The Monster
In the moments before ballet class was to begin, I was hanging over my legs, trying to find the inner awareness of my spine. Suddenly, improbably, I felt another body in my space--an intruder! I quickly rolled up to encounter a grotesque face, and it was actually asking me to take a step back to make room for her. I concealed my horror and annoyance (I think), and tried to explain that she was not in a good position, having encroached also on the person in front of her, who had nowhere to go. She didn't understand and I gave up, insuring that I would encounter her at close quarters for the remainder of the class.
Soon it became very clear that she didn't have the least idea of what to do. If she was lucky, she'd get a fraction of each exercise, but mostly she would stand and shuffle in that panicked way that beginners do. Please understand that I am normally very very sympathetic to this state of being, because that is almost always my condition.
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