After writing about my childhood and teenage years attending ballet classes, I had no idea what would unfold next. Over the years, much healing took place but I never thought I’d attend another ballet class in my life.
While visiting my hometown in Brazil, and since I was going to stay there awhile, I managed to sign up for the gym where I took dance classes as an adult, before moving to NY. They informed me that they had a dance class similar to the one I used to take, being offered twice a week in the evenings, and twice a week at 10:30am. I attended the Monday evening rhythms dance class and although it wasn’t great, it felt good to be dancing again.
The next day I showed up for the morning class as it was going to be with a different teacher. When I realized that the classroom was occupied with a different class passed the starting time, I went back to the front desk. I then learned that the morning dance class had been cancelled. Needless to say that I got disappointed, I had after all signed up the previous Friday to attend that specific class. The lady at the front desk said that the class had been replaced with an 11am class called Ballet Fit.
Last year I had the opportunity to teach one of my nephews how to tie his shoes. He understood the mechanics of it quickly, but got frustrated when he couldn't get it done right away. I told him there was no need to get frustrated, he needed to try it 100 times to become good at it, and if he still didn't get it, fine, he could feel the frustration then. He looked at me in disbelief and asked “one hundred times?”, and I said yes. When I saw him again the next day, he was already a pro. I don't know if he kept practicing it, 100 times could have been an exaggeration on my part.