"We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once"

Growing up, I was a pretty active child-I had a HUGE backyard (more on that later) and a HUGE house to run around in, with two siblings, and my parents worked from home. Over the years I participated in softball, dance, swimming, gymnastics, tennis, bike riding...and we have a basketball court in our backyard.

Eventually, I dropped most of those (as competitive sports, at least. I still enjoy biking, tennis & ball!) and wound up swimming and dancing through high school, along with color guard (marching band...concert band the rest of the year) every fall. Yes, fall is making me nostalgic for these things! Anyways, I really grew to love dancing and was finally starting to reach my full potential when I got injured from not warming up properly.

To make a very long story short, I didn't dance again for six years. During that time, I had recurring dreams about recitals and classes, choreography and costuming, every single week. WELL, once I moved to New York City, I knew I had to take advantage of all the adult classes and studios everywhere! I started with a Groupon deal to Ballet Academy East and have been taking class one to four times a week since late March! I adore it (and the recurring dreams haven't happened since). The perseverance and dedication it takes, along with the strength required of every muscle, combined with the opportunity to grow each class, makes it one of my favorite forms of exercise even when it's so much more to me.

Stretching out before a mid-level class on Sunday

Before center work

One of my favorite things about BAE...they've added a modern class! The teacher, Ginger Thatcher, has an amazing and impressive background.

Creeping on a ballet class for teenagers earlier tonight!

If you've ever been interested in ballet or any form of dance, I cannot recommend strongly enough looking into adult classes near you! It's never too late to start, and what it does for your mind, body & soul is inexplicable. (And, if you're in NYC, come take a class at BAE!)

Also, I've gotten to see THREE of the major ballet companies since moving to NYC: American Ballet Theater, City Ballet (George Balanchine's company) and Paris Opera Ballet-who performed my favorite ballet of all time, Giselle, this past summer at Lincoln Center. I could have died happy that day!