Halloween!

Ok here are some pictures from Halloween! I was a kissing both. After each kiss I asked the girl to sign my box. Final tally to the best of my knowledge was 94 kisses. Not a bad night. Don't worry the majority of them were on the cheek!

Quicky

So really quick. This morning the five dancer's who performed in Guadalajara had the opportunity to perform for an organization called the Mormon Arts Council. It was a little scary at first but the performance went very well. After we were done this really nice lady said, "Great job, your performance was the highlight of our little retreat here." It was up at alpine something. A little resort up by Sundance. Well she was walking away and our director said "Do you know who that is? That's Janice Kapp Perry!" So that was really exciting to get such a great compliment from such an accomplished individual!!! That's all. Hope everyone is enjoying the warm California weather. I'm already freezing my tail off up here. It snowed first time this season this morning, luckly very light!

Jamaica?!?

Holy Dang!!!

Don't get sick in Mexico. Montezuma's revenge doesn't even begin to describe. I feel like my insides are rearranging themselves every ten minutes and I had no idea what my body was capable of, turning perfectly solid foods into liquid. NOT FUN!!!!
Other than that Mexico was great. I will post some pictures soon. I am way behind on my homework so I can't write long but I received an email yesterday from the DACI Jamaica board.

They have accepted my proposal!
Provided I come up with the money to pay for my conference fee's, room and board and all that good stuff I will be presenting a lecture/forum and talk back session on Encouraging men, particularly in younger generations to dance. This will all be my own research and my own writing and speaking. Ahh!

DACI stands for Dance and the Child International
The DACI !INTERNATIONAL! conference will be held in June 2009. The conference will be about four days long with an attendance from around the world upwards of several thousand people.
I'll definitely be one of the nobodies that has a smaller showing but who else can say they started presenting at international conferences before they finished their undergrad. I will be presenting along side some of the top Dance Educators in the world.
This is such a great opportunity. I will be applying for grants to hopefully come up with most of the funding for me to do this. Hopefully I get it!!!
This will be fantastic on my resume for grad school! Maybe with this kind of work under my belt I can get some awesome scholarships for my graduate work. With the economy going the way it is I'm gonna need the help!

Well, I hope everyone is doing fantastic. School is treating me well, I'm busier than an ant right before winter time. I'm working on several extra projects on top of my 14.5 credits so I have to work extra hard to get my homework done (I know 14.5 doesn't sound like much but it's a lot for me). It's a good thing I love, love, love dancing. Otherwise I would have quit by now.
Love you all. Can't wait to see you all during Thanksgiving!!!

Dancer's Company and Beyond!!!

So, here are some pictures from World of Dance. The show was filmed but probably won't air on BYUTV for about a year. Boo!

This is the poster for the show. Funny how it is five women on the poster. Like women are the only people who dance.

The concert went well, all five performances, despite the fact that I broke the fourth toe on my left foot 30 minutes before the second show! The toe is fine. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of my foot, would have been cool.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Guadalajara with five other members of Dancer's Company. Yay!!! It is going to be fantastic.

That is pretty much all I have time to say right now but here are a few more pictures!!!



Holly and Me!!! Holly is one of my best buds on the company!!!


Angela and I did a duet together. We received many compliments!!!


Dancer's Company!!! They are all so awesome. I love these people. How many people do you get to spend time with in bright neon spandex suits!!!???!!!

Hello Guadalajara!!!

So I've got some big opportunities this summer. I made it into the musical here at BYU, Thoroughly Modern Millie but I won't be doing it because I made it into dancer's company again.

I have decided to do Dancer's company for a couple of reasons. First off, I'm going to Guadalajara (Mexico) to perform at the International Oral History Conference. We will be going the last full week in September. Our director applied for a school grant for the traveling expenses for us to go, I will only have to pay for food. And I am one of only four dancer's who get to go!!!

Aside from this great opportunity I also will be attending BYU's summer modern dance workshop. Each year the department brings in a professional choreographer/dancer to teach a workshop. While I attend this workshop I will be attending daily morning rehearsals with the choreographer along with three other dancer's from the company. The choreographer will be setting a piece of choreography on us. It is a double casted duet that we will perform all year switching off between each performance.

I am really excited and really nervous. I am so grateful as well to be the only dancer from the company to have the opportunity of participating in both of these opportunities!! No pressure. =P

I will also be choreographing a piece in the summer student showcase and performing the piece as well that was set on me last fall by Kaye Richards, a professor at the Unv. of Utah using a grant that I received, but these opportunities are not part of dancer's company. If anyone wanted to come and see the show it will be Aug. 8 and 9. Otherwise I will just try and post it on here after we have performed!!! Hope you are all well. I love you all and miss you very much!

Happy Mother's Day

Sorry it is late but I would like to say Happy Mother's day to all of those important women in my life. Thank you mommy, for being wonderful. Always taking care of me and calling me and doing things for me! Thank you Abby for helping to raise me, I'm so glad you have three sons and so close together. They are going to have the most fun childhood. Thank you Grandma Dale for all the love that you show me. I love you and appreciate all the lessons you have taught me. And thank you Grandma Dee, whom I miss greatly and will always think about. You are four of the absolute most influential women in my life and have made me the person I am today. I know you all would be proud of me and the way I treat those around me, I am always being told how nice and friendly I am. On mother's day the bishops wife in my ward, Sister Hansen said I must have a wonderful mom. I do, I do, I do, and I have three other wonderful women who reinforced all that my mother taught me. Thank you. I love you all so so so much and wish I could be with you. Take care and have a wonderful week this week. It is your mother's day WEEK!!!

Life as Usual

Life seems absolutely so boring. I am excited to see my family tomorrow but that is about it. I am pretty much going through an identity crisis because schools over and I have way to much free time on my hands. I'm so used to doing homework that I don't know what to do with myself. No worries, Spring term starts on Tuesday! (Booooo! mixed emotions really)
I guess that's about it, just thought I would blog to let you all know I am still breathing. Take care!

Presentation Maniac!!

The presentation went well, very well I think. I think mine was definitely one of the better ones if not the best. I think my topic was among the most interesting so it was hard to disappoint. People laughed and nodded so I know they were listening, and I think we all had fun. At the start of the presentation all the presenters were given a copy of the journal and a check enclosed in an envelope. The check wasn't worth much, but it sure was a nice sentiment and how many people can say they received a check from their college for presenting at their annual forum! This was a huge learning experience.
After all the presentations were over a lot of people came up to me to say my presentation was good and to thank me. One person who approached me was an Associate Dean of the College and another was the Ballet Devision Chair. Quite the honor in my mind to have these professors and administrators come up to me and introduce themselves to me!!! Wow, I can't believe how lucky I have been.
I have accomplished all of this with the Lords support. For this I am very thankful for and I know I will accomplish much with His help. I love all of you, I hate being so far away. I look forward to coming home this summer, hopefully in a couple of months I will be able to break away and visit for a short time.
My next project is already in the works. I am submitting another grant proposal to try and attend a week and a half long workshop in Washington D.C.!!! I hope it works out.
Everyone take care.

Cool Stuff!!!

Ahhhh! Busy busy busy!!! What are you gonna do? I told my mom I would put this on my blog because she couldn't read the picture I sent on my phone! This is the ad for the writer's symposium I am presenting at. I'm really excited, its gonna be good! Since I was on my blog I decided to do another slide show. More Dancer's Company pictures. Some from my b-day, my b-day wish was that everyone would eat ice cream together. One picture was from the ranch that one girls dad owns. The bus couldn't drive us in because it was a dirt road so we walked. It was fun and funny! Texas is interesting. Two are of the cows in front of a Mc Donalds in Texas. Two are from El Paso. Two are from the Afro-Latin dance party some of us had at the hotel room for my b-day. We were in Amarillo, TX so when one girl made up a new move we called it the Amarillo! So that's it. Hope you are all well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dancer's Company Slide Show 2

Sick Day!

I came home sick from school today and finally found time to blog. Here are a few pictures from tour. I will be adding more later. White sands sure was a beautiful place.
I present at the writer's symposium in two weeks. I have met with my adviser to begin work on my presentation. School is busy and I am hard at work. I have several big papers coming up and several more small ones.
Last weekend I got to attend the UDEO (Utah Dance Education Organization) conference at the University of Utah's campus in Salt Lake.
The key not speaker was Liz Lerman a nationally recognized Choreographer out of Washington D.C. At the lunch provided during the conference I sat two seat away from Liz and got to meet her. She remembered my name for the rest of the day (which I'm told is a good thing) and when I said goodbye to her at the conclusion of the conference she told me that she hopes to see me this summer at her workshop in DC!
I'm already working on another grant proposal to pay for me to go to the summer intensive. Liz currently runs her own school and company called Dance Exchange (www.danceexchange.org). Seeing as this is what I hope to do eventually I would really love to go to this intensive. Everyone keep you fingers crossed that I can get another grant!!! The conference is in July and I'll know about the grant in May!!!
I also met Shirley Ririe and Joan Woodbury the creators of RirieWoodbury dance company in Salt Lake. They are a nationally recognized professional modern dance company. I had the opportunity to do some great networking at the conference. It was great!!!
Well that's about all I've been up to.
I have found out that being twenty four is making me feel like I need to get started on that whole marriage thing. Maybe now that I have some new initiative I might find someone I'm really interested in!!!
Bye All. Hope your are all doing great!

Dancer's Company Part 1

Scholarly Opportunity

One day I will have time to tell everyone about my tour but today is not that time! I just have some quick news to share. I have been accepted to present my paper at the Dance departments student Writer's Symposium. It is a public speaking forum where dance related subjects are presented. I wasn't selected for publishing but that is alright. The paper wasn't that good. Maybe next year I will revise it and resubmit it for publishing. So that is all. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

Valentines Day!!!

Yeah!!! My Birthday has been really good. I am sad that my sister and my aunt Cari have not wished me a happy birthday. I guess Abby has on my blog. But what about Cari??? Well it has been really good. For the first half of the day I sat on a bus and watched two movies, then we finally got off and had some fun. We went to a large ranch and then took a cool ballet class. Then we went to eat a good BBQ dinner and then we all ate cold stone. I told everyone that my birthday wish was to eat ice cream with everyone on company. We totally did it and it was awesome!! Well bye!

Yeah, My Birthday!!!

Well tomorrow I will be 24! This last year has been great for me, I only hope the next will be as good. I'm on tour right now with Dancer's Company. It's pretty busy. We've been really busy. For my birthday there isn't anything planned but to do what Dancer's Company has to do. Whatever happens it is going to be good. Everyone reading this take care, don't do anything too crazy or too normal. I love you all.

Moving to a Warmer Climate!!!

Good News!!! I'm leaving for New Mexico for tour in the morning. I'm super excited. I have to finish packing now and go to bed. Everyone take care. I'll write when I get back, after my 24th birthday. I'm getting old!

This one's for Cari!!!

Well my first two performances have gone well. Our show is going well. We leave on tour a week from today, Friday. I'm working hard on my paper. I'm on draft three and have a long way to go. It has been a while since I have written a paper. Hopefully when I'm published in the department journal I can send you all a copy of my paper.
Yes my birthday is coming up, I don't know how I feel about turning 24. It sounds pretty old. I guess I don't mind getting old. I don't like being old and not being married. Oh well! I don't think I'll stress trying to live like the rest of the world. I'll get married when I can. I hope everyone is doing well.
One of these days I will get around to doing that little survey Abby passed on to me in her blog a long time ago.

This one's for Abby

So the reason I don't write too often is because nothing really changes that fast. I don't have any real new news. Yesterday was our first FHE with the new FHE family. It was fun being an FHE Dad. I got all of my homework done last night, that was good. I worked at a little booth Dancer's Company has to promote our concert. It was fun. I get to talk to random people as they walk by. I hope that everyone in my family is the friendly type of person that acknowledges people when they are talking to them, 'cause it is just rude to ignore people as you walk by. Even if you just say no thank you! School is going fine. Ballet is killing me!!! That is a very taxing dance form. It is really hard on your body and zaps all your energy. I hope everyone is enjoying California. I think about it every day. There's something not right about it being 19 degrees outside and the sun has been out for several hours. If global warming is happening let it, parts of the world could do with some warmer temperatures.

Well everyone take care.

Performance Time

So I am super busy right now. I have rehearsals every night of the week and then performance on Thurs. Fri. and Sat. Then we leave for our tour the following week early on Fri. I'm super excited. Tour is gonna be great.

I am busy writing a paper that I will be submitting to be published in the college journal. I hope it goes well. I'm also trying to keep up with my homework and my calling. That's about everything. I don't have a lot of time for dating right now but hopefully when I get back from tour. I hope you are all well. I miss Cali. so bad. It has been pretty darn cold up here.

A few quick Experiences

The first week of class went well. I have decided against take 17 credits. I will be missing a week with Dancer's Company Tour and we have a performance we are getting ready for so we are having a lot of rehearsals.
13 credits will do for this busy semester. Rehearsals are going well as are my new classes. I got all A's two B+'s and a C last semester. The C was in Human Anatomy one of the hardest classes at BYU. I'm just glad it was a C I was expecting a C-.
I started my new job teaching Gymnastics. My classes are all fun. They are all boy classes except my Tumbling class which is mixed boys and girls. My favorite experience from my classes was in the tumbling class. It's a class of young teenagers and all of the boys have pretty long hair
(longer than my), it’s what's in right now. One of the boys in the middle of class asked me "why do you keep flicking your hair, you have nothing to flick?" I told him to, "Be Quiet" and just went on but I thought it was so funny. I guess I kinda toss my hair without realizing it but it was really funny that this kid mentioned it and said I didn't have any reason for doing it!
So whoop dee do. That didn't sound as cool writing it out.
My second cool experience this week happened in my Modern Dance Teaching Methods class. I asked the class if everyone had purchased the packet because I was going to drop the class and didn't need mine anymore. So everyone knew I would be dropping at this point. After class a professor, from the dance department who is sitting in on the first half of the semester, came up to me and told me she was sad that I would be dropping the class. She said she felt that the intelligence level in the class would drop 50%. It was quite the compliment. We talked for a bit and she just told me that I was very intelligent among many other nice things. She asked me if I have felt miss understood my whole life. And one of the nicest things she said was that prophets are never understood in their time. I know she wasn't saying I would be a prophet but she was pointing out my deep thinking and the fact that I have a lot of potential.
So hopefully I will be able to tap into my potential and do something great in my life. It's funny since she pointed it out I've just been noticing different interactions one of which happened today. I asked a professor a question and she totally didn't answer my question but gave me an answer that had nothing to do with what I asked. She didn't understand what I asked but thought I asked a stupid question and answered me back with a subtly demeaning tone and I felt stupid and I just said, "OK." I wasn't going to fight with this professor in the middle of class. So I just forgot about the matter but the girl next to me leaned over and said she knew what I was asking!!! So either, we're both crazy or I am at least semi intelligent. But thinking about it, this experience happens pretty often. A lot of the time I just stop asking questions because people don't understand where I'm coming from. Even though this is BYU there still aren’t a huge number of deep thinkers maybe a high percentage but not 100% by any means, not even 50%.
Well I'm not all full of myself now, it just made me feel better not to be the dumb kid for once, cuz that is how I have grown up feeling.
I hope you all, my family and friends are doing well! It's semi good to be back at school and working toward my goal. I miss California but that is just more reason to hurry up and finish. Maybe I will find some hot genius girl to marry this semester!!!

New Semester

Well school starts in the morning. I am excited and worried at the same time. I am sick still and Mondays will be really busy for me this semester. I hope tomorrow goes well! My roommates seem cool enough. That's good. I miss everyone at home already. I can't wait for my next trip home!!! I hope everyone is enjoying their 2008 so far. I have already watched my Evan Almighty movie three times since I got it. It's a great one.
I don't think I have any more random thoughts so I'll just say Goodnight. Everyone take care!

Christmas and Back at school!!!

Christmas was great! It was awesome to go home and see my family. It has really made me motivated to get through school faster. I'm sick and I think it is because I really didn't want to come back up here. It sucks. I met my first new roommate and he seems cool. This semester should be better in that respect. Because I am motivated to get done now I have decided to take 17 credits. That is a lot but I WANT TO GET DONE!!!
I have to leave now to go back to rehearsal. I hope everyone is ready for a great year. I know I am. This year is going to be great!!!