A joyful dancer and writer, sharing her thoughts on a beautiful world
The final week of Christmas performances has struck again, and I’ll be teaching two classes today. I’m so ready to be done with Personal Finance for the year. On a more random note, since we don’t perform One Small Child until tomorrow night, Moriah, Emma and I decided to have tea yesterday. Presenting the best three minutes of your day thus far…:
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| Pre-Training |
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| Intermediate Pointe 2 |
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| Leaps and Turns (with tan tights and tan jazz shoes) |
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| Ballet/Tap |
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| Ballet 1A |
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| Advanced Modern (skirt in black with black leotard) |
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| Training combined (with fans) |
Hey, Autumn! AUTUMN! No, move OVER, Winter… WINTER. I’m not TALKING to you! Autumn! SLOW DOWN!
Title credits to Moriah… 🙂
I never expected to attend a school dance. I started homeschooling full-time in my freshman year of high school, and I never looked back. If I want to, I can graduate this year, and I do want to. I’m ready to move on, and my previous opinions on college have changed drastically. I might even consider going.
Last year, between eating spoonfuls of ketchup (which I can’t recommend) and making prank calls (“Hey, this is Alex…”), I signed a piece of paper and promised that I would attend Homecoming 2015 with Moriah. Adysen agreed, too. I was pretty sure it was a joke.
Needless to say, it wasn’t.
One flat iron and two curling irons later, my hair was ready, along with my makeup and even my nails, which I never bother to paint because PERFORMANCES, of course. I put jewelry on, including my great-grandmother’s pearls, and bought new shoes. And, after hours and hours and hours and HOURS of shopping… my parents found this beautiful dress. I could never express how thankful I am for those two who know me so well.
Ask Adysen, Moriah, Sarah or Olivia– I take on school dances like a ballerina. My whip and nae nae looks like second position preparation and croise, and I had to take off my heels before I could do any kind of jumping…. But it was fun! I got advice like, “Harness your inner monkey.” We had a big studio group, and we jumped, and danced and sang as a group. We laughed as a group. We ran around looking for people and water bottles. We watched glow sticks (and various people) fly across the gym. We also came up with seemingly random things like Cookie Butter and Icee and took this college-worthy picture:
So, thank you, Moriah, for making us go to homecoming. I won’t forget it, and neither will Adysen, since they decided to play Turn Down For What. #onpoint Thank you both for a winner of a shopping trip and an even better dance. You never know how strong you are until you dance in heels… or something like that.
Here’s to hot pink and sparkly butterflies, hot and sweaty crowds and our first and last homecoming as the three musketeers. I love you guys!
Tomorrow, I turn 16. It’s kind of strange to think about. I always thought that when I turned 16, I would feel instantaneously different, but today, I’ve been thinking about all the great stuff that happened while I was 15. It wasn’t such a bad year itself– crazy, yes, but not bad.
I’ve been meaning to post these pictures for awhile, having finished this year’s photo shoot at last, and I’m glad to be doing it now. Though I’ve since gotten braces and performed in the summer showcase, these costumes represent some of my favorite moments from my 15th year, and these pictures are dear to my heart. I do hope you enjoy.
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| I loved the costume – Garden of the Gods scenery combination. |
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| Brody: Quinnah, why don’t you look at the camera?! |
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| Just hoping that the mountain bikers wouldn’t run me over… |
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| Catching fire |
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| “Be multiplied” |
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| Brody: Seriously, Quinnah!– LOOK AT THE CAMERA! |
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| Please, don’t rain. |
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| Desert breeze… |
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| … blow me away |
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| This one was Brody’s idea. 😉 |
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| Colorado clouds on point |
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| Little brothers are the special little boys in your life who pick you flowers and take pictures of you with the flowers. |
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| Road trip to Rangeley– this is right after I fell in the swamp. The Blochs live on, and Dad and I had a good laugh. |
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| Dad: Stay right there! Don’t move! I have an idea. |
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| Can you see the fairies? |
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| What dancers actually look like when they’re tying pointe shoes in the freezing cold after falling into a swamp. |
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| What dancers wish they looked like when they’re tying pointe shoes in the freezing cold after falling into a swamp. |
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| Possibly the greatest picture of me ever taken. It wasn’t planned. It just happened. I guess falling in a swamp does that to you (obviously, it was a terribly traumatic experience). |
I was born into the Harry Potter generation. J. K. Rowling had published The Prisoner of Azkaban just before I was born, and my parents bought a copy of the renowned series (through the fourth book) in 2000, shortly after The Goblet of Fire was released. It was a gorgeous, completely hardcover set, and it spent several years in the back of my closet before my mom threw the entirety of it in the dumpster. I kid you not.
You see, I was afraid of my closet, and I never went in there alone, so the top shelf was the perfect hiding spot for Harry Potter. Harry Potter contained magic, and magic was dark, and darkness was evil, so Harry eventually had a three-second peek at my bedroom before disappearing down the upstairs hallway and into the trash.
I never forgot the cover of The Goblet of Fire, though, as Harry and I looked at each other for the first time, beneath my mother’s arm. There was a brief exchange, during which I asked her what she was carrying. She told me that they were books– bad, scary books. So I let them go.
At this point in my life, my mom is able to call my dog a “muggle.” She doesn’t really know what that means–Can a dog actually be a muggle anyway?–but she knows the word, so I feel partially accomplished. My dad, on another hand, has perfected the nonverbal spell which entails thrusting his wand (fork) upward at the dinner table and looking pointedly at Kaden (who immediately sits up straight).
We didn’t get to this point instantaneously. As a matter of fact, I thought Brody had gone mental when he asked my mom if he could read The Sorcerer’s Stone. I nearly passed out when she told him yes. A year later, I can’t imagine her saying no.
Most of my Harry Potter books are on my e-reader, and I love them so much more than those that spent so long in my closet– mostly because I got to read these ones. But I’ll never forget that moment–that fraction of a second–when I saw 14-year-old Harry for the first time, smiling from the cover of the latest book.
Through this series, I’ve learned one very specific thing: You cannot know a person 100% until they’ve been given two things: money and power. Ginny Weasley taught me that age is not a direct relation to power. All of the Weasleys together taught me the importance of family. Sirius Black taught me that who you are expected to become is not necessarily who you are to be in the future. Remus Lupin taught me never to judge people by what they are but by heart. Luna Lovegood taught me not to take everything so seriously. Neville Longbottom taught me to stay determined. Albus Dumbledore taught me to search for the good in others, even when it is difficult. Hermione Granger taught me that knowledge is beauty. Ron Weasley taught me to laugh whenever possible and for as long as possible. Severus Snape taught me that love goes beyond all magic.
Harry Potter–though he had to wait 15 years–taught me the power of friendship. He taught me to do what’s right instead of finding an easier way.
And J. K. Rowling. She taught me that little details, seemingly insignificant, are what matter most in the end.
The Deathly Hallows ended in an epilogue. I’m glad. It makes me feel that the story isn’t over. In fact, a new chapter has begun.
There’s something about summer that makes me look forward to it every year. Maybe it’s the sunshine or the way the grass smells in the morning. Maybe it’s the birds that insist on waking me up so that I can fall back to sleep. Maybe it’s having the time to sit in bed and disappear into a good book. Maybe it’s the present possibility to do anything, everything and nothing as I see fit.
My thought process this morning, around 5am: I have a lot of stuff to do today. I wonder what everyone posted on Instagram last night. I should probably write today. What if that update messed with iTunes? Or Rosetta Stone? Can I reopen Rosetta Stone? How’ll I ever get back into Rosetta Stone?! And I was getting pretty good at French, too. If I go on Pinterest right now, I’ll never get off. Oooh, but Big Hero 6— that’s where my Big Hero 6 board is. Does the dog whine this loudly EVERY MORNING? I’m gonna read Harry– nope. Everyone died. Why do all the good characters die? Next week is going to be crazy. Stop trying to get me to read, Harry Potter; I only have two chapters left in Deathly Hallows. I’m so hungry. But it’s only 5am. There’s so much laundry to be done. Why did I wake up in the first place? My calves are so tight. Oooh, Pinterest.
And therein, folks, is why I’m awake at this ungodly hour, watching the innumerable rabbits hop around in the backyard. I’m not quite up to Lorelai Gilmore’s random string of thoughts standard, but I think I’m getting better…. Summer was meant for sleeping late!
I’ve been denying it for awhile, but July is coming to a close. I could do without the giant cardboard pencils hanging from the ceiling in every shopping center around the city, but yes, July is ending. I can hardly believe that summer semester is over; I’ve learned so much. On Wednesday, in pointe, we taught ourselves the first Odalisque variation. Yesterday, in choreography/improv, we analyzed the cinematography, choreography and costume in the above video, PAINTED. While we each had a different perspective on the piece, we all agreed that our analysis was far more objective than it would have been seven weeks ago. It’s bittersweet– seeing choreography in parts rather than as a whole. “It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart,” said Finnick Odair. I think the same goes for dance: It takes ten times as long to put a piece back together as it does to mentally take it apart. Once I could see the little details and quirks in this video, it was impossible to un-see them. Visualizing the over-all meaning of the dance became difficult until we watched it a second time, and the puzzle rebuilt itself. My one empty brain cell–bam!–fried. Leaps and Turns was a phenomenal experience, too, teaching me how to get out of my head and just dance. I can’t wait for it to start up again in the fall.
With fall comes Training 3 with Miss Mia, Miss Sara and Miss Bethanny; intermediate pointe 2 with Miss Mia; leaps/turns with Miss Bethanny; and advanced modern with Miss Sara. I’m also SUPER excited to be interning with Miss Beth in Pre-Training and Bethanny in ballet/tap and ballet 1A.
For now, I’m hanging on to summer and the wonderful people in it. To my dear Caroline: As the original Training 1s break up yet again, I pray every blessing over you and your family. God has such wonderful plans for this next adventure, and although I am going to miss you terribly, I’m so excited to see where those plans take you. Love you and miss you already, girl.