Happy Holidays

Christmas aslways seems to be the best time of year, everyone laughs more, enjoys their friends and family, bakes holiday goodies, gives presents and love and it is also the season of hope. In fact we feel so good about Chrsitmas that when January is at our door we make New Yera's resolution, where we turn over a new leaf and are inspired to become a better man/woman. Yesterday as I wrapped presents and decorated for the upcoming holidays I put in a Charlie Brown Christmas, those of you who have children or still a child a heart probably know the story well. Charlie Brown feels depressed around the holidays and feels that he can't do anything about until his trusty side kick Linus reminds him the true story of Christmas, the birth of the Savior, baby Jesus and the miraculous signs that took place and the birth of that hope that we celebrate every year. Of course there are many Christmas traditions in the secular world that are cheery, decorating a tree is a perfect example. In my family we have tradition of going to a tree farm and picking out just the right one, my mom sings "O Christmas Tree" while my dad cuts it down and we make our way home to decorate it later that afternoon. I do have to say that my favorite thing about this time of year is the snow. When it snows it makes everything new again, it creates a blanket of glitter and I know it gets pretty cold, but there is something so magical about snow, like the song " I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" nothing could be more true about those words... and just like the song, I wish you the same..." may all your Christmases be white".

The Perfect Christmas Puppy

In a effort to make my life a little more spontaneous I decided that a puppy is my " only wish this year". I told my parents, sister, boyfriend and best friend. Of course they all wanted to know what kind I wanted, I think I have decided on a miniature dachshund puppy, my sister and best friend said "Ewwww! a pig with hair", my dad said it was a rat dog, my mom said "Where are you going to put him and how much does it cost" and my boyfriend is the only one not getting a lump of coal from me who said "aw honey that's great!" Of course it was not easy to make a decision about which puppy I do want, I would like above all else a miniature Maltese, but they cost somewhere between $ 1,000 and $ 3,000 and my mom said " people in hell want ice water too!" so that is out of the question for now, then I decided on a Pomeranian, but they have long hair, I have allergies and I have been told by friends who have them that Pomeranians are very teritorial and bit...so that one is not the best either. I decided I would look into appeasing my roommate and sister, so I looked at "non-pigs with hair" but I don't have any yard space and/or money to feed a dog of that size. So when looking through pictures on the internet, breeders discriptions and the advice of friends, a miniature dachshund has one the title of the Perfect Christmas Puppy.... I think.

Traveling over the Holidays in a Rough Economy

The Holidays are always a big rush. If you're like me and have family across the U.S. you spend most of the Holiday season getting around to see everyone. With the grandparents in Ohio and Aunts and Uncles and Cousins in Seattle getting from place to place proves challenging while trying to find a little time at home and getting homework done..ugh! We always spend most of the Holidays making our way to see family which usually involved a couple plane rides and a few hours in the car(s). This year has been alittle more stressful because of the hard economic times. It makes most sense to me since we were traveling East to Ohio that we fly that direction, apparently this is not the best way to go so we flew from Spokane, WA to Seattle Wa to Denver CO to Chicago IL to Cleveland OH, that was probably the worst ever! On the way back we flew from Cleveland OH to Minneapolis, Saint Paul to Seattle, WA to Spokane, WA, at least on the way back it was more of a direct route. I do understand that with the rough economy less planes means less direct flights, but it was still a very long day. While in the Seattle Airport (Seatac) I was able to catch up on most of the my homework because Google is giving Seatac free Wifi until January 15th as a Christmas Present which kind of made the trip more worth while, I guess that some hearts are still generous even when things get rough.

Thanksgiving in Ohio

Myself, Mom and Dad Most of us together...

Cousin Carol and Mom

Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings. For my life, everything whether good or bad has made into another successful year and even though it isn't New Year's and I haven't made any resolutions I am still thankful to have another Thanksgiving with my family that I only get to see 2 to 3 times a year. This year we had a little bit smaller than normal, only 13 people this time, but it was still very nice. This year I am thankful for my grandparents that are still kicking, even though their house can be chaos and they fight like cats and dogs I still love them and appreciate the time with them. I am thankful that I am not in control of everything that sometimes I need to remember that and that everything has a purpose. I am thankful for having a family that supports me and loves me unconditionally. I am thankful for the little things like toilet paper and clean water and the opportunity for fulfill me dreams whether great or small. I hope that this inspires others to count your own blessings and it might surprise you how truly blessed we are.

Relationships

I have talked a little about my boyfriend, but because he is such a big part of my life I should say a little bit more about him. We have been together for six months on wednesday, which is very is very exciting, the best thing that I can say is that we have fun and he makes me laugh, I think that these things are so important because they keep you happy in your friendship which keeps the relationship stable, if you love someone without liking them, how can you ever expect to keep things together. We met while I was still in high school and he was in college, I am best with his brother and his girlfriend who was my roommate, so when my previous relationship ended last year,they decided that they would putus together..Finally! for him and ugh! for me. This sounds awful, but true I wasn't very thrilled, but one date was all it took This first date was exciting and he was charming and we got along so well, I was so excited and we managed to make it to date two and from then on out, it was a done deal. It's a funny thing now, but it has really helped me to understand that relationships are so much more complicated than anything that I had ever thought before, even though I understood fighting and compromising, I now understand what it's like to have someone know you, who really tries to make you happy and someone that you can't help but love, it's a great new thing. Even if it doesn't work out, it's still been great.

Vacation? in Ohio

My momma is from the great state of Ohio, as my grandpa says. Over Thanksgiving we almost always make our way to my mom's home town to see my grandparents and get together with family. My friends always say how lucky I am and how they love to fly and love to travel and I am so lucky that I get to go on vacation during Thanksgiving. Too let everyone else experience my vacation I kept a diary of yesterday.

2:30 a.m. get to grandma's, it was a late night flight
9:30 a.m. get up and get showered, still very sleepy
11:00 a.m. getting lunch ready after a being told by Uncle Jerry that my last relationship didn't work out because I'm to bossy.
12:00a.m. lunch is ready and everyone makes a b-line for the kitchen.
1:30 p.m. grandma spent the last hour and a half talking about what an idiot my uncle Jerry is and what a pain in the ass his wife is.
2:00 p.m. mom and I start to get late supper ready my cousins and their spouses and kids are coming at four.
3:30 p.m. I am busily telling mom that we made entirely too much food, while she persists that we will not have enough.
4:15 p.m. family rushes through the door and I get swarmed by kids, they are just so cute.
7:30 p.m. dinner is over and now we all catch-up over the last five months since we've seen each other, my cousin Michelle works with her husband as partners in a printing business company, my cousin Matt works for CAT and helps run the family farm.
9:30 p.m. so great to see family but now they've gone home
10:30 p.m. call my boyfriend and chat for a while until I fall asleep.

I love my family and we all get along, but sometimes it's a chore to go on vacation.

Artist's Offerings; a Critique

As I have mentioned in this blog, the a constant in my life has been dance, ballet mainly. I truly love it ans for those who have never experienced dance I recomend it with all my heart. This is a critique of a dance performace last weekend hosted by the University of Idaho and performed by dancers in the U of I's dance program. If you're ever in town come check it out!

Last Friday’s performance of Artists’ Offerings had a lot to offer. I saw many pieces that were moving either emotional or charismatically, had charm and elegance and there were some that I thought could have been presented a lot better. For my critique I am going to discuss the performance from a member of the audience’s perspective and as a performer/ dancer in general.
Starting with Loved and Cared For choreographer, Mary Heller, this piece was really well fashioned and had a lot of meaning to the choreographer with was nicely executed in the dancers facial features and body language. The piece was able to communicate two people who work together through love and when the end comes fall apart together in love. The music was especially moving and when “What’ll I do” began to fill the auditorium I started to tear up. The choreographer’s note was appropriate and I thought the piece was polished and complete.
Vegas and Me, choreographer Gregory Halloran this piece was different and could have been very tasteless but it was not. The music especially had many members of the audience talking, but once the theme of the piece set in, so did the audience’s laughter. The dancers really communicated to the audience and I was enjoyable to watch. It was a little edgy and could have been interpreted in several ways, but with the slide show in the back ground the message was clear. This piece was also especially emotional at the end and had a nice finish.
I also really want to discuss Digital Stasis, choreographer Christopher K. Morgan. This piece has special interest to me because Mr. Morgan was a guest lecturer in class and also did a performance for the class. I honestly preferred his class performance because it was original and interesting. Digital Stasis fell into a category of predictable, ordinary and average. Because, the University of Idaho’s dance program is more geared toward modern dance, this is expected by the audience, someone like me who has been coming to these performances for many years and I want something fun and spicy and honestly less modern. This is particularly my reasoning for why I feel that this piece although the performance was executed nicely by the dancers and the choreography was good, I did not like the costume, music or lighting, which didn’t help my opinions. A good contrast of this piece was Kodou, choreographer, Mia Seshiki. I really enjoyed this piece, the lighting was fun and enticing, the dancing was very good, the costumes were bright and colorful and I liked the choreography; it was easy to watch and got the loudest applause. I do have a critique of this piece but it does not apply to the performance, but to the audience. Most of the dancers had solos and difficult technique to perform and the audience did not notice of applaud for any of the solos. I found that ridiculous that the audience is so uneducated about dance and the level of difficulty for the dancers that they were not received correctly on stage and most of the audience was filled with dancers themselves.
A couple pieces that I also thought had especially interesting choreography was The Thing Among Us, choreographer Morgen Bihl this piece had great use of color and music and it was really interesting and fun to watch. I also especially liked Pain Within, choreographer Elena Hicks, this piece had great costumes and was easy to watch, the lighting is awkward in the beginning and makes it a little difficult to see, but the dancers seemed very agile and the piece was something that made me want to dance and be a part of.
I love to dance and nothing has been a bigger constant in my life then dance. I t has been the one thing that has just made everything right in my world, however small that may be and I could not possibly trade all the experience and friends that I have made through it. My biggest critique every year is the same, I want more variation. I want more ballet and more jazz and more hip hop, I know that we have excellent teachers and choreographers on campus, why waste all their talents, showcase them. I know that this is of course my preference and not everyone feels the same way, but I feel that the audience would get more involved and there would be a lot more dancers interested in Dance Theatre if there was something more to perform in. I honestly believe that every dance style has its value and I do enjoy watching and performing in modern pieces, however I want to see more than only modern and one ballet piece, one is just not enough for me.
I think that, that itself is the hardest part of choreography because you want your dancers to enjoy it, you want the audience to understand and love it and you want to feel proud of the work you’ve done, all the pieces that I have mentioned accomplished this task in my mind.