A Little Dip In The Road

Everything was going great.  I was getting stronger, catching up to my classmates, and quickly learning all the parts I'm going to be expected to understudy for Nutcracker.  Then I went to my first variations class, and things went a little downhill.
Remember how I wrote about the director inviting me to the variations class?  Well the first night didn't go as well as I had hoped it would.  Since taking these harder classes my stamina and strength has improved, so the fact that it was an hour class that came right after a two hour class wasn't what did me in.  The real struggle came from being on pointe for that extra amount of time.  My pointe shoes have been destroying my big toe on my right foot.  Putting a Band-Aid on it doesn't stop it from bleeding.  Cutting the toenail did nothing to prevent it from bruising.  I had no idea how much a purple toenail could hurt.  Trying to learn a challenging variation pushed it over the edge.
If I was smart I would have swapped my pointe shoes for my ballet slippers, but of course I didn't want to look weak in front of the teacher.  Dumb move. Never, ever, ever take my example.  Although, in my defense I didn't realize just how bad it was.  True, the pain was agony, but I assumed it felt worse than it was.  Wrong assumption I guess, because now I'm not able to dance.  At certain times it hurts to put any amount of weight on it, making it difficult just to walk.  Please learn from my mistake and don't push through bad pain.
This class is good practice for being able to watch a dance only a few times before performing the choreography.  It's a skill all dancers need to have, but it requires focus.  My toe was not letting me focus.  Some of the steps were also a bit beyond my current skill level, so the variation would have been difficult on a good day.
Now I have a disgusting looking toenail that throbs.  I don't think I'll make it to ballet class tomorrow, but I'll just have to wait and see how it feels before making a final decision.