I visited my mom's aunt Jeannie and her family this weekend. She was born in the 1930s. When she was little, her mom would play piano for her when she danced. They did recitals and visited nursing homes. All of her children danced at one time. Her grandson Nick joined us. He dances, plays instruments, and acts in a local theater. We talked about her experiences, looked at pictures, and watched a video of Nick dancing. Afterwards Nick played me a song on his Hammered Dulcimer. Learning about your family history can be fun.
My middle brother plays varsity football. He had a game tonight. His team beat Mason 34 to 10. The picture below is of a few buddies that ate cupcakes with me. I also took pics of the cheerleaders and a video of the end of their halftime show.
When I had my recital this year, a lady came up to me and told me how much I reminded her of her own daughter when she was little. It was my friend Lily's mom. You can see by our picture how much we look alike. I love our matching red hair and brown eyes. She grew up at Karyn's Dance Place. I like that I can follow in her footsteps. This year Lily will be a senior, so we talked about her taking senior pictures and preparing for the upcoming school year. I love Ms. Lily.
Today I was in a TV commercial. We dressed in Halloween costumes and read lines from a script. It was a lot of fun. The producer of the commercial is a local Zumba instructor named Stephanie. I interviewed her about a new way to make fitness fun. Zumba Fitness calls the workout a "fitness party". I hope to learn more about the different rhythms and dances involved.
Karlee came with me today when I interviewed Ana Whitman. She is the House Manager at the MSU Wharton Center of Performing Arts. The tour was a whole hour, so we had to make a shorter video version. A few of the things you miss are her showing us the trap doors and a long discussion about the magic of Mary Poppins. Wharton Center Homepage
My good friend Bailee is exactly two weeks older than I am. Her mom and my mom were pregnant at the same time. I like to think that even then we were friends. We have always known and loved each other. We will probably dance together until we are big girls.
I am on the far right and Bailee is third from the right. We are 4 in this video.
One of the older girls from my dance studio just moved away to college. Her name is Annalise. She goes to Central Michigan University and is on the dance team. I asked her a few questions about dance:
1. What got you into dancing?
Seeing my friends dance at Karyn's Dance Place.
2. Why do you love to dance?
It's a way for me to expresses myself. It is also a great stress reliever for me. Dance makes me happy.
3. What kind of emotions do you feel when you dance?
Every kind of emotion it all depends on the type of dance.
4. How often do you practice with the Central Team?
3 times a week for 3 hours and at all football and basketball games. Games are practice for nationals.
5. What are your uniforms like?
We have four different uniforms, a basketball jersey, football jersey, and a long-sleeved sparkle top with skirt or jazz pants.
6. What styles of dance do you like?
I love Jazz and Hip Hop.
7. What do you study at Central?
Pre Med.
8. Do you have any dancer role models?
Keegan Long, she really pushed me.
9. What Broadway musicals or traveling dance companies have you seen?
Chicago River North
10. Have you made friends from dancing?
Yes very many. Some if my closets friends are dance girls.
11. What kinds of costumes do you like?
Shiny, sparkly ones!
12. Do you have any inspirational words for young girls learning to dance?
Keep dancing. Never give up, there will be hard times like when you don't get the role or the spot you wanted or even your dance friends are mean. You have to just push through it because in the end it's worth it because you love it!
One of my bestfriends Sloane came over today. She is in high school. Over the summer I took a few drop-in classes at her studio. I like to talk to her about dancing. Below is my interview and a video of her performing with her MADPAC dance class.
You can get a lot of information at the library. I visited my good friend Mrs. Linda today. She is like a grandmother to all of the children there. My mom and I love her a LOT! Today she showed me the computer card catalog and how I can find dance books. Then she read me a story. If you don't have a library card, get one. You can find so many wonderful things when you do.
Today I went over to my friend Maren's house. I met her when she was a safety at my school, She helped me get out of my car and walked me into school. Her mom told us a story about when she was pregnant with Maren. She drove to school and listened to dance music. Maren danced inside her tummy. At the end of my video interview you will see her sister Kaylee. She enjoys dancing too!
My mom has a good friend named Jenna. Jenna has a brother named Brian Hare that dances for Thodos Dance in Chicago. We wanted to learn more about men and boys dancing, so she asked him if we could share a few things about his school and career. Here is a brief biography he shared:
Brian Hare is originally from Bloomfield Hills, MI. He is a graduate with honors of Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Arts Entertainment Media Management and Dance. Brian has performed as a company member with Chicago Dance Crash and Corpo Dance Company, as a guest artist with Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, and in independent projects for Dance Chicago. He teaches students of all ages and disciplines at several Chicago dance studios and has studied under teachers including Judy Rice and Lorraine Susa at Dance Masters of America Teachers Training Program. Brian’s work “Temporary Proof”, which premiered at New Dances 2010, has been selected for the Thodos Dance Chicago 2010 – 2011 season repertoire. Brian joined Thodos Dance Chicago in 2008.
Men can have great careers in dance. Many male singers learn to dance. When I am older, I think a male dancer might pick me up while I'm dancing. That would be so exciting!
I visited my friend Karlee to talk about her favorite costumes and dance steps. She told me about her hero Miss Keegan who was our dance teacher until she joined the army.
All of the pets in our house are named after characters in books or on TV. A teacher at my brother's school named Mr. Mowry gave us a bunny that came with the name Darth Vader, we quickly renamed it Puddles. (a puppy character from the Biscuit books.) We took it to the vet and discovered it was a girl not a boy, so we had to come up with another new name. My mom had been reading me a series of books she read as a child called the "Shoes" books. In Ballet Shoes there is a young red haired dancer named Posy Fossil. That name just seemed to work. There is info below about the books and the movie they made from the books. My bunny is so fun. I'm happy we adopted her.
This is my Pre Company Jazz costume from Recital 2011. We used the song "Disturbia" by Rhianna. I liked to dance with this group because we were a team working together. My favorite part of the costume was that everyone was wearing different colors. There is a black net glove on my right arm. Some of my good friends in this picture are Bailee, Morgan, Nora and Zuzu.
