I Am A Great Day

Everything had began magnificently the day I attended the renaissance fair. It was the first time I’d ever been to any festival of the sort, and the air was full of magic. At exactly 10:30 in the morning, the ceremony began. The King and Queen presented themselves atop the castle’s balcony to address their people. As the beautiful royals welcomed us into their kingdom, my heart beat erratically, and I crossed the threshold with my breath held. There were so many events that I wanted to see, and activities I wanted to try; I couldn’t wait to get inside. I wasn’t just an ordinary guest, however, I had a job to do. Carrying my instrument lightly with one hand, dressed as a princess and feeling important, I walked proudly through the bustling

All questions courtesy of Houghton Mifflin's The American Pageant Guidebook; A Manual For Students, Eleventh Edition, 1998

Those girls were a division higher than my team; so, as I watched their arms gracefully swing from side to side; their legs kicking into the air in a beautiful battement; and, the nearly flawless transitions, I wondered how much hard work and how many rehearsal hours they put in to achieve those movements with such ease. The spotlight highlighting their every move had me in awe. The song slowly started to fade out and the loud, obnoxious thumping in my chest resurfaced. With shaky legs and uneven breathing I hesitantly made my way onto the stage and got into position. Looking into the crowd, I could see hundreds of faces staring back at me; some familiar, some I had never seen in my life. This gave me a feeling of nostalgia taking me back to that first day of dance class when all eyes were on me. I could not hear anything around me except my heartbeat in my chest. I remembered how aesthetically pleasing the dancers prior presented themselves on stage and told myself to get it together. I had to give it my all and not let my team down, but most importantly I could not let myself down. I looked at my friend, who posed just to the left of me, for reassurance and she gave me such a genuine smile. I could see it in her eyes that she believed in me. I looked at my surrounding and thought “This is what I’ve been working towards. This is where I want to be.” All the negative thoughts that previously invaded my mind faded. My breathing began to even out as the lights dim signaling that the song would start any

The next day was my first rehearsal. I was so anxious about meeting the people who would be part of my court. I am not an extroverted person, so the thought that I had to socialize with people who I did not know made me really nervous. I was also really anxious because it was the day that I was going to give the announcement of what they were going be wearing. The girls would be wearing long silver dresses and the guys would be wearing tuxes with pink accents. When I gave them this information Moises said, “Silver?!” and let me say that it was not really encouraging.

As I sat enveloped in her story of overcoming conclusions, she taught my heart to embrace each quirky part of myself. I identified with Elle Woods’ need to prove herself. This idea of accepting individuality provided me with the courage to audition for my first show, the Arvada Center’s production of Footloose. Since that first nerve-racking, nail-biting experience, I have come to find myself through each move I dance onstage. Getting my first big role, the Dragon in a production of Shrek, I poured my heart out, knowing the people ready to judge and mock were watching. After the show, the peers who judged my intelligence approached me, saying things like, “I never knew you could sing like that.” Through performing I found myself again. I shifted back to the girl I was, the girl who cared about her morals. I want to perform, hoping to provide audience members with the ability to connect with characters who can offer them a point of realization, as Elle Woods did for me.

At 3:00 PM on Sunday April 13th, 2014, I attended the performance “Shared Graduate Dance Concert at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center-Dance Theatre. Walking into the theatre I had anticipated experiencing an upright performance. This sensation came as I visited the website for the Shared Graduate Concert and saw a breath taking photo that entailed a person behind a curtain holding their hand up and a fuzzy person in front of a curtain. Also, I knew I was in for a good ride after I saw Meghan Bowden in the pamphlet.

My apprehension only seemed to grow as the time dragged on. Suddenly, I heard our school name. Adrenaline rushed through me as we ran out onto the mats with gaudy smiles on out faces. The music thundered behind us as we jumped, stunted, and danced. It felt like it was over in a heartbeat. The experience as a whole left me utterly exhausted; so much in fact that when it came time for awards, I was quite frankly too worn out to care. We had done our best and there was nothing we could do to alter our fate at that point. Still, I couldn't help but attempt to play back our performance in my head. "We were nowhere near as natural or well put together as the other teams." I muttered. As it turned out, I was correct. We placed last in our

"I’m so nervous,” I complained to my mom as we walked into the Waukesha Civic Theatre. “What if I’m not good enough. I haven’t even prepared that much!” It was a crisp September day and some leaves had already started changing color. On the way home from school my mom told me about a play that the theater puts on near us every year and thought I would be good for it. Since I had only heard about the audition that day, it gave me a few hours to pick my song and be prepared for whatever part they wanted me to read. The next song that came on the radio was the song “Edge of Glory” by Lady GaGa and because it was in my vocal range I thought it would be good for me. Little did I know that this audition would change my view of theater.

As the show captivated my senses, it captured my heart, and turned from what I thought would be a trite show like the soap operas my mother enjoyed into a breathtaking experience. The dancers leaping and flipping across the stage were astonishing, and filled me with a sense of wonder. I was not consciously aware of it at the time, yet in some way, I aspired to emulate them in my own life. Now I in no way wanted to be a broadway star; however, I wished to gain even just an ounce of the talent they possessed. Exiting the theatre, I had a different attitude than when I had first gone through the doors. I had finally found something that I did not just enjoy, but that I was fervent

As I walked into the intermediate room at Monsters of Hip-Hop, the nerves inside of me built up like a hot air balloon. I was stretching in jealousy of other girls and boys as they showed their amazing talents. I start to worry if I mess up on the choreography, out of nowhere the choreographer Laura Edwards comes in. I look at my mom in fear,

The heat of the light was burning down on me, and I felt much too warm in my costume. I remember thinking that I would pass out any minute, though whether that be from the blinding heat or my body-wracking nerves, I did not know. I performed my heart out that day. We all did. We acted as one, every scream, every laugh, and every action was done in the most seamless way possible. In those 30 minutes, we were all parts of the machine that was our play. As the play went on, my fear disappeared. I do not recall feeling anything other than joy on that stage. The knots in my stomach slowly unraveled, and in their place came an unbreakable confidence. I walked across that stage as if there was nothing in the world that could possibly tear me down, and my cast mates held a demeanor in themselves similar to my own. There was a magic on our stage that day. I felt a warmth spreading through me, an elation like nothing I had ever felt. As the lights dimmed out and we waltzed off of the stage, the sounds of applause had erupted throughout the hall. Our last show of the season had been our best, and I could not have been more satisfied. Ms. Carraher, our director, and Mama Jack, our assistant director, had always told us that when our show had reached it’s peak, there was a sparkle on the stage. I knew there was a sparkle on our stage that day. And the only thing that could diminish that sparkle, would be not

Since I was a little girl, the lights of the stage have called me. Later on when I saw the Broadway lights I knew that those lights were destined for me, but did I have what it takes. As time went on and I began my studies, I realized that my dream wasn’t as simple as I had thought it would be.

"Besides the part where I have to wear a rubber mouse head for 6 minutes, yeah" I responded laughing. We continued to stretch, going through our splits, and adding some relevés to get our ankles warmed up. We stretched our arms and legs, did a few push-ups and jumping jacks. All you could smell was the hairspray, and the make-up, and weirdly cookies, but that's because we all teamed up and brought snacks. We all made our way onto the stage, pitch black, to hear mumbling out by the sound booth and up in the light box. All of a sudden the lights come on, and we sit ourselves in a semi circle around the three teachers, Lauren, Gretchen, and Vanessa. I zone out as they begin speaking and focus

I had something to focus on besides my nerves. I straightened up, walked to the front pole, and pressed my back against it. I slid my fingers under the straps of my dress, sliding them down my arms. I held the top of the dress over my breasts as I sunk down, opening my legs toward them. I gave a quick shimmy of my shoulders and let the top of the dress fall down to my waist. Angel and Sky were clapping and cheering, but I realized they weren’t the only ones. The guys were enjoying our show. A couple of them were now standing at the stage with dollars in their

Weeks earlier, practice for this competition was in full force and I had little to no jitters about getting up and facing a crowd of about ten people. Every day after school we practiced in the old, creaky St. Mary’s classroom painted different shades of baby blue. One by one we stood behind a podium and performed our pre-written monologue to an audience of less than enthusiastic students.