My sweet echappe

It's really important for me to stay at least somewhat active. I'm definitely not one to go to the gym on a regular basis or go on a run, though sometimes I wish I was as badass as runners are! (Chris and I tried running once. We ran around our block a few times and were DYING at the end. We couldn't even finish running--we had to walk.) When I was younger, I was involved in soccer, track, basketball, and volleyball. In high school, I started horseback riding, and kept with that for a few years before taking a break because that is NOT an inexpensive sport! I can't wait until I'm settled into a career and can afford to ride again. Otherwise, I take stairs as much as comfortably possible, and I have a couple of Jillian Michaels workout DVDs when I'm feeling especially motivated...which isn't often, to be honest.

When my mom asked me two years ago if I wanted to start doing ballet with her, I thought it was a fabulous idea! The very next day, we went to the dance store to buy our outfits (priorities!). We first signed up for an adult class through the local dance company, but that class ended up being way too hard core for us. It was SO not for beginners! We barely even knew the positions and we were trying to do jumps. Yeah...it didn't go well.

We found a different (actual beginner) adult class and really enjoyed doing ballet together. I feel a little ridiculous doing ballet because I am so not flexible, but it's a seriously great workout! We could only take one class together before I moved for graduate school sadly. I really wanted to keep it up after I moved, but the only ballet class I knew of in my new location was at my university--as part of the ballet department. Nope! I might have taken it if it wasn't multiple days a week at 7:30 in the morning with potential ballet majors.

I was so happy when I found adult ballet offered as part of the community education program! A one-night-a-week commitment isn't as daunting as a morning-every-day commitment, plus it was community education--no pressure to actually be good at ballet. I've been doing it for over a year now, and I couldn't recommend it enough. It's so fun (and often challenging--my instructor is not afraid to push us a lot, which I appreciate!). Plus, it's inexpensive!

I'm not going to be a professional ballerina anytime soon, and if I didn't have to do another developpe for the rest of my life I'd be totally okay with that, but I'm really glad I have ballet as a hobby to keep me from feeling like a lard. My goal this summer is to stretch a LOT and try to gain some flexibility before classes start up again in the fall!

(Echappe (aye-sha-pay) literally means to escape, and developpe (dayv-law-pay) literally means to develop.)