Dear Readers,
Today I have made my blog private. You are one of the lucky few who have been given permission to view this blog, as I am going to now begin to share my true feelings about everything... OK well maybe I'll spare you from my thoughts on gas prices or which types of dogs I think are more attractive than others, but I'd like to share my thoughts and opinions on how this whole "being in a dance company" thing is going without the fear that my artistic director or fellow company members will read and decide to form an alliance against me, or just decide to hate me because they disagree... anyway, here are my thoughts:
1. The whole "Vampire & Werewolves" show idea freaks me out. No, I am not scared of vampires and/or werewolves (although the werewolves in Harry Potter are definitely scary looking), I really dislike the idea of dancing a tweaked version of the story of Twilight. I have spent the last few years NOT reading the Twilight books and definitely NOT watching the movies because they are ridiculous stories written for 8 year old girls that have turned in to a worldwide trend in which women (and men) of all ages indulge in and lust after teenage vampire men, which has then sparked society's obsession with vampires (which, according to the History Channel video that Matthew owns, is a real cult of people that no longer drink blood because it is unsafe, but drink synthetic blood-like substances, worship odd things, believe they are "undead" and live underground in hiding because they believe they are a threat to society... WHY IN THE WORLD IS THAT ENTICING?). ANYWAY, that was quite the rant just then but those are some of my thoughts on why I am not excited about this whole show idea, however Traves gave us quite the lowdown into the feel of the production and although it sounds like Twilight (which, like you have just learned, I don't like), IF he puts a TON of work and money and thought in to the way we produce this show, we may be able to pull it off. If it doesn't turn out, none of you will be invited and I will deny ever being a part of it... ;)
2. I am beginning to become frustrated with the way we are running our rehearsals. We are STILL working on "Pulse", which is the piece we have been working on since we began rehearsing in FEBRUARY. This piece is between 5 and 6 minutes in length and we have been learning from a video (I would understand something like this taking this long if he were choreographing from scratch, but it's already been done before, we're learning from a video of a performance from years and years ago). Traves organized the piece so that 4 of our dancers were in it and Katie and I are understudies, which is completely understandable, things happen, that's a safe choice, however when it takes 5 months to re-set a piece that's been done before, it's really frustrating to still not be in a piece... It is also very frustrating when girls continue to flake on rehearsal. Once again, I understand, things happen, sometimes we need to miss rehearsal, especially when it's smack dab in the middle of the weekend, but really, 3 weekends in a row?! I have missed ONE rehearsal since February, Katie has missed none, the other 4 girls are the girls that continue to flake which is another reason this piece is taking so long, half the time Traves just cancels rehearsal because the main girls won't be there which makes rehearsing pointless. But when that happens the girls forget the choreography because they don't review it during the week and then we spend the entire rehearsal going over everything they've already learned and that's what our rehearsal ends up becoming, a big ol' review session. I honestly don't know how he's expecting us to put together an entire show in the next couple of months, I'm up for the challenge, excited to move onward!
3. To piggy-back off of the last rant, you may no longer have to "Save the Date" for our September show. As of now Traves is only planning to put "Pulse" and a girls solo in to the show. Apparently there will be 2 other companies in the show as well that will perform. It just seems odd to me that Traves is putting together this ENTIRE show and he only wants to put 2 of his pieces in it... Also, if he only decides to put those 2 of our pieces in this show, Katie and I won't be in it at all. You would think if someone was putting together a show on their own they'd mostly feature their own company...
3. On a more positive note: We have been asked to perform in an industry showcase in August (20-21)!! Hopefully (I'll be praying for this), Traves won't just decide to do "Pulse". He mentioned that he wants to do something "Lady GaGa"-esque that is more appropriate for an industry showcase, rather than something that is more suitable for a company performance where all the pieces fit together (if you've danced before you may have more of an idea of what I'm talking about, if not, don't worry about it, I like Lady GaGa). This will hopefully be a good time to get to know our company members better and spend time together outside of rehearsal, it will also be nice to put together a more technical and fun piece to perform, and a GREAT chance and motivation to MOVE ON and be done with "Pulse"... haha can you tell I'm tired of it?
I think that's the end of my rant. I'm not usually this negative, I just haven't been able to voice my opinions and frustrations about the bad since the blog was open to anyone that wanted to see it. So to close I will say: Welcome to my new blog, heightened security, new URL and all, I am excited to be brutally honest with you from now on... ;)
I will leave you with one last thing. I am currently watching "So You Think You Can Dance" which just hosted a company called Axis (< click that link!), a company collaborating dancers with and without disabilities. Watch the video. I'm not sure how I feel about it, cool idea, weird that the person in a wheelchair becomes a type of moving prop for the dancer on foot... let me know what you think!
Also, I got sunburnt at the beach today, REALLY sunburnt... pray for me...
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Spectacular Moments during Typical Days in the PLNU Office of Admissions
This is less of a blog post and more of an ongoing log of working in the greatest office in San Diego, probably even in the whole world.
Starring: Emily James, Audrie Peveler and Jackie Scherer
Ongoing office records:
Speed walking to the printer and back to the front desk: Emily- 26 seconds
Ongoing project... the storage closet:
We were asked to clean and organize, here is our story (*Law & Order* dun-dun)
Friday, June 17, 2011- these "before" pictures were taken, Catharine goes over what needs to happen with most of the things within...
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Starring: Emily James, Audrie Peveler and Jackie Scherer
Ongoing office records:
Speed walking to the printer and back to the front desk: Emily- 26 seconds
Folding posters in half: Audrie- 8 in 1 minute
Ongoing quotes worth noting:
"Her mom is Hawaiian, her dad is bald... like that's some racial identification..."- Emily
"Yes, when I faked being engaged to my friend I got lots of those [engagement] ads, but now that I'm not, I get lots of coffin ads [on Facebook]..." -Audrie
Ongoing project... the storage closet:
We were asked to clean and organize, here is our story (*Law & Order* dun-dun)
Friday, June 17, 2011- these "before" pictures were taken, Catharine goes over what needs to happen with most of the things within...
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Audrie and Emily pull everything out, clean and organize:
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| Poop? Actually it's just a dirt clod... |
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| The iPod I inherited from lost & found |
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| Yup, we even found a finger! |
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| The hallway outside the storage closet |
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| I honestly don't know how it all fit |
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| The first look at our work-zone at the bottom of the stairs |
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| STILL more stuff... |
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| These are the signs we hung when we left it all out overnight |
This is Audrie's breakdown about the United States being a nation of consumerism...
And now, we have run in to a problem... we have more shelves, but no poles to set the shelves on... keep checking up to see what solution we find and what the finished product looks like!
Turns out, we don't need no shelves, because Audrie and I are amazing cleaner/organizers...
And now may I present, THE ORGANIZED STORAGE CLOSET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| All those boxes on the top... they're empty! |
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| THE FLOOR!!!! |
the end...
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| after |
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| before |
Catching Up
Well, I've got a bit of catching up to do... but since I didn't have rehearsal this last weekend it makes up for me being behind... right?
Rehearsal was great! We auditioned for the "queen vampire" role. To be honest, the audition was super awkward... we don't have any music yet so the combination we learned was without and Traves said, "I already know what your technique is like, so really this audition is just so I can see your performance as a vampire"... Emily doesn't perform with her face very well unless she's on stage in costume with loud music, none of those things happened during my audition, so not only did I look absolutely ridiculous, I felt stupid too! I definitely gotta work on mastering the vampire stare... Anyway, it was definitely out of my comfort zone which was kind of cool (definitely a fan of being pushed... most of the time). I got a "very good!" when I was finished so that was encouraging as well! Traves also likes to remind us during class that we're already in the company so we shouldn't be afraid of looking stupid, thank goodness we took that all to heart, it was also helpful that we all felt stupid at the same time (well, technically since we went one at a time it wasn't all at the same time BUT for the sake of the argument we'll consider the whole audition the same time?).
After the "audition" we continued working on the computer dance (I can't remember if he's picked a name for it yet). When we first started this piece it was meant to be completely serious but also ridiculous, "seriously ridiculous" some would say... So the beginning of the piece is crazy weird but we are supposed to look like we're serious about it all. Since beginning the piece Traves has decided it would work better as a flash performance and the choreography has evolved to fit that plan. We start body burping and twitching and move in to synchronized choreography and slowly start to mess around... Katie and I "Paula Abdul"-it (remember in middle school when you thought it was really cool to stand behind someone and you both would snake your bodies but in different directions? That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!), McCall attempts but can't master the snake move, causing Katie and I to spin and double high-five it. Yes, it is just as awesome as it sounds. Keep you eyes open for us at things like local farmers markets, Wal Marts, Balboa Park, etc... We'll be the ones most likely wrapped in tin foil and glitter (Traves admits, he LOVES sparkles).
INPUT NEEDED! Friends, if someone were to hand you a business card at a flash performance (of awesome-ness) that had a QR code on it, you would be stoked that someone was speaking your language right?! Especially if they were dancing to a song made BY computers FOR computers right?! I'm definitely going to need some feedback on this assumption. And in case the link above didn't describe it all for you, you scan this code with an app on your smart-phone and it would take you to our company's web page, telling you all about any upcoming performances or our bios, which are super legit... The following is what would go through my mind as a spectator during this performance:
"Oh shoot, it sounds like a computer is about to explode! Wait, it's music, and there's DANCERS! Shoooooooot, they're high fiving each other, awesome. They're really good, I wonder what company they're with.... (someone hands me a business card), oh cool, Butterworth Dance Company, no way, they're savvy enough to have a QR code on their business card! *SCAN* awesome! Their website is on my phone, that was so awesome and easy!!"
So obviously that's exactly how you would feel right? Ya, I thought so...
Anyway, the rest of my life has been hectic up until this week, we had a HUGE conference on campus through the admissions office called NACCAP (National Association of Christian College Admissions Professionals).
I don't know if anyone else realizes this, but it takes 2 whole days for about 10 people to make 500 beds... it was painstakingly long and tedious but we got the job done. I have also been in the process of begging local businesses to donate pamphlets, coupons and things to the event, I'm pretty sure I told you all about that already but I even managed to get 500 reusable grocery bags! It was great to see that all come together and not have to deal with begging people for free stuff anymore, and everyone loved them (I hope).
Our office is just about finished with events for the summer (excluding NYC which some counselors will attend and any camps they have to go to), but I'm completely done! I really love events but after not sleeping for like 2 weeks in a row, I (and the entire rest of my office) am thankful to get back to normal work. Audrie (another student worker for summer in admissions) and I have now been assigned a new project:
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the dreaded, "storage closet" aka "the black hole"
Rehearsal was great! We auditioned for the "queen vampire" role. To be honest, the audition was super awkward... we don't have any music yet so the combination we learned was without and Traves said, "I already know what your technique is like, so really this audition is just so I can see your performance as a vampire"... Emily doesn't perform with her face very well unless she's on stage in costume with loud music, none of those things happened during my audition, so not only did I look absolutely ridiculous, I felt stupid too! I definitely gotta work on mastering the vampire stare... Anyway, it was definitely out of my comfort zone which was kind of cool (definitely a fan of being pushed... most of the time). I got a "very good!" when I was finished so that was encouraging as well! Traves also likes to remind us during class that we're already in the company so we shouldn't be afraid of looking stupid, thank goodness we took that all to heart, it was also helpful that we all felt stupid at the same time (well, technically since we went one at a time it wasn't all at the same time BUT for the sake of the argument we'll consider the whole audition the same time?).
After the "audition" we continued working on the computer dance (I can't remember if he's picked a name for it yet). When we first started this piece it was meant to be completely serious but also ridiculous, "seriously ridiculous" some would say... So the beginning of the piece is crazy weird but we are supposed to look like we're serious about it all. Since beginning the piece Traves has decided it would work better as a flash performance and the choreography has evolved to fit that plan. We start body burping and twitching and move in to synchronized choreography and slowly start to mess around... Katie and I "Paula Abdul"-it (remember in middle school when you thought it was really cool to stand behind someone and you both would snake your bodies but in different directions? That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!), McCall attempts but can't master the snake move, causing Katie and I to spin and double high-five it. Yes, it is just as awesome as it sounds. Keep you eyes open for us at things like local farmers markets, Wal Marts, Balboa Park, etc... We'll be the ones most likely wrapped in tin foil and glitter (Traves admits, he LOVES sparkles).
INPUT NEEDED! Friends, if someone were to hand you a business card at a flash performance (of awesome-ness) that had a QR code on it, you would be stoked that someone was speaking your language right?! Especially if they were dancing to a song made BY computers FOR computers right?! I'm definitely going to need some feedback on this assumption. And in case the link above didn't describe it all for you, you scan this code with an app on your smart-phone and it would take you to our company's web page, telling you all about any upcoming performances or our bios, which are super legit... The following is what would go through my mind as a spectator during this performance:
"Oh shoot, it sounds like a computer is about to explode! Wait, it's music, and there's DANCERS! Shoooooooot, they're high fiving each other, awesome. They're really good, I wonder what company they're with.... (someone hands me a business card), oh cool, Butterworth Dance Company, no way, they're savvy enough to have a QR code on their business card! *SCAN* awesome! Their website is on my phone, that was so awesome and easy!!"
So obviously that's exactly how you would feel right? Ya, I thought so...
Anyway, the rest of my life has been hectic up until this week, we had a HUGE conference on campus through the admissions office called NACCAP (National Association of Christian College Admissions Professionals).
I don't know if anyone else realizes this, but it takes 2 whole days for about 10 people to make 500 beds... it was painstakingly long and tedious but we got the job done. I have also been in the process of begging local businesses to donate pamphlets, coupons and things to the event, I'm pretty sure I told you all about that already but I even managed to get 500 reusable grocery bags! It was great to see that all come together and not have to deal with begging people for free stuff anymore, and everyone loved them (I hope).
Our office is just about finished with events for the summer (excluding NYC which some counselors will attend and any camps they have to go to), but I'm completely done! I really love events but after not sleeping for like 2 weeks in a row, I (and the entire rest of my office) am thankful to get back to normal work. Audrie (another student worker for summer in admissions) and I have now been assigned a new project:
the dreaded, "storage closet" aka "the black hole"
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Young Hall, Kansas City, Elevate, Bible Quizzing and most importantly, Rehearsal
Long time, no post.
My dear friends, the last two weekends have been very uneventful... that's a lie, we just didn't have any rehearsals for me to blog about. The first few paragraphs contain information about my 2 weekends without rehearsal, if you find these completely boring and/or uninteresting you may scroll down to the big bold red letters spelling "rehearsal", that way you may skip the personal stuff and get down to brass tax (whatever that's supposed to mean)
The first weekend of no rehearsal was my last weekend in my beloved apartment, until the end of August that is (we actually chose the same apartment to reside in for our LAST year at PLNU). Everyone moved out and Emily was all alone (and to those of you who know me well, that is never a good thing, nor do I enjoy it), I came up with every excuse to have visitors whilst packing and cleaning before my move (including: "Brittney, I need my cooking supplies, you can move back in now" and "I need someone to watch 'House' with"). Saturday I attended the PLNU graduation. Actually, there were 3 that day but I went to the middle one... Adam was nice enough to share his tickets with Matthew and I so we got to sit with his family in the sun for 2 hours (believe it or not it was enjoyable ;) and a shout out to Adam's cousins of whom I've never met, I appreciate that you couldn't come so that I could attend).
That Monday I moved down to the nation's best surf dorm... Young Hall, although this link is NOT one of the better pictures of the dorm, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived, actually, I take it back, it IS the most beautiful place I have ever lived. Oh and yes, I did just spend 20 minutes finding a picture that gives you a small idea of what it's like to live here... This is the view from my pillow...
Ok, I'm done bragging now, but seriously... ok now I'm done.
I'm sorry, I just got really distracted... now back to my weekend, which I realize is mostly likely quite boring and unexciting to you. I moved, I have a lot less stuff than most people yet still managed to struggle organizing it all, bring on the challenge! Well, I managed to put everything somewhere and now I can't find anything I want... I've lost a wedding invitation which I need to RSVP to, and my fish food went missing for almost a week and a half, Steve got real upset with me.
That weekend on Sunday my dad called me out of the blue and asked if I wanted to go to Kansas City with him. I found out later that this proposal was only because he needed a way to convince my mother to go, but I can't complain, I got a free vacation out of it, also, I enjoy the fact that my mom will go because I'm going, not just because my dad's going... So anyway, he booked the tickets.
I worked during the week... duh.
The next Saturday morning I flew in to Kansas City, KS (Actually MO, but then we drove to KS), waiting for an hour and a half and then met up with the rest of the fam in the airport! By the way the whole basis of this trip was to visit family that lives there. My dad's cousin/also my cousin picked us up from the airport and took us on a tour of the city... Jeff knows everything there is to know, and more (and usually the "and more" is just a saying, this time it is not). Jeff knows every statistic, world record, historical event, word meaning, "per capita" fact and Kansas City exclusive known to man, which naturally makes him the best tour guide to have while exploring a city I am unfamiliar with (thanks Jeff!). The weekend was essentially uneventful... we literally ate (a LOT of midwestern food... which means I gained 5402875493 pounds), and hung around my dad's aunt's house, which I believe makes her my great aunt?! As uneventful as the weekend was, it was quite a blasty-blast. My Namibian cousin Lee got his US citizenship, cousins Lee and Josh graduated from high school and Zach graduated from college, quite the party weekend and a perfect excuse to fly out to visit everyone for a weekend. I really enjoyed reconnecting with the cousins, considering we haven't seen each other in YEARS.
Came back to work for the week and hit the ground running...
Elevate is a huge Nazarene Youth Camp that is hosted by PLNU, their contact with the school is our admissions office, so Catharine and I took charge. About 1,000 junior high and high school students graced us with their presence this weekend. There were lots of awkward jr. highers, one especially excited to show everyone his sunburn, many needing the "personal hygiene" talk that comes around middle school age. High schoolers are a bit more fun, but way too cool for any Elevate staff members... I spent the weekend driving around San Diego picking up gift cards for leaders, coffee at 7:30am and even Cheerio's for a kid who was allergic to gluten and refused to eat fruit (apparently Krispy Kreme doughnuts were NOT a good choice for this group, not only for the gluten allergies but really, who thought it was a good idea to feed teenagers pure sugar for breakfast?!).
I also got to witness a rare event... BIBLE QUIZZING. Yes, this is a real thing, and you must someday experience it. Link to World Bible Quiz Association. Here is a picture and then I will explain:
This isn't the best quality but it might give you a better idea of how this went down... so each team has 4 members and on their chairs there are little pads, as soon as the team member's hind end leaves the pad the buzzer goes off and they get to answer the question being asked. There are different kinds of questions (I don't remember their terms) but whenever one of them, I think it was the reference questions, was going to be asked the teams did this little arm/hand shake/thing I can't even explain. So then the speaker asks a question and whoever jumps up first gets to answer regardless if the speaker was done or not. Once a student has jumped up it is their opportunity to finish the question and answer completely, this year they had studied the book of John (I thought it was the whole bible which almost made me cry thinking about how much there was to memorize, this note made me feel much better...). Most of the time the student attempting to answer the question would do something weird in order to help themselves remember the answer, one kid bent over like he was about to puke, one girl kept pulling down her pants at the kneecaps, a lot of them would close their eyes or play with their fingers... this was INTENSE! One time the speaker said "This is a reference question (weird arm movements)... 'W'" BAM a girl jumped up, rattled off about 5 sentences of verse AND the reference, no sweat... it may have been the nerdiest think I have ever watched... and I know some BIG nerds ;). By the way, most of these kids are home-schooled, and most of these kids actually enjoy it...
REHEARSAL
So now that I've completely filled you in on just about anything that was remotely exciting in the past 2 weeks, I will continue on to the real reason I blog... rehearsal.
Some details will be spared, considering I don't know exactly who reads this...
We continued to learn, and actually finished, Pulse. I was also thrown (this "thrown" expression is only kind of literal in this context...) in to a bunch of different lifts and flips and such since the girl I understudy for was gone again. They were fun and scary and quite painful the day after (remember how I said my armpits hurt? yaaaaa). Anyway, finished the piece and moved on to the next!
After talking to Traves, the Artistic Director, about our show in September, I realized I may not actually be in the show, so that "Save the Date" post a while back, you can delete that for now... We have 2 guest companies coming to perform in this show and our company will be showcasing a solo that has been set on one of our dancers and Pulse (which I am not in as of now). Soooooooooooooooooooo unless Traves decides to add another piece or someone gets hurt (which, contrary to popular demand, I hope does NOT happen), I'll be spectating from backstage.
Good news! We will be producing our own show the 2 weeks before Halloween... this year Halloween falls on a Monday so I'm not quite sure WHICH weekends exactly, but I'll keep you posted. I just looked back at my blog to figure out if I have given you these deets (details), but I got bored of looking so I'll just tell you, either for the first or second time, you pick.
Listening to Traves explain the story line, all I could think is "really?". Let me tell you the story and you can try to guess what I thought of:
"A group of lady Vampires (yup, you probably already guessed it...) are traveling through a forest(?) when they're attacked by a clan of Werewolf men (if you didn't guess it after vampires, you now know exactly what I'm thinking). One vampire get separated from her gang (apparently she happens to be the vampire queen?) and her life is spared (I can't remember why). She then crosses paths with the main werewolf during the day but they don't recognize each other because (to my Admissions family: I just almost wrote "becasue" and thought of Shining Moments, to everyone else, please ignore this distraction) it is no longer a full moon and the werewolf is just a man. They fall in love. Their clans discipline them because their love is forbidden, and they are no longer allowed to see each other..."
At this point in the story I asked Traves, "So, like Twilight but dance?" (yes, I was that blunt) and he responded "No!"... then continued to finish the story:
"The vampire and the werewolf find a group of witches that can help them, they make a potion for each and then you see the vampire and the werewolf with the potions and then the lights go off... you never know if they drank the potion or not!"
Traves is stoked about this. After hearing his vision that goes along with the story I am a little more jazzed (hah, dance pun!), but I was definitely skeptical in the beginning considering I am NOT (and never will be) a Twilight fan...
Traves is planning this show to be outside, about 30 minutes, and interactive... Basically a haunted house idea through our studio, you walk through the back and stand in the middle of our "stage" and things are happening all around you, especially while the dances are going on... screams, bushes and tree branches shaking, the works. I am definitely excited to see this all come to life considering we will need to start from scratch on lighting, floors, boundry-ing the area, the whole set-up shebang.
Anyway, I am done explaining because I don't want to 1) get your hopes up or 2) give too much away if it's supposed to be a surprise.... you may already know too much (don't worry, I won't kill you, unless Traves makes me...) So, now you have this to look forward to. If it's done well it's going to be amazing and one of the most different performances I have ever been involved with.
OH! And I forgot one of the best parts! Traves' friend is creating ALL NEW, ORIGINAL music for the whole show! If that's not super cool then I don't know what is...
So in rehearsal we learned a piece of the vampire's solo and will be auditioning for the "vampire queen" role next weekend... we will end up with one vampire queen and the rest will be her horde (I think that term might only apply when discussing zombies?), and might also double as the group of witches at the end. Either way, lots of dancing!
Anyway, I just realized that this might be my longest blog post yet so I will let you go now, back to real life.
I will leave you with a quote from one of my favorite TV series, Arrested Development. If you haven't seen this show, you must, it will change your life...
sing this: "somewhere over the rainbow.......... there's another rainbow".
My dear friends, the last two weekends have been very uneventful... that's a lie, we just didn't have any rehearsals for me to blog about. The first few paragraphs contain information about my 2 weekends without rehearsal, if you find these completely boring and/or uninteresting you may scroll down to the big bold red letters spelling "rehearsal", that way you may skip the personal stuff and get down to brass tax (whatever that's supposed to mean)
The first weekend of no rehearsal was my last weekend in my beloved apartment, until the end of August that is (we actually chose the same apartment to reside in for our LAST year at PLNU). Everyone moved out and Emily was all alone (and to those of you who know me well, that is never a good thing, nor do I enjoy it), I came up with every excuse to have visitors whilst packing and cleaning before my move (including: "Brittney, I need my cooking supplies, you can move back in now" and "I need someone to watch 'House' with"). Saturday I attended the PLNU graduation. Actually, there were 3 that day but I went to the middle one... Adam was nice enough to share his tickets with Matthew and I so we got to sit with his family in the sun for 2 hours (believe it or not it was enjoyable ;) and a shout out to Adam's cousins of whom I've never met, I appreciate that you couldn't come so that I could attend).
That Monday I moved down to the nation's best surf dorm... Young Hall, although this link is NOT one of the better pictures of the dorm, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived, actually, I take it back, it IS the most beautiful place I have ever lived. Oh and yes, I did just spend 20 minutes finding a picture that gives you a small idea of what it's like to live here... This is the view from my pillow...
Ok, I'm done bragging now, but seriously... ok now I'm done.
I'm sorry, I just got really distracted... now back to my weekend, which I realize is mostly likely quite boring and unexciting to you. I moved, I have a lot less stuff than most people yet still managed to struggle organizing it all, bring on the challenge! Well, I managed to put everything somewhere and now I can't find anything I want... I've lost a wedding invitation which I need to RSVP to, and my fish food went missing for almost a week and a half, Steve got real upset with me.
That weekend on Sunday my dad called me out of the blue and asked if I wanted to go to Kansas City with him. I found out later that this proposal was only because he needed a way to convince my mother to go, but I can't complain, I got a free vacation out of it, also, I enjoy the fact that my mom will go because I'm going, not just because my dad's going... So anyway, he booked the tickets.
I worked during the week... duh.
The next Saturday morning I flew in to Kansas City, KS (Actually MO, but then we drove to KS), waiting for an hour and a half and then met up with the rest of the fam in the airport! By the way the whole basis of this trip was to visit family that lives there. My dad's cousin/also my cousin picked us up from the airport and took us on a tour of the city... Jeff knows everything there is to know, and more (and usually the "and more" is just a saying, this time it is not). Jeff knows every statistic, world record, historical event, word meaning, "per capita" fact and Kansas City exclusive known to man, which naturally makes him the best tour guide to have while exploring a city I am unfamiliar with (thanks Jeff!). The weekend was essentially uneventful... we literally ate (a LOT of midwestern food... which means I gained 5402875493 pounds), and hung around my dad's aunt's house, which I believe makes her my great aunt?! As uneventful as the weekend was, it was quite a blasty-blast. My Namibian cousin Lee got his US citizenship, cousins Lee and Josh graduated from high school and Zach graduated from college, quite the party weekend and a perfect excuse to fly out to visit everyone for a weekend. I really enjoyed reconnecting with the cousins, considering we haven't seen each other in YEARS.
Came back to work for the week and hit the ground running...
Elevate is a huge Nazarene Youth Camp that is hosted by PLNU, their contact with the school is our admissions office, so Catharine and I took charge. About 1,000 junior high and high school students graced us with their presence this weekend. There were lots of awkward jr. highers, one especially excited to show everyone his sunburn, many needing the "personal hygiene" talk that comes around middle school age. High schoolers are a bit more fun, but way too cool for any Elevate staff members... I spent the weekend driving around San Diego picking up gift cards for leaders, coffee at 7:30am and even Cheerio's for a kid who was allergic to gluten and refused to eat fruit (apparently Krispy Kreme doughnuts were NOT a good choice for this group, not only for the gluten allergies but really, who thought it was a good idea to feed teenagers pure sugar for breakfast?!).
I also got to witness a rare event... BIBLE QUIZZING. Yes, this is a real thing, and you must someday experience it. Link to World Bible Quiz Association. Here is a picture and then I will explain:
REHEARSAL
So now that I've completely filled you in on just about anything that was remotely exciting in the past 2 weeks, I will continue on to the real reason I blog... rehearsal.
Some details will be spared, considering I don't know exactly who reads this...
We continued to learn, and actually finished, Pulse. I was also thrown (this "thrown" expression is only kind of literal in this context...) in to a bunch of different lifts and flips and such since the girl I understudy for was gone again. They were fun and scary and quite painful the day after (remember how I said my armpits hurt? yaaaaa). Anyway, finished the piece and moved on to the next!
After talking to Traves, the Artistic Director, about our show in September, I realized I may not actually be in the show, so that "Save the Date" post a while back, you can delete that for now... We have 2 guest companies coming to perform in this show and our company will be showcasing a solo that has been set on one of our dancers and Pulse (which I am not in as of now). Soooooooooooooooooooo unless Traves decides to add another piece or someone gets hurt (which, contrary to popular demand, I hope does NOT happen), I'll be spectating from backstage.
Good news! We will be producing our own show the 2 weeks before Halloween... this year Halloween falls on a Monday so I'm not quite sure WHICH weekends exactly, but I'll keep you posted. I just looked back at my blog to figure out if I have given you these deets (details), but I got bored of looking so I'll just tell you, either for the first or second time, you pick.
Listening to Traves explain the story line, all I could think is "really?". Let me tell you the story and you can try to guess what I thought of:
"A group of lady Vampires (yup, you probably already guessed it...) are traveling through a forest(?) when they're attacked by a clan of Werewolf men (if you didn't guess it after vampires, you now know exactly what I'm thinking). One vampire get separated from her gang (apparently she happens to be the vampire queen?) and her life is spared (I can't remember why). She then crosses paths with the main werewolf during the day but they don't recognize each other because (to my Admissions family: I just almost wrote "becasue" and thought of Shining Moments, to everyone else, please ignore this distraction) it is no longer a full moon and the werewolf is just a man. They fall in love. Their clans discipline them because their love is forbidden, and they are no longer allowed to see each other..."
At this point in the story I asked Traves, "So, like Twilight but dance?" (yes, I was that blunt) and he responded "No!"... then continued to finish the story:
"The vampire and the werewolf find a group of witches that can help them, they make a potion for each and then you see the vampire and the werewolf with the potions and then the lights go off... you never know if they drank the potion or not!"
Traves is stoked about this. After hearing his vision that goes along with the story I am a little more jazzed (hah, dance pun!), but I was definitely skeptical in the beginning considering I am NOT (and never will be) a Twilight fan...
Traves is planning this show to be outside, about 30 minutes, and interactive... Basically a haunted house idea through our studio, you walk through the back and stand in the middle of our "stage" and things are happening all around you, especially while the dances are going on... screams, bushes and tree branches shaking, the works. I am definitely excited to see this all come to life considering we will need to start from scratch on lighting, floors, boundry-ing the area, the whole set-up shebang.
Anyway, I am done explaining because I don't want to 1) get your hopes up or 2) give too much away if it's supposed to be a surprise.... you may already know too much (don't worry, I won't kill you, unless Traves makes me...) So, now you have this to look forward to. If it's done well it's going to be amazing and one of the most different performances I have ever been involved with.
OH! And I forgot one of the best parts! Traves' friend is creating ALL NEW, ORIGINAL music for the whole show! If that's not super cool then I don't know what is...
So in rehearsal we learned a piece of the vampire's solo and will be auditioning for the "vampire queen" role next weekend... we will end up with one vampire queen and the rest will be her horde (I think that term might only apply when discussing zombies?), and might also double as the group of witches at the end. Either way, lots of dancing!
Anyway, I just realized that this might be my longest blog post yet so I will let you go now, back to real life.
I will leave you with a quote from one of my favorite TV series, Arrested Development. If you haven't seen this show, you must, it will change your life...
sing this: "somewhere over the rainbow.......... there's another rainbow".
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