just dance.

I have a little secret to share: when I wrote about missing dance in last week's post, I already knew I was going back to class. Yes, it’s true – last Wednesday night, I got together with a few other alumnae from my dance school and a friend of one of those girls and we had a full-fledged hip-hop/jazz class.

Although I forgot to bring the right shoes (I literally brought every other pair except for my sneakers) and was dressed more for lyrical than hip hop, I slipped easily into my old routine. The warm-up stretches came right back to me, along with the across-the-floor kicks, turns, and leaps. And in case you were wondering, I’ve totally still got it when it comes to my tour j’etes.

Class was exhilarating, fun, and a total body workout. I’m not the greatest at freestyle or making up my own choreography – instead, I love to pick up other people’s choreography. There’s a rush I get in executing something that someone else thought up in their head, working to make it the best that I can. I laughed and goofed around, but I also broke a sweat and had to catch my breath a few times.

Before I knew it, we were finished and packing up our stuff. I could’ve continued for three more hours thanks to my body still being trained from spending countless hours in the studio. If you ask me to go running, I can barely make it longer than thirty seconds, but throw me in a dance studio with seven dances to rehearse and I could be there all night.

The next morning I woke up and smiled as I felt the all-too-familiar soreness in my body. It was a welcome feeling – I may be crazy for liking a stiff neck or sore calves, but it was comforting in a way. I used to feel sore all the time when I was in class several days a week. My friends at school who also took dance and I would compare “battle wounds” with each other – what was sore and what was bruised, and why.

I’m so happy to be dancing again. Over the weekend I was down the shore with my dance crew for my BFF Ashley’s birthday and, as always, we eventually broke out the dance mix and started doing choreography on the deck. It was too much fun.

Class isn’t supposed to be for too long – just a few weeks – but I’ll take as much as I can get. I’m off again tonight for my second class, for my chance to get away from life and just dance.