Greetings from the City By the Bay! After a four year absence, I’m back! I hadn’t been looking forward to going, especially since it was going to be for a superlong seven-day trip, but now that I’m here, I’m happy to have gone. I’d forgotten how awesome and bangin San Francisco is. How could I forget the great views everywhere you turn, the non-grouchy people walking the streets (very unlike NYC), the smoke-free air (from cigarettes and cars) and the coolness of a city that has banned bottled water (because plastic take a million years to decompose)?
Another cool thing about SF is the presence of Kathy Mata and her classes at the San Francisco Dance Center. Last night, I bucked up my courage and went to a “beginner” class. The word “beginner” is in quotes because, by god this was anything BUT a beginner class. At least four of the sixteen students were en pointe, and from the first note of our live accompanist (which was way cool, btw — this was my first class with a live pianist), I could tell these students were anything but beginners. There were three guys in my class and one of them was actually en pointe! I couldn’t stop sneaking him a glance. He was amazing — graceful and strong and got the combinations instantly. Love San Francisco.
To start off, Kathy (who is a lovely and graceful woman) rattled off rather complex and decidedly non-beginner combinations with the speed of lightning. Then after breaking it down for us once, we began while she went around the room issuing corrections. I had trouble remembering half the combinations and had to resort to looking at my neighbors for guidance. Kathy zeroed in on me quite a number of times which, to someone with thinner skin might have sent them running out the studio, but that I’d rather appreciated. Evidently I was tapping out my tendus and she asked me what my teacher has taught me about frappes (my mind blanked out on this) because I was doing it all wrong. Evidently, in both, your toes aren’t supposed to leave the floor.
Then during the allegro, that’s when things kinda fell apart for me. I was able to do the first two combinations but I was at a total loss for the last two ones. It was way too complicated and she didn’t really break it down slow enough for me to get it. Plus she gave us turns I’d never done before (pencil turns! fouttes!). So I sat the last two combos out. Then we jumped, and class was over. This was even more difficult than Lady Cheerleader’s Beginner/Intermediate class, but I absolutely loved it. No one looked at me like I was a poser, no one snickered when Kathy corrected me, and everyone was extremely friendly and inviting. Plus everyone looked so hip and edgy. No one wore the traditional black-and-pink outfit and there were plenty of layers.
Did I have a bad time? Absolutely not! It was awesome! It was intimidating, yes, but it was still spectacular to be surrounded by all these adult dancers. Some of them looked almost as good as the pros, while some looked like they were there for recreation only. Some of them were actual members of Kathy’s adult dance company whose existence pleased me immensely! I felt a twinge of longing and envy that San Francisco has a teacher and choreographer who not only specialized in teaching adult students, but who formed an actual company that gives her students an outlet for performances! Check out one of their recitals:
Wish we had something like this in my area. Maybe I can broach the subject with one of my teachers. It’s so inspiring and invigorating. I’ll be back for another class on Tuesday night, this one called her “Advanced Beginner” class. I’m sure there will be plenty of advanced about it and not much beginner. But I’m still raring to go. They have a performance on Nov. 2 and I wish I could go. Kathy’s classes will now be a staple for me every time I visit San Fran. Wish there were more people like her.
