I taught ballet tonight!

I felt so good today that I was able to teach ballet!!!  Oh mama, did it ever feel awesome.  I feel euphoric.  The right kind of euphoric.  Not the I-accidentally-took-my-son's-ADHD-pills euphoric. That biz was ridonk.

We only have an hour in which to work, and the majority of the girls were late showing up, so we could only do a few exercises at the barre, but we did what was most important - plies and tendus to warm up and a good stretch before heading to center.

Just like my little 7-9-year-olds, my older girls are jazz girls at heart and wanted jazzy music to dance to.  I'm not talking Miles Davis.  I'm talking "Gold Digger" by Kanye (ahem, the edited version.  I am a mommy, after all) for plie, "Classic" by MKTO for tendu, and "Stay with Me" by Sam Smith for the stretch.

Megs wanted to watch again, so she came and took some pics on her iphone.  Thanks, Megsie:

I've been just itching to do petite allegro, so we worked on a difficult petite allegro combination in the center.  There is nothing in the world like totally nailing a challenging petite allegro.  When you get it right, you want to do a Toyota Jump.  The only feeling comparable is slolleming on a waterski, cutting across absolutely glassy water.  You boaters know what I'm talking about.  (And no, I don't own a boat.  My dad used to.  Ben and I are wayyy too poor to own a boat.  Someday we'll get one.  A girl can dream.  I also dream of being able to teach my kids to snowski.  So far, that dream hasn't come true... Have you seen the cost of lift tickets?  That biz is also ridonk.)

I was getting so freakin' hot in my scarf.  I sheepishly and carefully asked my girls if I could take it off.  I made sure to bat my newly mascaraed eyelashes at them.  I need to make use of my eyelashes while I still have 'em.  They were like, "Oh yeah.  Take it off!"

I was like, "Kay, it ain't pretty...."

"We don't care.  Take it off!"

So then I addressed the parents in the observation area upstairs (it's like Juliet's terrace up there):  "Are you guys okay with this?  I don't want to freak anyone out."

"Naw!  Take it off!"

"Well, okay..."

And I took it off and nobody seemed shocked at all.

It was awesome.

Then I was free to do petite allegro with my girls.  Bald.  Bald petite allegro.  The best kind.

Hint:  I'm the bald one in these pictures:

Oh, and the song we used?  "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea.  The girlies were struggling a little bit - petite allegro is tough.  It's very, very mental.  At one point, I said, "Guys, you can do it.  Do it for Iggy."

I said all kinds of crap.  I think at one point I called Sam Smith a Sentimental Fool.  And when the girls asked what "I want to kiss you like Prince" was all about in the song "Classic," I informed them that "Kiss" by Prince is my all-time favorite song.  Then I obliged them by singing a line from it:  "You don't have to watch Dynasty...to have an attiTUDE..."  They had no idea what Dynasty was.  At one point, one girl was like, "Oh yeah!  My mom has that song on her iphone!"

And I said, "That means she is amazing."

I'm telling you, teenagers are my peeps.  I just...click with them.  (I probably won't feel that way when my kids are teenagers.  But for now I'm taking a firm "I'm good with teenagers" stance.)  And I'm not kidding when I say that I think I have found my true calling.  I mean, there were lots of things about teaching school that I loved (the kids) but a lot of things I hated (their parents, the principal I worked under).  But with ballet?  These girls' parents are paying for it, dude.  The girls know they have to take it in order to participate in jazz (because my boss is SMART.  Ballet is the building blocks of jazz).  So they're willing to work.  And it's awesome.  I smile the whole time.  When I'm not panting.  I'm wayyy out of shape.  That's what lying on a bed/couch/gurney for two weeks does to a person.

I teach again next week, the night before my next chemo.  Barf.  (About the chemo, not about the ballet.)  I asked the girls if we should re-visit this petite allegro combination, or if we should let it rest, and they voted to let it rest.  

Wimps. ;)