Class With Kathy Mata

Recently I was in San Francisco for an orthopaedic surgeon conference. I was slated to give a presentation on my research in shoulder surgery to a crowd of full of  long in tooth experts. The thought terrified me. I am dealthy afraid of public speaking and usually I spend my time trying to hid behind the podium.

While in town I took class at the Alonso King Lines Ballet Studio with Kathy Mata, renowned on You Tube for her adult classes. This thought did NOT terrify me.

I had it the wrong way around.

I thought Ms. Mata's class would be good but maybe not as hard as the intermediate/advanced classes I take at my two home studios. I was woefully mistaken on this point. First of all the room was about 90 deg, the class was packed with people, and I felt some pressure to at least look more graceful that the 2 gentleman who clearly had medicare cards. Second, I was not used to teachers paying me any attention. Usually my teachers spend a lot of time correcting the teenagers who are taking extra classes in preparation for a professional career while I hang in the back and try to disappear. I am not faulting my teachers at all- I think they can pick up on my look of terror/confusion and try not to overload my brain with corrections. I am usually grateful they leave me alone.

  There was no hiding from Ms. Mata- she picked up on everything I did incorrectly. Interestingly, she seemed to understand which corrections would be most beneficial for me.Of the myriad of mistakes I made, she found the five or so that changed my dancing. In addition, she did not stop between sides and her combinations were longer than the combinations I am used to. All those things made the class physically challenging as well as mentally challenging. This class was my far the hardest thing I have done, physically or mentally, for quite a long time.

How did the talk go the next day?
 Cake Walk.
 I had just been to a ballet class the night before where there was no place to hide doing something I constantly screwed up.  I didn't need to hide behind the podium to talk about something I already knew like the back of my hand.

Thank you Kathy Mata.