“Number 5 is alive!”

Yep, just say the number five to me and I will quote Short Circuit at you like nobody’s business. Who said ballet-inspired workouts and 80s comedy films can’t meet in a unique fandom crossover? That’s right, no one! Watch my attitude (see what I did there?).

As usual we work out way down from warm-ups for the upper body to exercises on our knees and then our side and then our backs and then I’m sometimes puffing like the Hogwarts Express. All that’s missing is the whistling.

My attitudes do feel like they’ve gotten better (ha), to me, but maybe that’s also because I’m focusing on how our wonderful instructor is doing things and her attitudes look flawless. I feel inspired, and that’s important, because I’ve got a lot on my plate here: listening to instructions, following instructions, watching myself in the mirror, making sure I breathe in and out when told to, paying attention to how my lower arms line up with my shoulders and that I don’t do left when everyone is doing right.

I love the full-length stretching for arms and legs, but there is still only so far my legs will go from lying down on my back. Our instructor’s legs flash like scissor blades through the air and then she doesn’t touch the floor with her heels when she lowers them. Oh dear. I feel the burn and I feel gravity. My own heels seem to have turned in to dumbells ready to drop.

I do my best. It’s no joke, keeping your legs in the air and switching between flex and changement. I actually have to set my legs down for a bit, and after covertly peeking around, I see that the woman in front of me is just lying on her back, waiting for us to finish. It’s also a little packed and I ended up brushing her hand with my ballet-slippered foot. Oops.

We stop with the flex and changement, but still keeping our legs straight in the air, we bend them apart, raise our upper bodies off our mats, stretch our arms out between our legs and swithc between tapping the air with our palms, then criss-crossing them. I’m glad my friend has her back to me, otherwise I would laugh. And it wouldn’t have been pretty from that position.

I feel proud of myself for staying up every time I wanted to drop back down, even if what currently passes for my abs is singing No by Meghan Trainor.

I do feel there is progress – a bit more stretching here and there, keeping in time with the count and better chroreography following at the end. Our instructor says “Sehr gut” several times, and when we all raise our arms above our heads, our left and right tendus practically in sync, it feels only natural to applaud her as the class ends.