I've lost my mojo! :(

So guys...I did it! I've been talking about it since the day I moved out to North Carolina, but I finally found the time and money to sign up for a dance class. Granted, it cost a lot more than I had intended on paying, but I guess free opportunities to dance aren't running rampant around these parts. None the less, I signed up for an ADVANCE hip hop dance class. Why did I sign up for an advance course some may ask? Well, because I'm a "DANCER" remember! I've been dancing since the first grade. I was president of the Occidental Dance Production in college, and I've choreographed quite a few hip hop and African dance pieces of my own. So why wouldn't I sign up for an advance course right? Plus, I figured, hey I'm paying all this money for 8 dance classes anyway, I might as well feel challenged. There's nothin worse than feeling bored as hell in a dance class.

Anywho, here it was happened on my first day...

I get to the class (30 freak'n minutes LATE)....mind you, the class is only 1 hour! I got there late because I had an interview for this mentor program (lil plug for Durham Companions- www.durhamcompanion.org) that I've recently signed up for, and the interview went a lot longer than anticipated. Thank God the office of the mentor program was in the same area as the dance class. It took me all of 2 minutes to get there. Had I not already paid for the dance class, I wouldn't have even gone when I finally realized how late I was. But you know....foo's don't be tryna waist no money, so I took my butt to the class anyway cuz dammit I was gonna get my 30 minutes worth...lol

As a arrived at the dance studio, I looked through the glass window and noticed that there were about 15 females in the course being instructed by the cutest lil white girl ever. The instructor looked like one of those typical L.A. dancers. She was real petite, nice body, wore hella layers of clothes. You know what I'm talking about right...like when they wear the tank top, with a cut up, of the shoulder sweat shirt, and big baggy shorts, with tights, and funky hip hop jazz shoes and somehow EVERYTHING looks trendy.

Anway, so I quickly run into the bathroom to change into my clothes. I mean, I was ALREADY 30 minutes late, and now I had to use up more time to get out of my work clothes. So here I am practically throwing stuff off of my body. F tryna get into a lil ass stall, I changed right in the middle of the bathroom. I figured, hey if someone walked in on me, so what! We're all dancers right, I'm sure they've seen a practically naked female body before.

I walk into the dance studio, set my things down, and quickly stretch, so that I join the rest of the class. Everyone seemed all advanced and shyt! Looked like they'd been doing the routine for years....not 30 minutes! I try to fall into place, and catch on to what others were doing. I was bending, kick'n, pop'n and lock'n with the best of em'. I hadn't rolled my body like this in a loooong time (and club gyrating don't count...lol). Obviously my body was not used to this. I felt bones crack'n, muscles cramping and being strained like they hadn't been strained before. It was crazy. What the hell was happening to my body.

Looks are definitelty deceiving. At least they are in my case. I am sooooo out of shape. Here I am, one of the only 3 black females in the class (and you know how we think we're just TIGHT at dancing), and I can barely hang. I'm sweating (which is good) and huffing and puffing (which is not so good), and feeling like I'm bout to pass the f*ck out! Mind you, I've only only been dancing for 30 minutes, and the lil white girls in the class were putting me to shame. I really need to get it together. My body aint what it used to be. *sigh*

I'm a DANCER dammit! DAAAAANCER!

So things that went wrong in my first day of dance class:

* I was 30 minutes late for a class that was only 1 hour

*I couldn't fully grasp the dance routine (b/c I was late)

*My body was not trying to cooperate and do the things that the teacher was instructing

*I was huffing an puffing as if I weighed 300lbs and was carrying a baby

*OH....and I forgot to mention the fact that I had on my Nike shocks...while everyone in the class had on hip hop jazz shoes. So not only am I late, but I'm also scuffing up the dance floor. By the time the class what over, you could see black skid marks everywhere! How embarrassing....*sigh* But shyt who knew...I've been doing hip hop for a while, and never had it even crossed my mind that my cute lil sneakers were not the lick! I mean, maybe it's the hood in me and the fact that I'm from Oakland, but I tell ya this, wasn't none of my friends running to the dance store to buy some fancy"hip hop jazz shoes" when we were gonna dance in the basket ball rally, or homecoming, or anything like that. So shoot me for not being prepared!

Needless to say, this experience was a reality check. Again, it reinforced the fact that I really need to get it together. I'm out of shape, and I know that my body will not always look the way it looks now so I need to take care of it. To avoid embarrassment, I'll be getting some dance shoes. Oh...and though I'm late to almost everything, I WILL be making it to dance class on time. These girls will NOT upstage me!..lol

Oh, and for the record, this experience has also inspired me to join a gym. I'm happy to announce that I just enrolled for a year membership to Peak Fitness. So if any of you reading this have a membership to this club, get at me so that we can be work out buddies. Lord knows I'm gonna need the motivation and support.

I'll be sure to fill you in on my 2nd dance class session. Hopefully it'll be better than the first.