My Happy Time In My Life

From an early age, I loved to perform. Being the youngest girl with three older brothers, I could never get enough attention; This meant singing, dancing and being extremely outgoing to get everyone’s eyes on me. I still hear stories about my younger self dancing in front of mirrors, babbling about my dream of being a “star”. It wasn’t until much later, however, that I found I could put my love of performing to use.

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.

The wind tousled my hair around as I closed my eyes and took deep, shaky breaths. The faint sound of the crowd cheering upstage didn't help with my nerves, so, instead, I turned my ears to the delicate waves rolling up the beach. I opened my eyes and gazed out at the lake; now an open canvas for the golden sun which had began setting. Quietly, I plucked each string of my guitar- though I’d already tuned them several times. On the outside, I may have seemed ready, content, and excited; however, on the inside, no matter how tranquilizing the back stage scenery was, I was terrified to the core.

My ambition throughout the next seven weeks: help these children escape reality by learning about the arts. Unfortunately, many of these children came from difficult home-life situations; yet, they enthusiastically prepared for the show. Sometimes it was a struggle to take on infinite tasks and others’ responsibilities while maintaining a positive environment for these children. Filled with laughter and intense hard work, rehearsals flashed by like the speed of sound. Opening day arrived. Peeking through the curtain and seeing the room’s seats quickly fill became bittersweet. It reminds me what you see after a downpour: how the rain shares a beautiful rainbow but slowly fades from the sunlit sky. Despite laborious hours, these young actors/actresses shined onstage, and the next day, the experience would end at the final curtain

DJ-Pon3, as she was called on stage, stepped away from the booth sweating and feeling the warmth throughout her entire body. Even as the maestro she was not immune to the music’s hypnotic effects. No, in fact her position perhaps made her the most vulnerable. It was a rush, a thrill, a love. She got to do what she loved. And so she went to her employer with a smile.

Fourteen years after that fateful day, when I saw that first musical, my love has grown. I have changed a great deal, but my love has not. Despite what other people say and believe, musical theatre is what I am destined to do. So I will keep pushing myself to become better. Because, no matter what, I'm determined to keep dancing and Singing in the

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

As the music began, I started to move; the pounding of my feet blending in with the melodious sounds of the flute, the ghungaroo(bells) around my ankles, the mridangham (drums), and the blood rushing into my own heart. With the music and my first movements, the fear of being on stage washes away and I am focused on my movements and my expressions—using them to tell a story about my culture, my heritage, and me.

I stood in the right wing of the magnificent Gershwin Theatre in New York City, ready to go on stage in my insanely uncomfortable corset and 20 pound dress. I was surrounded by millions of props and set pieces. Backstage was packed with over forty crew members and by my side there were ten of my co-stars waiting for their cues to come barging on stage singing at the tops of their lungs. As the time approached, I gathered all my strength to lift and ‘walk’ with dignity to my position.

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.

I could not help but notice the purity and beauty of my surroundings. I looked up through the fluttering leaves of the trees that tangled together over the stage like a spider web. Sun burst through the branches creating faint rays that struck the tan floored stage and made it warm to the touch. Beyond the branches I saw lush white clouds painted on the luminescent blue Maui sky. The theater was close to the shore that I could smell the salty ocean water as I inhaled the humid air. At this moment everything became crystal clear and I finally realized I need to live in the moment and appreciate where I am both geographically and mentally. The vivid beauty was my alarm clock, waking me up from a miserable view of life that I could not see and showing me the beautiful colors that were right in front of me that I was missing. Suddenly nothing else mattered except what I was doing and creating right there as I danced. I was one hundred percent in the moment, not thinking about what I just did, or what I was going to do. My senses were hyper aware, everything was clear, and I had never been happier. Something about the sky and the beauty around me triggered me realize everything I was missing out on by worrying about the

Ever since I can remember, the performing arts had a special place in my heart. I did not know how much it meant to me until I became mature enough to recognize the profound influence the arts had on my life. Thanks to my loving parents, I have had the opportunity to nourish and refine my craft. Now, I would like to continue to refine my abilities over this summer through the Alliance Theatre’s Musical Theater Camp at Oglethorpe University. I feel that this program will enhance my vocal and acting capabilities as I strive to become a “triple threat” in the performing arts. As I began my high school career at Dekalb School of the Arts, I had dabbled in singing and acting, but my primary interest at the time was dancing. However, while becoming

The beginning of my High school career started when I joined the Gresham High School’s Fall Musical “Brigadoon” lighting and sound department. When I joined my whole perspective on theatre changed drastically. I'd never even thought about how these designers and technicians managed to create such interesting concepts that would allow a production to have more than actors reciting lines, it created a mood. After the musical had ended I wanted to become a part of what really makes a production, the backstage crews.

There are simple components for understanding human experience, expression and emotion. The phrase ‘less is more’ is regularly applied in contemporary art and performance. The Broadway production of A Chorus Line uses simple set design, limited costumes, and plot to establish authentic and relatable characters. Throughout the whole musical the whole objective is for the director to hire some chorus dancers for their next Broadway show. The dancers suffer through intense numbers and unprepared in-depth personal interviews. It’s within the interviews where each performer discloses personal and intimate stories about how the became who they are (Playbill Inc., 2017). Thus, one of the shows successes in winning Tony awards and Pulitzer Prize for

During the two months rehearsal, I feel like I explored a new world that I know nothing about. There are many things that I learned from the process, such as the acting skill, theater rules, and how to express the emotion in front of people. Even though we rehearsal thousands