if you were me...

I have a slight dilemma.

I've mentioned here before that I began taking dance classes again last Fall. After 15+ years spent as "a dancer," I abandoned my former hobby when college classes called and had not stepped foot in a real studio in about 5 years. I started off slowly by taking tap but now enjoy standing in the back of my beginning jazz classes and working up a sweat while being completely upstaged by pint-sized pros half my age.

That is, when I can find a class that works with my schedule.

The awesome thing about NYC is that is the dance mecca and I can come to any ol' class I want any ol' time I feel like it. During the summers, when I benefit from publishing hours and thus summer fridays, I attend my favorite class on Friday afternoons every other week. But with the month half gone, this is going to stop soon and I will be struggling once again to find classes that fit in with my busy schedule, making the difficult choice between dance, social life, and work (as I had to today when I decided to accept a job tomorrow night instead of going to dance as I had planned. Ugh! Saturday nights are always hard.)

I love it though. I may stand in the back and not be as flexible as I once was but it reminds me of home. It is home.

But it isn't enough. Some weeks I don't go to class because I can't find one that works with my schedule with an instructor I like at my level. Or, if I go to class, an hr and a half (a week, that is) doesn't feel like enough exercise for me. Sometimes I work out at home or go running in the park. Sometimes is the key word there. I need more flexibility and more options. I need a gym.

I wish I could afford both but I can't. If I get a gym membership I can't really afford to pay steeper class fee (that's without the pass discount) to dance once every week or so. My roommate just keeps telling me to take the "dance" classes they have at the gym but all dancers (or former dancers) out there know that it ain't the same thing. At all. And if I'm being completely honest with myself, I am most likely to start out well with the gym but get bored and let it taper off. At least with dance I love it so that motivates me to go when I don't feel like it. Albeit not as frequently since I have to schedule in specific classes.

I can't decide and my dance class pass is almost up so after I get back from CA I want to make a decision for Fall and get my blood going more frequently.

What would you do? What do you do to get your heart rate up?