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Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
It's...Tracy!!
I was told that we were doing Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now and Without Love (later was cut because Seaweed couldn't make it). I was thinking about what part I would be doing because in the show, I wasn't in that number. It was just the lead girls and their mamas. Plus some young girls in the scaffolding dressed in jammies. I'm 29 so I was starting to think "There's no way I'm playing a kid, right? I apparently look 18ish but I can't see playing a kid. Could I be Tracy?!" but pushed that aside because NO WAY.
I turned up for the first rehearsal for this number and the only people there were the women playing Penny and Amber, and their stage moms. Inside, I'm dancing because again, NO WAY.
I was Tracy. I was cast as Tracy. Because I was asked specifically to be in this and was a lead, I was treated almost like VIP. I only was expected to be at a few rehearsals and one was the dress rehearsal. Then we had two weekends of performances. Eight shows. It was awesome!
Some photos:
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| My costume. I looooved it! Made just for me! |
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| The 'do. |
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| It's TRACY!! |
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| Tracy and her bff Penny |
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| Tracy and Velma Von Tussle... |
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| ...who are basically sworn enemies. |
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| Me (back there) singing "I know that you want what's best(...but mother please, GIVE IT A REST!)" |
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| hahaha Here I am, singing "Once upon a time, I was a shy, young thing. Could barely walk and talk, so much as dance and sing. (But let me hit that stage, I wanna take my bow, 'cause, Mama, I'm a big girl now!) |
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| "Mama, I'm a big girl now!" *end pose* |
I will never forget this experience. I want to be in 5038275 more shows!
Life Lately
Okay, I'm terrible. I didn't mean to let this much time go between posting. But it happened and here we are. Oops.
The semester ended at the community college where I take dance classes. We had our big end-of-semester show at the end of May. We do three shows (usually four but the Children's Free Theatre show didn't happen because the kids were already out of school. Cue sadface.); Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday matinee. Honestly, I feel that this was possibly the worst I'd done in a show in a long time. I was in eight numbers, which is normal, but I had a double knee injury and it just really affected my performance. I was in a lyrical number, a waltz, a ballet/pointe, four modern numbers, and a jazz number. My pointe number went okay a couple of the nights, but I failed miserably the final night by wobbling on the pas-de-bourree RIGHT IN FRONT. I was mortified. And because my shoes were definitely not the right fit, I had to do some of the pointe work on demi, which I hated. I have never felt secure doing piques on the left but they really sucked and I ended up doing them on demi. Grrr.
My favorite numbers were Not The Only One, a modern number to the song by Sam Smith, and the waltz, which was So She Dances by Josh Groban. That was my favorite favorite. I loved the lifts I got to do. It was one of the most challenging things I've had to do, especially being plus-sized. But I did it and I'm glad I got the opportunity.
Picture time! I found these on Facebook.
...
The studio I teach ballet and lyrical at also did a show. It was June 9th, a week and a half after the other show. It went mostly well, but there were a few hiccups! My Intermediate Ballet students (two of them) didn't even meet until the show. One is sixteen years old, Kylie, and was in other shows that conflicted with our dress rehearsal times. She only made 1/3 of them. She was taking my class on Friday. The other is twenty-one years old (Jenny) and I taught her on Sundays, in a private lesson. She learned the same dance but reversed from the other girl. So you can see how this would make for an interesting number! Also, the older one made our costumes (love her), but didn't get there until after the show started, so she missed the quick lighting run we did as well.
Speaking of lighting runs, because Jenny (^) is also in my lyrical number (with a 13 year old Lyrical student) and was late, I had to do the number with the 13 year old (Bella) for the lighting run. I wasn't prepared for this and didn't have time to warm up much, and in one part of my dance, there is a split. I'm a lefty for flexibility, but my students are ALL rightys, so I switched the split from left to right. This, coupled with not being warmed up, meant that when I went into the split, I heard a tear. I finished the run of the number, but was crying (around my students and dance moms!!) and limping for much of the show. It was brutal I tell you, brutal! I'm still healing from that. I actually tore my semitendinosus. OUCH. Anything requiring a battement or split or anything like that to the front, but especially the side, on my right hurts like hell. But, hey, now I'm a great bad example for when my little students don't want to stretch in class! lol. "Well, I'm sorry, but you have to, otherwise you can end up hurting like Miss Erika! Trust me, stretching is better than having an ouchie." LEARN FROM THIS.
The semester ended at the community college where I take dance classes. We had our big end-of-semester show at the end of May. We do three shows (usually four but the Children's Free Theatre show didn't happen because the kids were already out of school. Cue sadface.); Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday matinee. Honestly, I feel that this was possibly the worst I'd done in a show in a long time. I was in eight numbers, which is normal, but I had a double knee injury and it just really affected my performance. I was in a lyrical number, a waltz, a ballet/pointe, four modern numbers, and a jazz number. My pointe number went okay a couple of the nights, but I failed miserably the final night by wobbling on the pas-de-bourree RIGHT IN FRONT. I was mortified. And because my shoes were definitely not the right fit, I had to do some of the pointe work on demi, which I hated. I have never felt secure doing piques on the left but they really sucked and I ended up doing them on demi. Grrr.
My favorite numbers were Not The Only One, a modern number to the song by Sam Smith, and the waltz, which was So She Dances by Josh Groban. That was my favorite favorite. I loved the lifts I got to do. It was one of the most challenging things I've had to do, especially being plus-sized. But I did it and I'm glad I got the opportunity.
Picture time! I found these on Facebook.
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| Our Jazz number, Time Of My Life. I'm in the second row, center. |
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| Same as above. Plie chaines into an axel turn. WHYYY am I leaning forward?! |
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| A modern number, Wake Me Up. Why, hello, left leg. Whatcha doin'? |
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| Me and the boyfriend (also a dancer). I'm in my Not The Only One costume. |
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| My beautiful flowers I got! |
The studio I teach ballet and lyrical at also did a show. It was June 9th, a week and a half after the other show. It went mostly well, but there were a few hiccups! My Intermediate Ballet students (two of them) didn't even meet until the show. One is sixteen years old, Kylie, and was in other shows that conflicted with our dress rehearsal times. She only made 1/3 of them. She was taking my class on Friday. The other is twenty-one years old (Jenny) and I taught her on Sundays, in a private lesson. She learned the same dance but reversed from the other girl. So you can see how this would make for an interesting number! Also, the older one made our costumes (love her), but didn't get there until after the show started, so she missed the quick lighting run we did as well.
Speaking of lighting runs, because Jenny (^) is also in my lyrical number (with a 13 year old Lyrical student) and was late, I had to do the number with the 13 year old (Bella) for the lighting run. I wasn't prepared for this and didn't have time to warm up much, and in one part of my dance, there is a split. I'm a lefty for flexibility, but my students are ALL rightys, so I switched the split from left to right. This, coupled with not being warmed up, meant that when I went into the split, I heard a tear. I finished the run of the number, but was crying (around my students and dance moms!!) and limping for much of the show. It was brutal I tell you, brutal! I'm still healing from that. I actually tore my semitendinosus. OUCH. Anything requiring a battement or split or anything like that to the front, but especially the side, on my right hurts like hell. But, hey, now I'm a great bad example for when my little students don't want to stretch in class! lol. "Well, I'm sorry, but you have to, otherwise you can end up hurting like Miss Erika! Trust me, stretching is better than having an ouchie." LEARN FROM THIS.
And now, some photos from THAT show:
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| I'm in the back. My studio owner is in the middle, a fellow teacher on the photo's right, and students on the photo's left. |
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| My Balleville Rendezvous costume. Shirt from Target, tutu made my my student, Jenny. And the flowers I got for being a teacher! Yay!! |
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| Some screenshots I took from my video of the lyrical number I choreographed (Say Something). On the outside pictures, Jenny is on the left and Bella is on the right. In the middle photo, it's reversed. I love my job. :) |
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