I made it through practice today without any major disasters!
I could tell I was still a bit ‘off’ and Boss commented at one point that there was something ‘weird’ happening, but I was able to get through the routines without any major mistakes.
The best part is that even though I was struggling by the end of the music, I was able to reset and attack the next dance freshly. Viennese Waltz was of course the most difficult to get through, followed by Quickstep. I was able to do the dances in a row without stopping early for one round and with stops almost at the end in VW and QS on the last round. That is a big step forward for me. I danced VW the longest I have done in almost two years (although it was a big push and not the best form near the end).
The other I could feel was technical things slowly coming together in standard. I am reforming habits and slowly adapting.
In latin, we got through all the routines without stopping, even paso. We were able to record the paso for the first time and other than the need for some shaping, it is looking really good–and we did it at speed! It is finally not feeling overwhelmingly fast.
I also made it all the way through jive and I can feel my mind processing things about it. I managed to remember all the steps today and on the second run even remembered to keep myself forward and connect with Boss to make the steps work. Remembering to use tone and tension in all my latin routines is slowly coming along and starting to become regular habit.
There is still a lot of work to do, but considering I wasn’t feeling my best and my mind was fuzzy, it was a small victory for me to do the routines as well as I did. I am looking forward to my injection on Wednesday and to start re-energizing and having my head clear.
This week I will also have an appointment with a genetic counselor to determine if I a) qualify for genetic testing for the cancer genes and b) if I do, whether I want to do it or not. 35 is the usual cut off age for the testing, but as I was 35 when I was diagnosed I fall into a bit of a gray area. I am curious to see what the appointment leads to.
I am going to do 4 lessons next week in the build up to the competition in 2 weeks. I also will be starting my masters.
Looks like a very busy week ahead!
Beyond Cancer Ballroom Dancer 