DDD 2014

This weekend, my home studio made its first appearance at DDD, a local fundraiser whose mission is to bring totally different dancers and styles together, in one performance, for the community to enjoy. The show took place yesterday, but in my mind, the event began on Friday evening.

Half of Miss Mimi’s intermediate pointe girls were late to class (myself included) because we were in the Training Center, going over choreography and talking and praying over the days ahead.

Miss Sara wanted to know why we were nervous. In a nutshell, it was due to the time frame in which we cleaned up our dances. It was short. It was a little rough. But they did clean up.

That left the pressure of being first-timers. Ours is a Christian-based studio, I suppose to value-based or competitive. Spending an entire weekend with 100+ other dancers (ten other studios) was a lot to take in– overwhelming even– so we lifted it up to the Lord.

Let us be light. Let us shine for You. Let us be light. Let us radiate You. Let us be light.

Let us be light.

Prayer works, lovely dancers.

Saturday began with a master class, taught by professional modern dancer, Patrizia Herminjard. She was awesome. Her style, Graham-based, was significantly different from Miss Sara’s, but I had a blast! And face-to-face with so many local dancers, I realized what an honor it is to be a part of such a wonderful community. There was so much talent in that school gymnasium, so much love for dance. There were so many smiles and 110% efforts to go above and beyond.

I would be lying if I told you that everyone was on the same page in life, but honestly, I stopped caring. Life would be so boring if every person were exactly alike. All you can do is your best. Be that person who smiles, even when the tech is having trouble transferring music from a Mac to a PC. Be that person who laughs when you totally fail a combination; there’s always next time. Be that light that people so need during the day. Be true to yourself and to the God who created you.

After class, we learned and rehearsed the finale. Split up into nine groups, we practiced the jazz piece to the best of our ability, which increased as the rehearsal wore on.

Next, it was on to dress rehearsal. Redeemed went surprisingly well, especially since we had been expecting a slightly larger stage. Besides the fact that I managed to pull my right hip muscles and the few spacing issues that could be resolved, it was a good run, which is more than I can say for the finale…. We laughed, though.

On Sunday, Ms. Tina started us off with a prayer, and then we made our way to the hallway for a studio-wide finale rehearsal. We resolved Saturday’s timing issues and chanted, “One, two, three, TP!” just as a photographer from The Gazette came into view. I’m pretty sure he laughed when we started questioning whether or not “TP” was the best thing to yell in a school hallway. #supportingthestudio

Just before the show began, we rehearsed Redeemed in the gym a final time, and Anna closed with a prayer.

And then Miss Sara prayed over us because really, you can’t pray too much. 🙂

The show itself was kind of a blur, as most performances are. Redeemed went really smoothly, and we totally rocked the finale. The best part, though, was the emotion surging across that stage. I felt it, and I know that the audience did, too.

In other news, I made it to the last part of Faith rehearsals on Saturday, and Big Hero 6 comes out of Friday!