Jazz dancers, download your instructions here.

Yes, it’s true, I’m taking the adult jazz class on Tuesday nights at the Newnan School of Dance. Marc talked me into it, he’s also taking it, although he was nowhere to be seen last night and I hope it takes him weeks to catch up with the new choreography, and it’s of course a lot of fun.

I’ve never taken jazz before. I was a ballet guy twenty-five years ago, and I wasn’t bad at all. Precision and passion were my fortes. Extension was not. But I loved it a lot. I would have taken classes a lot longer, but Bettina rescheduled the advanced classes for the evenings, rather than the afternoons, and NCTC had the prior claim. So I had to give it up.

I think I’d still rather be in a ballet or modern class, but for the moment I’m in jazz and having a good time.

Are there body issues? Well, naturally. When I was in ballet, I was too thin. Now I’m too fat. I never had a lean, lithe, sleek dancer’s body, and while I keep pretending that dance is for all of us, the truth is that a lean, lithe, sleek body just is exciting to watch and mine is, well, not as.

I’ve been surprised and pleased at a) how quickly I’ve been able to pick up the choreography; and b) how sore I am not the day after class. That really surprised me: I thought I would be completely sore and hobbled for at least three days after the first class, but I felt nothing. Perhaps this is due to my moderately increased activity level recently. I have, since April, lost 20 pounds, and I can tell the difference in many aspects of my life: pants don’t fit, I’m not out of breath, and jazz class doesn’t leave me sore after warmups and choreography.

The class puts me out of the house on Tuesday nights, so that’s Monday (Masterworks), Tuesday (dance), and Wednesdays (Coriolanus) that are not available to me for composing. I think I will devote Thursday nights to that effort, which should begin next week.

Excelsior!