So yesterday was the first day I took Ms. Vee’s Beginner Breakdancing class at Broadway Dance Center. Actually, this is only my second class at BDC so far. The first one was Ginger Cox’s Beginner Contemporary class (taught by substitute Michelle Barber) which totally utterly kicked my butt. Henry, Karen and Carol were with me and they all did so much better. This first class was very discouraging and continued to intimidate me thenceforth. Needless to say, I was incredibly nervous. I was on my own this time and as always with any new experience, I was excited and scared.

The class was held at Studio 3 (sprung maple floor) and there were probably about 25-30 students there. Apparently this was a huge number compared to Ms. Vee’s usual as she was surprised with this. Anyway, on with the class. It was being held from 9pm to 10:30pm. So the first half hour consisted of warm ups. It was completely a cardio workout and I was sweating bullets. She went through top rocking, stretches, sit ups, wrist stretching, push ups and planking. She went a bit fast on the top rock so I was so glad I knew the basics pretty well thanks to Henry! The planking kicked my arse though! I was in pain holding my body up in awkward angles but I knew that this is only going to help me get better.

The second half hour was more technique and learning the six step. I have also attempted this multiple times before so I was no stranger to it. It’s all about trying to do it faster and making it look good now. I think besides the pain, its the attempt to make everything I do go faster and look good that kicks my arse.

The third half hour was learning choreography and executing it. We learned three eight counts to Sugar Hill Gang’s Apache (Jump On It). The moves were pretty basic. I had to bring back and exercise my muscle memory again. It wasn’t as easy to pick up moves as it used to be but at least it worked enough that I was able to do the jist of it towards the end of the class. She also added some freestyle at the beginning and end of the song. I felt better when she said we could just do the toprock and six step we went over if we didn’t know how to do any other freestyle. I knew I didn’t look pretty but I felt good and I think if I keep at it, I will definitely improve.

All in all, I think I will continue to take this class every week until my Lyrical classes start (June 12 – Aug 30). I’m excited to build on my breaking foundation and maybe learn how to freestyle better =].