Final BodyCombat

If there is beauty to be found in violence, I find it at the gym, in my BodyCombat class.
Okay, so it's basically an updated boxercise with a silly name, but I still love it. I have a non-sexual girl crush on the instructor, who is this tall red-headed Amazonian. I think the basis of my crush is that I would like to BE her. I really appreciate that she doesn't hoot and holler like other gym instructors; There's no "You can do it" or "Yeah! Let's go!" in her class, it's more: "I'm sorry Officer, I don't know what happened, I'm just a girl," and, "If you should ever have to use this in real life, remember that the power comes from your butt!" in her commentary. I practiced Karate for a few years, and have done other combatative sports, like fencing, and sometimes a girl just has to get her violence on. The class gives me my "punch him in the face" fix.
What I love the most about it is all the women. Sure, I get irritated at the flailers and the space invaders (I won't get into this too much, or it will become a post about how much I hate them, but there are some people who have absolutely no sense of space and their own bodies moving through it. Maybe it's from my early years of ballet, or that karate, but I know where my starting spot on the floor is, and I always get back to it. I do not drift forwards, backwards, or sideways after kicking or shuffling. Further, while a flailing limb would certainly hurt your target if you actually managed to make contact, it just doesn't have the same conviction, and it certainly doesn't look as cool, as a properly controlled uppercut or hook. Sorry ladies, but pull it together! And enough with the bouncing. She said "cross-jack", not "crazy aerobic dance step". You look like a fool. Go to BodyJam.) but I have faith that in time and with training, these women will also become tough fighters.
Sometimes I imagine that this is a little army being trained. Not that I think any of us should use our BodyCombat moves in the real world. That would be disastrous and ridiculous. However, I do think that all women should learn a real, practical self-defense martial art, like Wen-Do. Because the training is good for women: everyone gains a measure of self-confidence when learning how to roundhouse kick, and it is great to see. There's one move in the current choreography where everyone pretends to be repeatedly punching their opponent in the head. After the opponent has been roundhouse-kicked to the ground. This is a cathartic moment for most, and I thoroughly enjoy watching the diverse group of women of all ages and all backgrounds letting loose and wailing on the invisible soon-to-be-dead dude on the ground. Maybe it's wrong, but I always imagine that the opponent is male (unless one of the flailers is standing right in front of me, then the opponent is her). In fact, I worry a little for the few men that come to the class, like one day we might all turn on one of them and bouncily beat the crap out of him.
Now, as the sweat dries from my last Friday-lunchtime kick-your-own-ass workout, I'm feeling a little nostalgic; I'm all regular-job-girl now, and I can no longer make it to the class. So long, BodyCombat. I'm going to have to get my violence on somewhere else. Fellow subway riders, beware.