Human

Have you ever seen a show, a movie, heard a song, seen a painting, seen ANYTHING, that has made you so excited to be a human being? I listened to a song that had notes arranged in a way that brought me to tears. Human abilities never stop fascinating me. We are the only species on the planet with this exceptional and beautiful ability to create art. People think of things, and from their mind comes pure brilliance. It gets me excited to think about people creating and choreographing not just dances, but scenes that depict real human emotions. So much can be said with a little imagination and art. To have the freedom to express ideas creatively is a gift many take for granted.

Some days I am disappointed in humans. Some days I am frustrated with closed, stubborn, judgmental individuals. But today I am excited to be human. Today, I am excited to see what other humans can say with their talents. The talents that I see give me hope that the world is capable of being a better place. Human beings have the rare capacity to express and feel. This can and should continue to change lives.

Principle

I am back from my extended stay in LA. Gaining some experience out there was priceless. It really clues me in to my likes and dislikes. Experiences that highlight what your goals are are critical to all artists.

The new semester has started and already has my head spinning. There are so many possibilities this semester. We have show to put together in less than 8 weeks, a possible trip to ACDF in Louisiana, and a possible trip to France. A tour in France would make this year more exciting and wonderful than ever.

Hopefully in between all of this I can find some time to update my blog, and continue being creative. My creative outlets are dancing, drawing, playing the piano, and taking photographs. If I have to force myself to find time for all of these things, then I will. I have too many ideas swirling around in my brain and I need to get them out so I can see them.

The biggest news is that I was cast as a principle role in our production this semester. There were about 6 big parts that were cast. We are putting on a variation of The Wizard of Oz. Our version will be called The Wyos of Oz. All of the music will be played on stage by the band The Wyos. It is going to be an abstracted version of the original Wizard. I was cast as the equivalent of Glenda the Good Witch. I am excited to create a character and try my hand at a little acting along with my dancing. This will be a great experience and wonderful challenge for me to take on.

Good things, good things.

You. Better. Work.

The fall semester has wrapped up and winter break is well underway. It feels good to be done with another semester. I can officially call myself a senior. All of the hard work I have put into my education has led to this. Everything I have been working for has been for this year. My final year as an official student (I hope to always be a student in life). I look back, though, and wonder where the time went.

Nevertheless, I am happy for a break. This break, I am spending with my best friend and love, Mark Toland. He is a magician in the great city of L.A. What an exciting adventure this provides me! It is my last year in college and I am already getting a glimpse of what life has in store post-graduation. The real exciting news that I want to share is that I have already found work. This is so promising, for me. I am not even a college grad and I have landed a short gig teaching over winter break. The winter break that I am fortunately spending in L.A.

This is exciting to someone new. This is wonderful for someone just starting out. My first job that I can list on my resume. Wow. How cool is that? It really renews my faith that I can do this. I can really venture into this crazy world of art, performance, entertainment, teaching, and whatever else life has in store for me.

I just wanted to share my excitement with you all. I hope that the work keeps on coming for everyone!

News!

One week until the end of the semester. Time is really tricky. Sometimes it seems like everything is moving so slowly and you blink and suddenly so much has passed. I am not quite sure how it happened, but the choreography final is tomorrow and everyone finished. We will call it theatre magic. Somehow it all gets pulled together in the end.

My group piece was inspired by the quote “If two people love each other, there can be no happy end to it” by Ernest Hemingway. The first time I read it, I thought, “man that is a depressing outlook.” It took a while for that concept to sink in. Humans strive to make connections with one another. We spend our whole lives making relationships with each other as friends, lovers, parents, and so on. In some way or another, all of these relationships will end, maybe not badly or sourly, but they will end. It is about growing up and apart from each other as you continue your own journey through life. I am at that stage now. As friends grow up and graduate from college or fall in love and get married, I realize none of them are on my particular path and we will part our ways. It shouldn’t be sad, but rather a realization that life takes you in all kinds of directions, but your direction is completely unique from everyone else’s.

I titled my piece Up and Apart. This video is from a dress rehearsal. The dancers were wonderful. Please note that one upstage boom was not cooperating throughout dress rehearsal, so some shots in the video are much darker than they will be during the actual performance.

It feels so good to complete a project and put your creativity out there for everyone to see. I decided to really put myself out there and audition this particular piece for the American College Dance Festival next semester. Much to my surprise, my piece was chosen to go. The university always takes a faculty piece and a student piece. Out of the six pieces that were auditioned, mine was chosen. I really can’t tell you how surprised and thankful I was for that opportunity.

Enjoy!

A look at Pina

This past week a guest came into the dance department. He was a student that graduated from my dance department in the 1980’s. For the past 15 years or so, he has been dancing with Pina Bausch in Germany. Being around that kind of success and professionalism is really priceless. I tried to soak up information from him like a sponge. He taught two modern classes and spoke in our choreography class. Being that close to the real deal makes you jump into action. It makes my goals seem closer and not some intangible thing.

The best advice I took from dancing with him for the week, was that it is all about hard work. Keep looking and you will find something, but it will always be hard. I can’t wait! Bring the challenges on!

(the picture above is a shot from The Rite of Spring)

Moving Along

It is the end of October and our Kansas Dance Festival concert is in one week. Time moves by at such a fast pace, it is hard to keep up.

In choreography class, we have had several assignments due, and even squeezed in a trip to the local art museum to gain some much need creative inspiration. I can't say that I left the art museum renewed and refreshed with brilliant ideas, but you never know what will come of a great trip like that.

Solos were due this week and that had me completely rattled. I changed ideas so many times before settling. I finally decided that it would be great exercise to re-structure a combination that I did over the summer. The music changed, the mood changed, and most of the movement morphed which is exactly what I was going for. The video is posted below. You will see many similarities to the original combination which I posted a while back to the song Free Fallin'.

The next big project on my list is a group piece and I have about 2 weeks to pull the whole thing together. I am auditioning that piece to go to the American College Dance Festival, to either be performed at the informal concert, or the formal concert where it will be judged and critiqued.

This is something I am really inspired to work on and I hope I can get it done in time! After I gain some more headway on that project, I hope to write an entire post on the inspiration for that idea. I feel like I have a lot to say about it. Until then, I have to keep creating!

Fall Begins

Fall semester is well underway. In just a week it will be midterm. Time goes by so quickly it seems. This fall, I am dancing in a total of 3 pieces. One is an excerpt from the ballet Coppelia. It will be beautiful. Another piece is a twist on modern and jazz, which should be fun. Lastly, is my favorite piece so far. It is a contemporary ballet/modern piece. The choreography is absolutely stunning and I am thrilled to have been chosen to perform in it. Overall I am excited for the show in November.

Choreography class has been an interesting experience, and I am hungry to keep learning more. I like my classes to go at a fast pace, and so far this has been dragging. I have so many ideas that I want to get out there and I feel like I need that push and urgency. I am creating with or without the help of the class. That group piece I mentioned in past posts is still stirring around in my mind. I also am excited to start a duet. It has such a unique feel to it. I can't wait to get it out there and perform it. Some of these ideas are still just in the creative stage, and I can't say too much yet. I wish I could share every little detail, but it wouldn't make sense.

I started working on the duet. There is just a small chunk that I performed for choreography class. It was my first run, and I am in love with the movement. Now for some shaping and molding to get it just right!