Dancing in the Real World

For those not in the loop who happen on here, Desdemona has a day job. Desdemona's new day job is the best job she could possibly ask for. Some dancers talk about being the little three-year-old cuties pirouetting around and wanting to be dancers when they grew up. Well, I wanted to do what I do now Monday-Friday.

The reality of my work is that I'm gone at least eleven hours out of the day between my commute and my work day. Very soon, I'll start pulling extra hours as necessary, meaning evenings and weekends. I really want to do well in my career and I have definite goals for myself there. So... there has to be a new balance.

First thing people around me may have noticed: I've dropped off the face of the planet. I'm rarely online, I have a multi-day turn-around to most e-mail (although I do try and get to the most important stuff on the same day), and I never go anywhere. That part shouldn't be shocking. I'm up 5-5:30 AM to get ready for work and home around 5:30. I then have a few hours before I have to start thinking about going to bed to start it over. While I love my friends, I love my boyfriend more. And sustaining my body through consumption of delectable items.

No offense.

I'm working on balancing dance into all of it. I can't really go to classes anymore since they're pretty much all mid-week and, considering how far away I live, it's pretty much impossible to make anything on a work night. Practice is trying, too. I'm used to getting up and having an hour practice for work. I'm trying to work out getting up before 4:30 and being alert enough to do some dancing but I've only succeeded a couple times thus far.

So, I consider other options. Thankfully, there are still workshops offered on weekends (yay for Politti and the Oasis for my monthly excursion to Highland!), although I'm planning on moving next month and have to pay double rent for a few weeks so that's not a guaranteed thing right now. There are also private lessons. I've gotten more and more into private instruction. I look for people who will tear my dancing apart and give me a very focused idea on what I can do better. I'm something of a criticism glutton, honestly. It's just how I motivate.

Performing is going to have to take a step back, too. I really want to focus on improving my technique and polish and performing sometimes gets in the way of that. I'm not really happy with my dancing right now, so that means it's time for a lot of hard work. It'll be good for me though and I'm sure I'll still be getting out to perform once a month or so.

I miss my friends and I miss dance classes with the camaraderie there. It's been hard feeling so isolated but I do know I'm where I really want to be. I'll still be around.

Wow, it is *so* past my bedtime...