If you think A-Rod's stop, drop, and roll slide was graceless, wait until you hear about my own shenanigans!

He's safe!

I was at work yesterday afternoon when the Yankees-Orioles game was going on, so I missed seeing the final game in the Yanks' sweep. But I saw my Twitter feed blow up afterwards with talk of Alex Rodriguez's crazy successful slide to home plate in the first inning.

Instead of a traditional slide, Rodriguez did a stop, drop, and roll maneuver, with somersaults and barrel rolls and everything!

It took a while for somebody to post video of this crazy slide that only A-Rod could pull off, but it was even more glorious than I expected. Here is a GIF showing what happened. And yes, he was safe!

Speaking of crazy moves, I ended up taking not one but two dance classes yesterday, both of them way outside my comfort zone. But isn't that where the magic happens, as the saying goes? (I can picture Squawker Jon rolling his eyes at what he would call the "navel gazing" nature of this, but oh well!)

A little background: although I love music, I haven't really danced in many years, and I was never very good in the first place. Back in the day, in addition to my punk slamdancing, I used to actually go out to nightclubs and stuff and dance. You know, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth! Put it this way -- the last time I really went to the club and danced, people were doing the "Macarena." And not ironically.

So in my fitness/weight loss journey, I have been making a point as of late to get back into the modern world and take some dance-related classes at the gym, even though, as I said, they are way outside my comfort zone. I am far from a natural at it, that's for sure!

I have done Zumba a number of times (and I will do so again this weekend.) All the many moves confuse me, and my enjoyment of the class is directly related to what music they play, but I have at least been trying to get better at it!

I have also done Urban Rebounding, which features a few dance-type moves, like the Tick Tock, on a personal trampoline. That is probably my favorite of the dance-related stuff I've been doing, because of the feeling of defying gravity while doing so.

Last week, I took a PonDeFLO class. I didn't really care for that, because we had to do floor work (burpees and mountain climbers) in the middle of the class! Wait, what? I wanted to dance to Caribbean-style music, not be doing Spartan Race stuff in the middle of it! So I wasn't as impressed by that.

Anyhow, yesterday I took two dance classes at my gym, the New York Health and Racquet Club. Both of the classes were not what you would normally expect me to do.

The first was a Belly Dancing Abs class! The description says it is "a 30-minute belly dance inspired workout that targets your core muscles." And that was basically it, with Middle Eastern belly dance type-music in the background. We did a lot of hip (as in body part hip, not "cool" hip) movements around the room. I also found myself really enjoying it, to my surprise! The moves were challenging for me, but not impossible. Stephanie, the instructor, was fun and a good teacher. And yes, it was a real workout. I am sore today from it!

Then I took a Masala Bhangra class taught by the same instructor. The description for this is that the class is "a blend of traditional Bhangra dance steps and Bollywood moves" What a trip! I felt like I was in a Bollywood movie! We learned various dance moves and performed them to high-energy Indian music.Again, the moves were challenging for me, but not impossible. And man, was it fun! We did a whole routine of going around the room doing these various moves, and I can't believe how much I enjoyed it!

I will definitely be back at the Masala Bhangra class, as well as the Belly Dancing Abs class. Who knows? Maybe I will actually show some sense of rhythm on the dance floor one day!

I have joked for years with Jon that we need "Subway Squawkers: The Musical." So now I have at least one scene mapped out: we do a group dance Masala Bhangra style!  Jon said we could call the number "Slumdog Squawker!"