time dancing I’ve been doing now since April. Yay "alternative" healing arts. Now that the crisis is averted I am working on fixing all of the imbalances I created from favoring the right ankle. According to the chiro. my shoulders twist two inches to the left and my hips twist two inches to the right. It would seem that the pesky back pain that I’ve been feeling is the direct result of my back serving as if it is the middle of a washcloth that is being wrung out. Lovely. The fixing began today and already I have more freedom of movement.

Now begins the road back to dancing form. Part of my rehab was staying off the ankle as much as possible – that meant no weight bearing cardio. I tried swimming but the flexion required of the ankles caused me to be in pain so that was out as well. I find myself woefully out of shape and a bit desperate to get back into dancing shape. My coach is frustrated with my level of conditioning and I can’t blame him but unfortunately disappointment does not capillaries build. I keep hearing the old adage "We may not be the best [insert sport} team, but we will be the best conditioned".

I’ve started doing HIIT at the gym which I’ve found to be the fastest way to build cardio but it is difficult.

Cast me gently
into morning.
For the night has been
unkind.

Tonight was my studio’s summer showcase. I danced a medley with my dance coach. The medley itself was really cute:

Stage 1: He realizes he wants to break up
Stage 2: The Pain of the Break-up
Stage 3: The calm, happy realization that it is better to have loved and lost, then to live the rest of your life with a psycho.

We did not have a good lesson yesterday and we did not have a good rehearsal this evening but the performance went very well. The crowd thought it was really funny and entertaining and I got some nice compliments which is cool. I had several friends there – my qGirlfriend of course with ButchLawyer, a really amazing couple who I know from networking and a former client of mine who I never expected to be there.

My stamina is stil not there but as I’m cleared for more activity I’m about to start really working on getting back in shape.

I got some great compliments tonight. Several people said that they saw my swing routine at the holiday showcase and that they were really impressed with both performances. One said "I didn’t think that you could improve on that but you did. There was such mastery in your dancing". I’m not sure if I’m to mastery yet but she is the mother of a professional dancer so I’ll take her word for it.

Lots of people told me that I was better than most of the pros and that they were surprised that I danced in the first act.

One of the hotel’s waitstaff grabbed me in a bear hug and told me that I was "absolutely fantastic".

My favorite compliment though, was from a woman who said that she had seen me in the winter showcase and that I was her inspiration to take up dancing. She told me that she’s been having a hard time and that she was thinking of quitting but that watching me tonight inspired her to keep going and maybe even compete. Being someone’s inspiration is cool!

I’ll be interested to watch the video. I had a serious footwork problem at the beginning of the cha cha but I’m not sure how the rest of it looked. Often when I think that something went well it is actually an unmitigated disaster. Basically I put two brand-new routines on the floor (both professional-level routines) and I put the old cha cha on the floor with the very new technique. All in all, I’m happy with how it went and that we pulled it off. I’m ready to go back to work to kick some ass in the Austin comp.