We had the first night of belly dance class for guys at North Coast Ballet. There were just 4 of us (and I was the only gay one), but it went well. All of us happened to be Pagan, and it ended up being very relaxed and supportive socially.
At one point, the instructor had us stretching our arms out with our palms out and parallel to the wall. She made a reference to the scene in Star Wars where they are in the trash compactor thing and everyone visibly brightened at the geek reference.
There were 2 other guys who weren't able to make it this time, but who will be there next time. Next Monday is being skipped for class because almost everyone will be at Brushwood for Sirius Rising.
The teacher said that we might be sore and she suggested taking ibuprofen when we got home. I am feeling fine now, so either it did the trick, or I didn't work hard enough.
It felt really good to try something new in an environment that was so friendly and supportive. Even though I tend to think of myself as a klutz and dumpy, I felt like I wasn't being evaluated and found deficit. How people treat each other makes a HUGE difference.
Now I just need to figure out how to practice and not reinforce mistakes. Oh yeah, and get appropriate practice wear. I just showed up from work since the timing was so tight.
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