She Teaches

I have been going to my dance class on Thursdays lately since I like the fact that it is somewhat emptier than the Tuesday night classes. The class after mine on Tuesday is the Level 3 class (which I am nowhere near yet) and the one after level 2 on Thursdays is a Choreography class. The two instructors and the founder of the school have been on a "world domination" tour for about a month, so the choreography class has taken a break until they get back. This means that the girls who would show up for a level 2 warm up before their choreo class have been skipping the level2 on that night, however some of the level3's are still going to the Tuesday night level2 class prior to their class. (Are you confused yet?) Basically I am trying to describe why lately one night has been lighter than the other. this week however, I decided it was time for me to make an appearance at my Thursday knitnight and since both class and knitting is at 7pm in very different locations, I was going to move my dance class this week to the Tuesday night instead.
I did my usual getting to class, talking to some other girls, find my spot in the studio and do some light stretching. Kit, who had been teaching in the absence of our instructors was wandering in and out of the back room just before class started. Something was different, and I could feel it. At one point I looked up into the huge mirrors at the front of the studio and I see Suhaila Salimpour smiling and walking out. Looks like they're back from their tour! This was a special treat. I have been tlaking classes at her school since the end of 2005, and only once have had the pleasure of learning from her, and that was only because I shelled out for a week long workshop taught specifically by her. Maybe half of the students in the room had never seen her and didn't realize who she was. She made a joke about how when she would show up to teach a level1 class, they would look at her and say "So who's the new teatcher?"
She wove in and out of the students during warm ups, fixing some of their positions or talking to some she was familiar with. During drilling, she challenged us. She made us do a balancing drill that I had never done, solely to get us to think about where our weight is each time we do something as simple as shifting the location of our leg. When she came to correct us, it was always positive feed back. We were getting our asses kicked, but it didn't feel like it at the time because the class went so well.
It was very refreshing to get a chance to learn from her during a normal hour long class. I wonder if I'd have gotten this chance if I showed up to class tonight instead of Tuesday...