less backwards

This is THE piece. 

The piece that gave me all of the bruises, wounds and marley burns. The piece that pushed me to point of exhaustion day after day. The piece that forced me to grow in so many ways as a dancer in just two weeks. The piece that allowed me to finally say that I can/could be a modern dancer. The piece that asked me to abandon all attachment to being a beautiful, elegant ballerina. The piece that I didn't think I could get through, let alone perform. 

The piece that I did perform.

 The piece that I actually got complimented on performing by several good modern dancers. 

The piece that finally gave me enough arm strength to do push ups :P 

The piece that I finally understood physically, mentally and emotionally in last minutes of the piece during the last time I performed it--I was probably the most physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted I've ever been in my life, but I still distinctly remember the feeling I had as I rolled onto to my back, crawled along the floor, slowly stood up and bent over backwards with the lights fading to black. 

A Life Less Backwards, Raw Edges 2013 

photo credit: Kaylyn Stack 

wonderful evening

SAVION GLOVER CAME TO THE MARY D'ANGELO PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TONIGHT :D 

The performance was marvelous :)

floating and falling

 Also in 2280 Pints, we danced to a Hebrew pop song. At the end of the song, we had to "float" as seen in the picture below . . . 

2280 Pints, Raw Edges 2013

photo credit: Maggie Sullivan

. . . and then we had to abruptly fall off our buckets. 

2280 Pints, Raw Edges 2013

photo credit: Maggie Sullivan

At the Saturday afternoon show, the audience audibly laughed at our fall :) 

bucket head

2280 Pints, Raw Edges 2013

photo credit: Maggie Sullivan

Another one of the pieces in 2280 Pints was to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal". I and four other dancers did the whole piece with buckets on our heads. It was mildly terrifying and also a lot of fun :) 

drumming

Many of the students on the backstage crew as well as quite a few photography students took pictures of the performance I was in this weekend. So my picture-of-the-day is going to be performance pictures for the next week or two :) 

2280 Pints, Raw Edges 2013

photo credit: Maggie Sullivan 

The first piece in 2280 Pints didn't have any music. The whole piece was bucket percussion. We alternated between drumming with the whole bucket, using the handle against the side of the bucket and drumming on top of the bucket. Percussion has never been a strength of mine so this was definitely a challenging piece for me even though there wasn't any dancing. 

hippie store

That moment when your non-dancer roommate walks into the living room and says that it smells like a hippie store because you have Icy Hot on shoulders, Lavender Shea Butter on your feet and Burts Bees on your lips.
 . . . dancer problems . . .

counting

show wounds 

    bruises

      right wrist - 2

      right elbow - 3

      right thigh - 1
      right knee - 2

      left knee - 3

      right foot - 1

      left foot - 2

   marley burns

     right shoulder

     right knee

     left knee

     right foot

     left foot

   open wounds

     right foot - 4

     left foot - 6

tech wounds

   raw, skinned palms and fingers (carrying large panels of unfinished wood isn't the most fun experience) 

. . . yeah, it's been a long weekend 

Now for more positive things

- I got to go the top catwalk in the PAC :) I could touch the ceiling (51') of the theater :) 

- I took the gels out of the box booms which pretty much means scaling a metal frame and hanging over the top bar (which is at least 6 times my height) to reach the lights

- I performed all weekend and, by the grace of God, still had enough energy to strike the stage
- The range of dance styles I am comfortable performing has increased drastically
- I got a lot of really wonderful compliments concerning the really hard (technically and physically) piece I was cast in :) 

- My parents and grandparents all drove 8 hours to come see my show :) . . . and they surprised me :) I assumed they wouldn't be able to come. After my Saturday afternoon show, my mom called to say that they were five minutes from my campus and wanted to know if I wanted to go out to eat before my next show :) They stayed for my evening performance and church Sunday morning :) :) :) 

Now for regular college things like homework and laundry . . . and eating and sleeping at regular times :)