You May have noticed I have been "conducting" class more than demonstrating lately so I thought I would take a minute to let you all know what is going on.
Ever since my pregnancy I had been dealing with a lot of pain, stiffness and weakness in my body. This past summer, I saw many Dr.'s and had many Tests. Finally The Dr. (a neurologist) diagnosed me with a progressive disease called Myotonic Muscular dystrophy.
Myotonic Muscular dystrophy comes with a lot of muscle stiffness weakness and pain which I have endured on the dance floor very uncomfortably for a while now. What it comes down to now is, my muscles aren't working quite properly. I am on medication and with the right treatment my mobility on the dance floor might come back but in the mean time I am not the dancer I once was.
Over time my condition will worsen. The stiffness I have now can cause me to get to the point where I will need assistance walking. I truly hope I never get there but this disease is strong, it was something I was born with and just started to interrupt my life a few years ago.
I hope you will forgive me for the moments in class I will undoubtedly sit down and conduct or ask you to do it again so I can just watch. I am fighting very hard and I will continue dancing until my body flatly refuses to. As for now, I will keep working, adhere to all the advice medical professionals give me and try my very best to get better. One positive thing the Dr. Said to me is the longer I dance, the longer I will be able to dance.
I do need help so if you know anyone who would be interested in being my demonstrator I have a job opportunity for them. I would love to be able to conduct class from a chair and have an experienced dancer properly demonstrate the steps I plant to teach.
Few things in life bring me more joy than dancing - but one of those things is seeing my students dance. So please, keep dancing, stick with me and though I may need to take a seat tomorrow… in due time... I'll be dancing with you all again.
