WDA

I can't get enough of this place.  This is definitely not going to be the only time I write about it.  Today I will only focus one of its many sides.

This is one of the few places where I feel that no one is judging me.  Even in school and musical, I can still feel a hint of people thinking what I do is awkward, but here I can be whoever I want.  And everybody is a little crazy, but friendly.

Like the oldest tradition in the history of the studio: birthdays.  Miss B always seems to know when your birthday is, even if you don't remember saying anything to her.  At the end of class, there is sometimes a code word.  Normally its something crazy, like pickles.  When the code word is spoken, at the end of class, the entire class chassés around whoever's birthday it is, holding hands, and singing "Happy Birthday" so loud that you can hear it no matter where you are in the building.  At the completion of the song, you are sprinkled with imaginary fairy dust as the circle closes in on you, or at least that's what I think it is.  Whenever we have someone new to class, they always feel awkward participating in this circle (I pity the new students with September birthdays), but its just tradition.

Today was another typical day.  At one point while we were stretching in the back room getting ready for ballet class, IR mentioned her friend was a gymnast, and could this kind of push up with not only you hands in a triangle for you to go straight into, but also with you elbows going straight along the sides of your body.  After she failed to demonstrate, it was only a matter of minutes before most of our entire class was trying this push up, and no one was doing it!  I witnessed some great facial expressions from IW, JK, and Mr. A, our teacher, as they walked in and viewed us as crazy, but the best moment came from HT, who said something along the lines of, "I feel like something like this always happens".   This statement only brought memories of the time when everybody was trying to balance while one foot was flat against the wall, and several people were trying to do that again.  I was having so much fun that I almost walked into ballet class without my shoes.

When we got into class, the first thing Mr. A said, jokingly, was "All right, we're going to start with some push ups today".  In an instant everybody was again trying the impossible push up again, and no one was succeeding.  I was about to tell IR that she must be having us do the wrong push up, when Mr. A got on his hands and knees, and did a push up with his hands in a triangle and his elbows traveling along his sides.

-NM