On March 18, the SPA dancers had their first show in a professional theater. It was at Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick. The morning was spent rehearsing and preparing to leave and packing up the set into the van. When we walked into the theater, it brought back memories of summer theater camp and teaching the kids. It was my first time actually dancing there though. We unloaded the van and began to put down the marley and put the set in place. After all of that was done, we had to light the show. After the show was lit, we went over a few pieces and ran a few pieces and then took a dinner break and got ready for the show.
Surprisingly, I wasn't too nervous about the performance, but I was still nervous. Mid way through the first piece I realized that there was a chair in the wings when it should've been on stage. I asked Kiara to take it out when we walked on for Time since it would have been the least noticeable. From what I saw, the rest of the show went without much problem. After the show, Ashlei and I collected the costumes from everybody, then got dressed in our "fancy clothes". The experience will stay with me, even though I'm sure to have more experiences like this.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Catching Up
Over the last month, we performed at Crossroads Theatre, started anatomy and nutrition, started working with Michelle Robinson, and I auditioned for Slippery Rock University and got accepted. Last week, I wore a new leotard each day to decide which one to wear for my final college audition for Towson University. At the end of the week, Ms. Mack helped me decide that my halter leo with a cutout and a low back was the one to wear for my audition. Also, Ms. Mack started a ballet piece to Vivaldi. I can't wait to see the finished product.
On April 16, I had my final college audition at Towson University. To prepare for my audition, I got highlights on Thursday night, which looked great when I pulled my hair back. The morning of the audition, I woke up sick and on top of that, it was raining. Luckily once I started dancing, the stomach pain went away and I felt better. There was a ballet portion, modern, and a little improv at the end. I danced my best and I made sure to get up front when I could. After the audition, my parents and I toured the Center for the Arts and it was beautiful. Later that night, I went back to see a dance performance, which I enjoyed. Hopefully I get my letter tomorrow telling me if I got accepted or not. The worst part of an audition is waiting to find out if you made it or not.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Last Few Weeks
The last few weeks have been crazy. We managed to put together a video for the Green Tech Expo, which we didn't place in, start rehearsal for Twelve Princesses, and start Stuart's piece over from the beginning. But we also took technique class, which was a nice change cause we hadn't taken them in a while. I have also attended 2 college dance auditions, one at Marymount Manhattan and one at SUNY Purchase.
From February 26th to March 4, I worked on my audition solo nonstop and got help from Ms. Mack and my fellow peers. By Friday, I felt ready for my audition at Marymount the following day. After my parents and I got into the city and parked, my parents and I walked to Marymount. For some reason, I was really nervous but that went away a little bit after I got to the college. We checked in, got our names, and went into the studio and warmed up. It started off bad because we started late and someone was supposed to come in and put us in order and they never did, which took another 20 minutes. It was supposed to be a shortened ballet class, a modern combination, a jazz combination, and supposedly an optional tap portion. The panel only walked by each barre once. When we got into the center there were 11 groups, with 2 lines in each. After each group going at least twice, which took about half an hour, we learned a jumping combination, and another 20 minutes or so later, we moved onto the modern combination, or should I say exercise. We did that one time each line so there were 22 groups. The final thing we did was the jazz combination. That was the most difficult part. When they told us to switch lines, nobody would move back, so as I tried to move forward, I kept getting pushed back farther. Besides not being able to see the teacher, I also couldn't hear him. As the other groups were going, I was doing the combination on the side of the room, but when we got in front of the panel, I blanked out. After that, I was sure that I wasn't going to get a call back. When they posted the list, I was not surprised.
That next Monday, March 7, I took a walking tour of Towson University in Maryland. I'm hoping to get into the school. The campus is beautiful, they have about 22,000 students but it still has a small school feel, and there's always professors there to help you.
In school on Tuesday, we took a technique class with the freshmen, and Amanda came to visit. 8th period we learned a new phrase to possibly put into Time. On Wednesday, we cleaned the afternoon 12 princesses piece by section, which took up most of the time with the freshmen. 8th period, we cleaned up Time. On Thursday, we had Stuart. We ended up starting his piece over again. Friday, I had my audition at SUNY Purchase. I thought it went a lot better than the Marymount. I enjoyed the audition class a lot more. Instead of having all of the people auditioning in one room, they split us up so there were less than 30 people in each room. The modern portion of the audition was a lot longer than at Marymount. When they put up the list of numbers that had callbacks, I was surprised that I was not on the list. I couldn't believe that I missed a rehearsal at school for another rejection. 3 colleges down. 1 to go. I'm starting to think maybe it wasn't meant for me to go to college for dance.
From February 26th to March 4, I worked on my audition solo nonstop and got help from Ms. Mack and my fellow peers. By Friday, I felt ready for my audition at Marymount the following day. After my parents and I got into the city and parked, my parents and I walked to Marymount. For some reason, I was really nervous but that went away a little bit after I got to the college. We checked in, got our names, and went into the studio and warmed up. It started off bad because we started late and someone was supposed to come in and put us in order and they never did, which took another 20 minutes. It was supposed to be a shortened ballet class, a modern combination, a jazz combination, and supposedly an optional tap portion. The panel only walked by each barre once. When we got into the center there were 11 groups, with 2 lines in each. After each group going at least twice, which took about half an hour, we learned a jumping combination, and another 20 minutes or so later, we moved onto the modern combination, or should I say exercise. We did that one time each line so there were 22 groups. The final thing we did was the jazz combination. That was the most difficult part. When they told us to switch lines, nobody would move back, so as I tried to move forward, I kept getting pushed back farther. Besides not being able to see the teacher, I also couldn't hear him. As the other groups were going, I was doing the combination on the side of the room, but when we got in front of the panel, I blanked out. After that, I was sure that I wasn't going to get a call back. When they posted the list, I was not surprised.
That next Monday, March 7, I took a walking tour of Towson University in Maryland. I'm hoping to get into the school. The campus is beautiful, they have about 22,000 students but it still has a small school feel, and there's always professors there to help you.
In school on Tuesday, we took a technique class with the freshmen, and Amanda came to visit. 8th period we learned a new phrase to possibly put into Time. On Wednesday, we cleaned the afternoon 12 princesses piece by section, which took up most of the time with the freshmen. 8th period, we cleaned up Time. On Thursday, we had Stuart. We ended up starting his piece over again. Friday, I had my audition at SUNY Purchase. I thought it went a lot better than the Marymount. I enjoyed the audition class a lot more. Instead of having all of the people auditioning in one room, they split us up so there were less than 30 people in each room. The modern portion of the audition was a lot longer than at Marymount. When they put up the list of numbers that had callbacks, I was surprised that I was not on the list. I couldn't believe that I missed a rehearsal at school for another rejection. 3 colleges down. 1 to go. I'm starting to think maybe it wasn't meant for me to go to college for dance.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Show Day :D February 4, 2011
Friday, February 4, was the most hectic day of the week. It was full of technical problems. All of the dancers spent the day in the auditorium working, teching, and rehearsing the show. We ran through the show with costumes and took notes again while we were not dancing. Before we started rehearsal, Ms. Mack finished up the program and sent it off to be printed. We split into groups to clean up the auditorium before we started. After warming ourselves up, we ran through pieces that Ms. Mack had not seen the day before and Hana and I taped down the masonite on the back of the stage. After that was done, we started a run through of the whole show. When we got to the senior piece, Ms. Mack put on a new song for it since we did not like the other music and it did not fit the piece. The new music worked out a lot better.
After we came back from lunch, we started a dress rehearsal of the entire show. After we finished the first run, we sat down and gave each other our notes that we had. When we started the second run, the lightboard started malfunctioning and kept turning off. Ms. Mack had someone go get yoga mats from the studio for her to sit on to absorb her electricity. The rest of the run through went without technical difficulties. When 3:30 came, we did not get to finish the second run through of the show.
When we got back from our dinner break, we had until 5:00 to be on the stage with foundational make up on. We did a full warm up and went to finish getting ready. When it came time for the show, it was a little noisy backstage. But other than that, the show seemed to go pretty well.
After we came back from lunch, we started a dress rehearsal of the entire show. After we finished the first run, we sat down and gave each other our notes that we had. When we started the second run, the lightboard started malfunctioning and kept turning off. Ms. Mack had someone go get yoga mats from the studio for her to sit on to absorb her electricity. The rest of the run through went without technical difficulties. When 3:30 came, we did not get to finish the second run through of the show.
When we got back from our dinner break, we had until 5:00 to be on the stage with foundational make up on. We did a full warm up and went to finish getting ready. When it came time for the show, it was a little noisy backstage. But other than that, the show seemed to go pretty well.
Monday, February 7, 2011
February 3, 2011
On Thursday, February 3, it was time to really get focused and get ready for the show the next day. During 4th period, Ashlei and I went down to the auditorium to give Ms. Mack the list of pieces from the afternoon class. We ended up having to find Shannon and Zaynah because before they left, they didn't put the information into the program that they were supposed to. Once we found them and got them to the auditorium, Ashlei and I headed back to English.
When we went to shop 5th period, we inputted some of the information into the program until we had to change and warm up. Once we were warmed up, we got into costume and ran through our pieces with lights. We basically did that for the rest of the time. We also took notes for pieces that we were not in. After school, I got to give Cho and Rachel their notes and they gave me mine because their bus driver was late. When I got home I relaxed and prepared for the show the following day.
When we went to shop 5th period, we inputted some of the information into the program until we had to change and warm up. Once we were warmed up, we got into costume and ran through our pieces with lights. We basically did that for the rest of the time. We also took notes for pieces that we were not in. After school, I got to give Cho and Rachel their notes and they gave me mine because their bus driver was late. When I got home I relaxed and prepared for the show the following day.
February 2, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, we had off because of "ice" which was pretty much gone by 11 AM.
February 1, 2011
On Tuesday, February 1, we went into the auditorium to get ready for the Student Choreography Show on Friday. We started with picking out our costumes for our pieces. After we chose our costumes, we rehearsed our pieces on the stage, sharing the space of course. This day was stressful because we were supposed to have our after school tech rehearsal, but Mr.Biscko wouldn't allow it since the ice storm was coming, and the odds of us having school the next day were very thin. There was still things that needed to get done. The pieces still needed to be lit and the program still had to be complete. I had no doubt that we would be able to get it done though.
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