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The problem with floor barre...


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...is that it's on the floor.

 

My current instructor spends the first 15-20 minutes of our 90 minute classes on the floor. This has been very helpful to me, but there is one studio in the building which I dread doing floor barre in - the company studio. This studio, to which my beginner adult class repairs once each week, has a filthy floor.

 

The morning after any class held in the company studio, I wake up with little bumps and bites on my scalp from my hairline to the base of my neck. :wacko: I feel as if I should add flea powder to my dance bag - or maybe I could become a trendsetter with a stylish flea collar? This is not a problem I have experienced with classes in the other studios in the building.

 

Would the professional dancers be allowed to wear street shoes in class? That is verboten for everyone else, but maybe the rules are bent for company members. On the other hand, any fleas in that particular studio might be an extra touch of medieval verisimilitude for La Fille Mal Garde, which has been rehearsed there and opens tomorrow.

 

Anyhow, I have not canvassed the other students in my class to see if they have similar experiences. It's a somewhat delicate question. Should I just go right to the instructor and talk to him about it?

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This is disgusting, but my brother is a disgusting person (total slob)...his apartment was SO filthy that when my father went to help him move out, my father got skin mites. He literally had itchy red bumps and patches. Some almost looked like ringworm, others looked like a bite. He had to get some ointment from his doctor to clear it up.

 

That said, anything is possible. :wacko:

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Hilarion, I strongly suggest taking an exercise mat for these classes.

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A large component of my training was floor barre classes in highly populated New York dance studios. I got a fungus infection similar to ringworm that my CHIROPRACTOR found on my back. Totally humiliating. Use a clean towel or mat from home.

 

Ringworm and fungal things take forever to kill. I used some Lamasil cream. Also read that Selsin Blue dandruff shampoo can work. No idea about mites. Maybe post on the health form. I'm sure Babsaroo has seen these things as a nurse.

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Hilarion: Are they very small bumps (smaller than mosquito bites) with tiny black dots in them? If so, they might be scabies. I picked them up from a bed in Bangkok, in a hostel which was otherwise very clean. They were easily cured. I got some cream over the couter when I was in Bangkok and that didn't work, but as soon as I got a prescription from a doctor at home they were gone quite quickly.

 

Don't be embarrassed - these things are probably more common than you think.

 

Good luck!

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Anybody else itching imaginary spots on your body after reading this thread? ;) LOL

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Me... yikes! :D

 

Hilarion, take a large towel to class you can rest your head and shoulders on. Besides it being more comfortable it is simply more hygienic. Also (though it may look weird) you may take a spray bottle with disinfecting liquid or ready-to-use disinfecting wipes (like Sagrotane) to clean the spot on the floor you want to rest your head on.

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Ha! I'd guess that everybody else will ask to use your disinfecting spray/wipes if you bring them.

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