Being Injured

Being injured is rubbish.  I just want that categorically and emphatically stated for the record. 

To add insult to ankle injury, this week has been acro intensive week.  That means that everyone who specialises in acro (yes, me) has had around 20 hours of taught acro time in addition to our normal lessons, where we would only normally have 4.  Translated, that means a lot of sitting and watching and taking notes and making videos, when everyone else is having fun.

Don't get me wrong - my injury is not that bad.  If I had a desk job it wouldn't even be a problem.  However, when you have a whole day of classes learning to lindy hop, it's more of an issue.

So now I'm limping along the fine line of trying to be cautious and protect my ankle as much as possible in order for it to heal effectively, and trying not to be too scared to try things, to still push myself in order to squeeze every last drop of training as I can from the course.  Last night I got the balance wrong by taking part in an extra rope class, and so today I've had to miss ballet. Rubbish.

There are always positives to be gained from any situation, and in this instance it's the opportunity the problem has given me to step back from 'doing' and think about creating instead.  Rather than taking part in this Friday's presentation, where the group will showcase what we've learnt from the week, I'm helping Lisa, our very lovely acro teacher, actually devise the presentation and put it together.  Every black cloud...

And on an altogether more positive note, here's a link to the blog of the New Perspectives Step Up ensemble, with whom I spent a day teaching circus based stuff in February.  I think it's poetically written, and a nice summary of the day from the participants' point of view.

http://yourperspectives.wordpress.com/

Next blog is going to be more cheery.  I promise.

Bloody Hell

Bloody Circus school.

Bloody ankles.  Why do they have to be so flimsy anyway?

Yesterday, I dragged myself to school (I hadn't been very well over the weekend), specifically because I didn't want to miss our one tumbling lesson of the week.  I love to tumble.  Tumbling is what most people think of when you say acrobatics - back flips, headsprings and handsprings, somersaults and all that jazz.  It's high impact.  I had just started to feel a bit more like a normal human being and was having a great lesson - I'd just managed my first backward roll to handstand, which is a fairly simple move but I'd really been struggling with it and was being taught a cartwheel walkover, which is a great move, it looks really nice but is fairly easy to execute.  Until...  I'm not sure what went wrong but as I landed I seemed to crunch down on my ankle and ended up writhing on the floor in pain.  And now, well, the writhing has stopped but the pain's still there.  I can't walk very easily on it and just to add insult to injury my only way of getting to and from college every day is by bike.  Hmmmm.  Now if this was a normal job I would very happily take some time off, watch lots of Homes Under the Hammer and make myself generally comfortable on the sofa, but it's not, it's Circomedia and I want to be there.  We're doing clowning at the moment!  I can't miss clowning!

So I've got a physio appointment this afternoon.  I shall wait for the verdict.  But I am not a happy tumbler.  And I still want to do a cartwheel walkover.