08/02/2026
Realizing I never posted this video from a masterclass from Kai Jmari
This was day 1/3 of an intensive, and my whole group actually came into the class 30 mins late due to a scheduling issue 😅 so we were thrown in to pick it up mid combo, but I still feel like to went well considering, and it was fun!
My dance training at this point: I had just returned to hiphop classes after a 10 year hiatus (took casual classes for a few years as a teen) and was 4 months post op from my first ankle surgery. And 3 months post op from jaw surgery. I was definitely the oldest not just in the room but the whole intensive. I did the whole intensive with nerve damage, lack of feeling and muscle in my foot, and nerve pain due to my tibial nerve being severed during surgery 1 (I knew of the nerve damage because of the sensation and function issues, just didn't know why at the time).
It was definitely a challenge to put myself in an environment with so many kids 10-15 years younger who have had so much more access to training and exposure at an early age. While I'm used to dancing with younger dancers because of my unique history, dancing in NYC was another level. Compound that with dancing on a surgical injury, dealing with hypermobility issues and feeling like my body wasn't as resilient as the bodies around me.
That's a bittersweet feeling because it is hard to continually confront my past in the faces of young students who are leaps and bounds ahead of me and say "what if." But it always comes back to the fact that I made it to the room. I feel like the first day was the hardest, and by day 3 I had adjusted to pick up choreo so much faster. It really is a muscle. It's something I used to struggle with as a late starting teen and now I definitely feel like I have a moderate ability to pick things up.
I hope that after recovering from surgery 3 I can go back this Winter and finally get to go over the summer, just once 🩷 but grateful for the time that I did get to go because that experience is truly so elusive and rare, I can't help but to hold on tight to the things I learned and the fact that I finally made it to NYC, even if just for a few days.
