Friday Night Dances

I run out onto the field to take my starting pose. At first, I gawkily sit there waiting for the music to start; once it does, I feel my body taking over, transforming me into a better version of myself. As the music continues I'm more relaxed, until I hear my friends start to cheer my name from the bleachers. Anxiousness begins to take over until I tell my mind to stop. The nerves that just entered my body have immediately vanished, and I now use them as fuel to push myself harder. More and more people start to cheer my name forcing me to dance that much more intensely because I know people are cheering for me for a reason and I want them to continue to watch me. The ultimate liveliness I fell at this moment is why I dance. Dancing is what keeps me together and being able to show my peers what I love is incredible because they are able to see my passion. As the routine begins to end I'm enervated; however, I use my weariness to work more to finish the routine. I strike my final posse, completely elated with my performance. As I run off the field, hearing the applause, I know this is what I love and the thing in my life I know will forever remain apart of who I am.

What Movie Changed Your Life?

     The movie that changed my life was the musical, "Chicago". Growing up, I always watched musicals and Chicago was one of the many that I saw that I constantly wanted to see again and again. As a kid watching it, I loved the dancing, singing, and sparkly costumes. This musical has made such a lasting impression on me, making it one of my top three all time favorite movies.
     Since I started dancing in second grade I would always end up watching the dancers in movies, music videos, concerts, etc. instead of the main focus because I found it much more entertaining. Singing was always appealing to me because I thought I was the best singer around, but as I grew up I realized I'm probably one of the worst singers around and now I only sing in the privacy of my car. Of course the sparkly costumes were entrancing to me when I was younger; they were gorgeous costumes and since the first time I watched Chicago I had dreamed of having a complexity rhinestone costume for a performance and still have that dream  today.

     Now that I'm older, I realized how amazing the movie truly is. After dancing for eleven years, I can better appreciate the dancing and understand how difficult their choreography is. Because I grew up watching musicals, I am now obsessed with them and every aspect of Broadway. All the theatrics, drama, and glamour of it has made me push myself in my own dancing career to aspire to be like the incredible dancers that get the opportunity to create these marvelous musicals. Not only is this just a musical that I found to be spectacular, so did many others. In 2003, it won six Academy Awards including Best Picture. I've seen it so many times I can recite almost all of the songs and about half of the dances from the movie. Also, I absolutely love the time period its taken place. I'll admit things were crazy, for example they hung someone in the movie for killing another person even though she was innocent. I can't explain it, but there is just something about they way people spoke, dressed, and acted that just fascinates me.
     I finally got the chance to see the actual musical (Off-Broadway) on Sunday at the Keller Auditorium, and it made me fall in love with it all over again. Seeing how different and similar the play is to the movie was utterly fascinating. Hearing the different voices sing the songs I'm so familiar with and seeing how more dramatic the actors were in the play it made me genuinely appreciate how the story of "Chicago" can be presented in two different media formats. No matter what, I can walk away from either work of art amazed with the all that goes into creating such a stunning story.