Yet Another Life Update

    Ciao, y'all. It's been a long time since I've last posted on here, and honestly I don't have much of an excuse other than... I'm lazy and tired. And fairly busy, but also not? Life's been weird lately, y'all.

    At the point of me writing this, a lot has changed. I last posted in May of this year, so it's been a solid few months. Currently I'm sitting in my living room, while my mom & sister are both asleep in their respective bedrooms, my brother is live streaming himself playing Roblox in the computer room/kitchen, and my dogs & boyfriend are all three asleep next to me. 

    I've grown a lot as a person this year, in some good ways and some bad ways. I've grown to be a lot more honest about what I'm feeling- and right now, it's really depressed- which has been helpful to me, but I can also be a bit of a downer to be around anymore. 

    I haven't seen any of my friends much due to the virus and just general insanity, and it's definitely taken a toll on a lot of my relationships. I've also lost a lot of 5+ year friendships/relationships in the past few months which has been a really hard pill to swallow. I'm trying to make piece with it, but it's a lot easier said than done.

    I've been writing a lot of poetry, it's been helping me clear my head and get things down on paper. I've also been drawing and painting a lot too, which has been helping as well. Dance for me has been a hard thing to really do due to some trauma (which is also related to the aforementioned lost friendships) but I'm trying- it's just been a struggle to find joy in the art form much anymore, even though I do love it. Covid's also made it hard for my lovely friend Sophia and I to find meeting places for our company which has really put a lot of things at a stand still as well. 

    My siblings and I did unfortunately have to drop out of our acting group as well, just due to safety worries/precautions and Covid scares. We're still enrolled in dance classes though and those are going well. We're going to do a recorded version of the Nutcracker which should be fun too. My brother is a piece of taffy as well as the Mouse King. My sister is the Candy Cane Ambassador (which we kinda made up for our version of the show, she's on par with like Sugar Plum, Mother Ginger, etc). I'm playing the part of Mother Ginger. Sophia is going to be like the Flower Fairy or something similar, and our friends Ava and Ella are playing Clara and the Nutcracker respectively. 

    I've had 2 legit jobs, I've worked at Sally Beauty and Torrid in the past few months. I quit at Torrid after a couple weeks because I was working 2 (3 if you count pet sitting) jobs at the same time and it was exhausting. I worked at Sally's from June to sometime late September, due to some personal issues and not enough hours/trouble at the store. So I am yet again on the job search- but it could certainly be worse, I suppose.

    I'm currently taking an art appreciation course for school, I'm back on track for Associate's of the Arts because I realized I am NOT cut out to be a theatre major, lol. It's boring but I only have like, 5 weeks left of this course so I can't complain too much. It's just a weird class.

    We've adopted 2 more kittens, Maui and Moana. Originally Maui was named Te Fiti until we realized that Te Fiti was not actually a girl... so then he became Maui. They're really sweet cats, Moana is my little baby. She likes to try to come lay on my laptop whenever I'm typing anything at all.

    I met my boyfriend in August, and we've been together for over 2 months now. He's an amazing guy and I'm really blessed to have met him. Other than Instagram, I've been refraining from posting too much about him just to maintain privacy and such but he's a huge part of my life and I love him lots. He even gets along with my family, which is no easy feat.

    We recently went on a trip (meaning my mom, brother, boyfriend and I) to Cincinnati/Newport. We went to the Newport Aquarium, did a few escape rooms, hung out, and just had a good time in general. It was nice to get away for a bit and do something fun.

    There's honestly not much else to say right now. Life is still pretty boring- reasonably so- because of the virus and everything, so this is about the most dumb life update I've ever done. But it's all good, y'know? Things could always be worse, so I'm just riding things out.

Ciao for now,
Hannah

Life Here Lately...

Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash

Hey y'all,

 It has been a seriously long time since I last posted- a little over 3 months, in fact. You would not believe the amount of times I've sat down to write a blog post, and then just had absolutely nothing come to me. I've shared writing on Instagram, and Facebook, and entered poetry contests, but for some reason the idea of writing a full blog post seemed so intimidating.
 Simultaneously everything and nothing has happened these past three months; it's honestly rather strange. My last post was February 10th, so I suppose I'll just try to go back and talk about what's been going on in chronological order.

 Hopping way back to January, I mentioned it briefly but never really talked about it- my siblings and I had the Musical Theatre Revue with our acting group. It was super stressful and the theater had a freaking ridiculous amount of stairs, but otherwise it was a lot of fun. My brother was apart of the stage crew for that show and my sister and I were on stage. We had a duet which turned out pretty rough (I Dreamed a Dream from Les Mis), but my sister did a great job on her solo (Home from Beetlejuice). All the group numbers went reallt

 Sometime in either January or February we also went back to Otherworld in Columbus, which was my brother's Christmas present, but it was a bit of a rough weekend trip due to various reasons, but we still had a pretty okay time regardless.

 Something I never posted about on here was that on February 8th, I got to go see my favorite band, The Lumineers, in concert. While it took forever for them to get on stage and I was not a fan of their two openers, the Lumineers themselves were mind-blowing. My Mom got me tickets for Christmas and I'm still so grateful. Lots of (happy) tears were shed that night. However, we were in Cleveland at night, with a concert that just got out, in the middle of Winter, and ended up having to walk back to our hotel...

 Which kick-started me feeling sick. I started feeling pretty gross and sniffly and stuff, but managed to pull through that week, looking forward to my birthday, and then the day of my birthday (and party arrived), and I was sick as a dog. I slept most of the day before, and then the day of my party, I helped set up for my party (invitations had all been sent out + non-refundable venue), and then spent the rest of the time alternating between sitting at a table with my head lying on it or throwing up in the bathroom... so shout-out to my bestie Sophia for chilling with me the whole time despite me being sick. She's a real one, y'all.
 I feel really bad because I barely talked to any of my friends at my party (the ones who showed up anyway, y'all are fantastic and I love you). I pretty much parked myself between Soph, my siblings, and my grandparents and spent my eighteenth birthday feeling like dirt. It was a very depressing way to spend the day, and as soon as we got home, I went to bed. I didn't get to eat any of the snacks we got or really enjoy my decorations or anything. I'm still super peeved, but it is what it is I suppose.

 Then I was pretty sick for the next week or two, and the Thursday after my party (about 5 days later) I thought I was going to die so my Mom took me to the ER (...I was supposed to be at dance class lol), and turns out I just had a God-awful case of bronchitis. They put me on meds and other than a lingering cough, I was good in about another week or two.
 February's a bit of a blur. January-February are almost always rough months for me, the past 2 or 3 years I've come down with really serious illnesses around/on my birthday that usually start at the end of January. I don''t know what the deal is, but it just happens every time without fail.

 At the end of February/beginning of March, we went to go see our friend Naomi in a show at the La Comedia dinner theatre, which is an awesome place. It was The King & I, which I'd never had much interest in before, but it was amazing! I had such a great time and Naomi did a lovely job.

 After this is where things start to get blurry- with the Covid-19 pandemic, everything is crazy. I pretty much am temporarily unemployed because no one needs a pet sitter because no one can actually travel right now. I've been going stir-crazy with not being able to go see my friends or at least take my siblings places or go to the movies with my family and stuff. Never did I ever think we'd be living through a world-wide pandemic. Just goes to show life never goes as planned.

 Unfortunately, we had to rehome our one pup, Buster, because he wasn't a good fit for our family. He is a great dog, just not great for our situation, but I do miss the little stinker. We've also lost a few of our other pets these past few months unfortunately, and it does hurt my heart a lot.
 The company I used to dance with, Fueled & Aflame, had a final concert so I went back to dance with them for that- it ended up being virtual which was a rough send-off for something that has had so many memories and time put into it and stuff. It was better than nothing, though. Shortly after, things started closing for us. Our acting group had to cancel our production of Godspell, which means (aside from like, Soph and I and maybe a few others) the seniors don't get a final bow, which is really quite sad.
 Dance class is on hold for in-person classes which is really depressing. I love my studio, and so it's been rough not being able to see everyone (especially being the 'new kid'). We've had classes over Zoom, but it's just not the same, plus I'm really struggling with picking up choreography, and I'm not sure exactly how recital will work this year, which makes me sad, because it was going to be my first recital with this studio.

 Overall, this pandemic has just been a hellish situation for everyone. I'm glad things are opening again, but I'm also concerned about a spike in cases. One day at a time, I suppose. I'm ready for things to be normal again but I know 'normal' is not really ever going to be on the horizon again. We live in such a digital age that I think this will change us forever.
 There are things to look forward to, though. I have two more college classes starting next month. I'm taking a humanities course and a history course. I declared (unofficially) my major as theatre but have switched to a general associate of art's because I honestly have no idea what the heck I want to do with my life.
 My siblings & I are taking our friend Syd to prom in July (delayed because of Covid), so that's going to be a blast. I've also been using this time for good, and Sophia and I are starting up our own dance company. Everything is lined up so now I'm using my anxious energy to expend on choreography and website building and such. I hope to find an official job soon and start planning for when I'm stable and able to move out. I also hope to start taking boxing lessons once things open back up. Good and bad, bad and good. Just doing my best to focus on the good.

 So this has been a brief- but not-so-brief- overview of what my life has been like lately. How are things in your neck of the woods? Let me know in the comments :)
 -Hannah

New Year, New Insanity

Hey guys!

 I'm sorry I've been absent. I'd blame it on being busy (which is somewhat reasonable) but really I just didn't feel like writing any blog posts.

 Just in the past month and a half, I have...

1. Declared (unofficially because I'm still high school age) a major (Theatre!)
2. Started an Instagram account for my poetry,
3. Adopted a new dog,
4. Got tickets to go see my favorite band (for Christmas- thanks Mom!),
5. Started a writing group with a dear friend of mine,
6. Took an overnight trip to Columbus,
7. Got into making OOAK dolls,
8. Have grown my collection of My Little Ponies & Barbies,
9. Celebrated the new year ofc!,
10. Planned my birthday party- this month!!!,
11. Had tech week with a 3-show weekend,

 And that doesn't include all of the regular life stuff and smaller events that have happened. Things have been pretty wild around here. Not bad or anything, but hectic. I start a dog sitting job tomorrow (today, technically, when this is posted haha), and we start rehearsals for our next show on Thursday- Godspell- and I'm so excited.

 Dance has been going well, although I had to miss this past week because of one of our shows with acting, but I'm pretty stoked about the choreo we've been working on. Although for our jazz dance we'll be in character shoes which makes me anxious.

 Here soon we'll be taking an overnight trip to go see The Lumineers and I'm just so happy. They mean so much to me, and I can't wait to see them perform live.

 I'll update more soon when I can! Much love to all of you.

-Hannah

An August Recap

Hey y'all,

 This post is kind of just a ~recap~ of how August went- sort of a journal entry in a way. August felt like it was taking forever to get through, but now that it's over, it feels like it barely even existed.

 I was going to share some photos, but I think a plain text post is a better idea right now- I'm not at home while I'm writing this so I don't have a great way to transfer photos.

 At the beginning of the month, I had a dog sitting gig, and Descendants 3 premiered. It might seem silly for an almost-adult to get so excited over a kid's movie... but dude, I was thriving. I like Disney Channel movies way too much, lol.

 Then on the 7th, my grandparents came over to our house to have a mini celebration for my mom's birthday (which was on the 8th). We gave her gifts and had cake and ice cream and stuff. It was a pretty fun night. Also this month, we celebrated both of my Grandparent's birthdays as well (and my grandma's was a landmark birthday- 70!).

 Fast forward a few days, and we went to go see Shrek the Musical. It was actually so good, and super funny. It was at La Comedia dinner theater so we had a fun meal and saw a fantastic show, it was a really fun experience and I loved it.

 We also had a Youth Arts Ambassadors meeting. Unfortunately, time wise and stuff, we couldn't end up doing it this year, but seeing what all they have planned for the year makes me excited about where the arts in our community are going.

 At one point I met up with my one of my dear friend's mom, and a friend of hers. I can't go into detail on here about everything without being a jerk by over sharing, but we had an impromptu concert of sorts and just... it was a really good evening. Very Holy Spirit filled and just ultra powerful.

 Around the middle of the month, my mom & I auditioned for a play called Jake's Women. Unfortunately, neither of us got parts, but it was still fun and gives more audition experience, at least.

 My siblings and I also had auditions for our homeschool acting group in mid-August. We're doing a Broadway/musical theatre revue in January and we're performing the full version of Godspell in May! We're really excited. Unfortunately, we can't be placed in parts for Godspell until January due to MTI rules and such, but that's okay. I'm excited to get things prepped for the Broadway show. We have our first rehearsal next week.

 I had my last practices at the dance studio, since it's closing down. It's very bittersweet- I'm excited for what all the companies have in store, but the studio has been, and is, a huge part of my life. I've also begun taking a class at my friend Sophia's dance studio, so we're going to be seeing each other almost all day every Thursday because we're both in acting too, so that's pretty cool. Plus youth group starts back up soon, which we both attend.

 We've spent a lot of time with my Grandma (my mom's mom) this month, going out to eat, going to King's Island, Ikea, those kinds of things. It's been fun just going out and doing random stuff.

 We went to go see the movie Ready Or Not at the end of the month, which was very interesting. I might be posting a review soon, I'm not sure yet, but we'll see. It was entertaining though and it was almost midnight so we had the entire theater to ourselves which was a blast.

 On Friday (the 30th) our Mom surprised us with a trip to Other World in Columbus, where I've been wanting to go since before they even opened, lol. I WILL be posting about that soon, because it was such a blast. I haven't smiled that much in a really long time, haha!

 How was everyone else's month? Did everyone have a good August? Drop a comment below and let me know!

Ciao,
Hannah

What I've Been Up To

Hey everyone!!

 It has been a g e s since I last posted- which is actually kind of a good thing, because I've been really busy, doing stuff that I (mostly) love. Life's been hectic and I haven't had much time or energy to just sit down and write a blog post.

 Forewarning: this is going to be a very picture-heavy post, so it might run somewhat slow on data or slow wifi systems.

 So, at the beginning of June, my siblings & I had our end-of-year dance concert. It was quite bittersweet- I've stuck with dance, but cut back a lot, and my siblings dropped it altogether, and things are changing with the company I dance with. It's a big year of change.

Opus- my favorite piece, like, ever. It holds a special place in my heart.
Obviously not my photo... seeing as I'm in it. :) haha

  Then, the day after our performance, we went and saw my dear friend Sophia in her dance recital, where she played Tinkerbell (they did a version of Peter Pan for their production). It was wonderful and I love seeing her dance.

 Also in June, we adopted a new kitten! We named her Glinda. Now we've got 5 cats- it's a bit of a madhouse around here, lots of meowing. From oldest to youngest, it's Sherbert, Briar, Mittens, Elphaba, and Glinda.

 In June we also had all 6 of our shows for Annie Jr. It went amazing and I'm so proud of all of the people involved. We sold out 4 of 6 shows! It's a small theatre, but still! Pretty darn cool. It went splendidly, even with a few injuries and insanities that happened.

I can't find the one of me, my siblings, and Soph, so here's one without Christian. (sorry, dude.)
Also peep those little kids taller than the adult cop. :P

The orphanage set-up! (I painted the two signs on the back wall. Took forever but totally worth it.)

 At the end of June, my sister, mom & I all went to go see Waitress the musical. I saw off-Broadway versions of Beauty & the Beast and The Lion King, but this was a whole other experience and I had a total blast. It's one of my favorite musicals, and I may or may not have sobbed through the entirety of She Used to Be Mine. #notsorry

 At the beginning of July, my family & I binged the entirety of Stranger Things in one sitting. No regrets... this season was amazing and well worth the hype!

 Also in July, I re-auditioned for dance. I wasn't going to, but something in me just knew I couldn't survive without it. So I prayed about it, and decided to just go for it. I'm a trainee with the adult company, Fueled and Aflame, this year.

 Then in mid-July/late-ish July, my siblings and I attended a 2-week acting camp where we put together an entire show in a week (the rest of the time was spent learning new techniques and stuff). I learned so much and had a blast getting to know every one. We all traded Instagrams and Snapchats and such to stay in contact.

 We did an original play called After Ever After that was written by our teacher, Kylee. She did a great job and we all had a blast with it. I had the only non-fairytale role in the show as Alex the crowd-manager. My siblings played Jack and Jill, respectively. It was a total blast and, if I do say so myself, really good for being put together in such a short time.

Beth goofing off in her Jill costume on stage.

My siblings & I.

My siblings & I with Sophia.
(I should add that Soph wasn't in the show- she came to see it and support us, because that's just the amazing person she is)

  Also in this time, my family went to go see The Lion King. In my opinion, it was beautifully done, had an excellent cast, and was just all around a really good movie. Not one of my favorite Disney movies, per say, but definitely at the top of my list for ones that seriously impressed me.

My siblings & I also screwed around in the arcade, where I won that rubber duck, and in the photo booth.

 Christian also turned 13 on the 26th of July! No more kiddos in the house- we're all *nervously* approaching adulthood.

 The last two photos are from a cool coffee shop that's here locally... we went with our mom to the homeschool assessment that we have to do every year, and I got an Italian soda float with creme de menthe syrup and like- YUM. I also got my mom chocolate-strawberry blooming tea.

 At the very tail end of July, my family went on a mini-trip which I'll share a full post about later. For now, I'm off to go watch Descendents 3 and cuddle with some dogs! I'll see y'all around.

Until next time,
Hannah

Identity Crisis

Hello,

 I've talked a lot on here lately about stepping out of my comfort zone; and that hasn't changed. I've been really thrown for a loop lately with a lot of things, but I mean it's good, it's changing me for the better.

 Something though, that is going to be a huge change, is that I'm not really calling myself a dancer anymore. I still love dance; it's been a huge part of my life and has helped me grow so much as a person through it. I can't guarantee I'd be here to type this today if I hadn't had dance to help me through my really bad mental health as a child/young teen.

 But the thing is... I need a break. I'm tired and I'm realizing that's not where I need to be anymore; I need to re-prioritize things and figure out where I stand with dance, and re-remember why I dance. And that's going to take time. But all good things take time, you know? It's like that saying, Rome wasn't built in a day or however it goes.

 And through this, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I am absolutely terrified. Dance has been such a huge part of my identity for so long, and all of a sudden, it's just a part of me that isn't a part of my day-to-day life anymore. It's not something I have to hold at the forefront of my mind.

 I'm struggling in some ways, because I'm just changing a lot. I'm trying to put my identity in Christ instead of in the world. And sometimes it goes really well... and sometimes, it goes really bad. But I know that the one constant I have, whether I'm doing good or not, is that God never stops loving me. Which is good, because we humans mess up ~a lot~.

 My interests are just changing, and my personality is changing, and my perception of the world is changing, and my relationships are changing. Everyone is getting older. Out of my 5 best friends, I am officially the youngest- and I'm 17 (and a 1/4).

 I'm having an identity crisis, I guess you could say. I'm not this anxious, people-pleasing little girl who always wears bracelets and hats as some weird sort of protection from the world anymore. I'm not a teenager who thinks she knows everything and hates people. I'm not this girl who spends all her time feeding into outward activities anymore.

 I don't really know who I am anymore. But God does. And that's good enough for me.

Ciao,
Hannah

A Little Life Update

 Hello everyone!

 I'm running a bit low on post ideas at the moment, so I decided to just give a little life update instead of making a 'post-post'. On my other blog it's pretty much all I wrote, though, so I'm trying to give myself grace, haha.

 I'm almost to my third week of my second college semester! I still haven't worked my way up to a full course load yet, but frankly, I'm not sure I'd have time. I'm scoring well, but the actual reading and such has a tendency to fall to the wayside until the last minute because most of my free time is on the weekends (...as long as they aren't dance weekends.)
 I'm actually decently enjoying my classes so far, which is new compared to last semester. The work is decent and all of my teachers are pretty nice and helpful. My fellow students are also really engaging with both myself and others in the class, which was not the case last semester, so I have high hopes.
 I actually visited the main campus the other day to use the library, which was exciting but a little freaky. I was surrounded by so many different people, which was cool, but I'm also used to all of my individual little social circles, you know? I'm hoping to join the creative writing group which meets on Fridays, but we'll see.

 Dance is going pretty well. Our dear dance teacher, Chelle, is pretty far along now in her pregnancy, so she's trying to finish up recital pieces so that way our substitutes don't have to stress over it. I really like both class pieces so far (I'm in jazz and ballet, class-wise.)
 My brother's hip-hop class is doing a dance to Backseat Driver by TobyMac from what I can tell, which is super exciting because I really, really like that song.
 Illuminate, the company I was in for the past 4 years and my siblings are both in, as well as Ignite, the current company I'm in, are going to work together today (1/26/19) on our joint-company piece for our next dance concert. I'm super excited to be able to dance with my siblings and all of our friends again.

 In more upsetting news, a few days ago, one of our guinea pigs, my dear Teddy (or Ted as I usually called him) passed away. It was totally unexpected. He was fine, then he was sick, and then as soon as it started, he was gone. I didn't even have a chance to get him into the vet.
 Otherwise, all of our animals are doing well. Our one cat, Sherbert, was just diagnosed with a thyroid issue, and he has trouble gaining/maintaining his weight. He's on medicine now to help with that. Both dogs are good, annoying as ever, but I love them to pieces. Moose the guinea pig and Abby the hamster are both well. Our other two cats are good, too, just little dorks.

 In other news, my friend Sophia, my siblings, and I all auditioned for a production of Annie Jr. Sophia told us about the auditions the night before, and we were like... yep, we're doing this. So we practiced the heck out of it and did pretty well, I think. I did sing in front of people, by myself, for the audition though, which was kind of anxiety-inducing because to be totally honest... I can't sing.
 However, our director must have thought we did okay. Sophia is playing the part of Duffy (an orphan) and I think she's re-auditioning for the 'Star-to-Be' roll next week. My sister, Beth, is playing July (pronounced Julie in our production), an orphan, and is also in the N.Y.C. ensemble of sorts.
 My brother is playing Bundles the laundry man, a manservant in the I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here scene, a sound effect man, and President FDR. I think there was something else, but I can't remember right now. I'm playing Officer Ward throughout the play, so I have a few scenes, a few speaking and a few non-speaking, and I'll also be Ward in the N.Y.C. scene.

 Right now, it's 4:57 in the morning, and I have to be up in 2 hours and 3 minutes, but my dogs woke me up to go outside and now I can't sleep. Ugh. I best wrap up this post and try to at least rest, so I'll talk to you all soon.

 For now, this is Hannah, signing off.
 Ciao!

My Creative Process

Hello, you lovely people!

 I haven't written a blog post in *so long* and I feel really bad about it, but life has just been all kinds of intense here in the past few weeks (months, to be quite frank with you all).
 Moving on, I've decided to talk to you all a bit about my creative process.

 For me, a creative process has to start with inspiration. I find my inspiration in many areas of my life; dancing is a place I find a lot of inspiration for my art, and vice versa. Depending on what I need my process for, is how I decide where to find my inspiration;  music, books, and television are major sources of inspiration for me. Seeing other creative people being creative helps me a lot.

 The second thing I need in my process of creativity is the space to be creative. Whether it's sitting down to write blog posts, writing a song, choreographing a dance, or doing an art piece, I need some space. Other people tend to suffocate my creativity (this isn't me being rude- I am just more introverted) and I like having room to move.

 The third thing is is my surroundings; I have this weird idea that if a room is not 100% surrounded with furniture/stuff/paintings then it's not 'correct' or something- it's very weird, but the fact of the matter is, I like to have stuff surrounding a room on all 4 sides (that's why I'm such a pack rat). I also like to have blankets for drawing, a clean, swept floor for dancing, and lots of table space for writing.

 The fourth thing is sound. I am extremely sensitive to noise. My ears physically hurt if I hear a noise that is too loud or scratchy or squeal-y (I hate styrofoam with a burning passion because of this). I have a lot of music that inspires me; so I usually have headphones on, or if I'm home alone, blasting through my speakers or from the TV.
 Music is really powerful to me and affects my mood strongly, so having something that inspires me really decides whether or not I will finish my project, or not.

 The fifth thing is stress. If I'm stressed out or extremely anxious, I will shut down. I find most of my creativity comes to me late at night when I'm sleepy or when I'm in an afternoon sleep-craving period because it's when I'm most relaxed and calm. Deadlines to get things done also cause me to procrastinate until it's nearly too late, even if it's something I love doing.

 The sixth thing is to just do it. Sometimes, even if nothing else is writing, just closing my eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath, and focusing is enough to get my creative juices flowing. There's only so much you can do sometimes, and you just need to get it done. I've created some of my best projects this way.

 What's your creative process? I'd love to know. Drop a comment down below! I love you all!

Ciao,
Hannah

Dance Goals

Hello lovely people of Internet-world!

 Much longer introduction than usual today! Anyway, I hope you all are having a good day. In this post, I'm going to be sharing some of my dance goals/fitness goals with you all! I think it's interesting to see everyone's different goals and plans.

• Achieve my splits on both sides
• Become an apprentice with my dream company
• Choreograph my testimony piece
• Be able to plank for 1 minute without falling out of it
• Build more muscle for my arms
• Achieve my straddles
• Join my other dream company
• Be able to do fouetté turns succesfully
• Get better at picking up combinations
• Learn how to count music correctly
• Become better at "going with the flow" during dance practices
• Stop comparing myself to my fellow dancers
• Try my hardest at every single practice + class
• Become more confident in my movement
• Get better at both ballet and contemporary turns + jumps
• Try more styles of dance (tap, hip-hop, jazz)

 If you're a dancer, what are some of your dance goals? And if not, what are some of your fitness goals? Tell me in the comments! :D

Ciao!
Hannah

Dance Recital Tips + Tricks

Hello dears!

 Today, I'll be sharing some tips + tricks I've learned in my time as a dancer, on how to make recital days run smoothly!

1) CREATE A TO-DO LIST
 If you create a list of all the things you need to do 3+ days before recital day, it makes getting ready so much easier. For example, put gathering costumes, cleaning out dance bag, etc., on the list.

2) ASK QUESTIONS Ask your teacher about the set up of the stage, dressing rooms, approximate times between dances, make up guidelines, anything you don't already know- ask (BEFORE THE SHOW!). Most teachers are more than happy to help and just want to make sure dress rehearsal and show day go smoothly.

3) GATHER MAKE UP
 Investing in a large tool-box style carrying case is a good idea. It's easy to separate different kinds of make up so you aren't scrambling back stage to find that particular tube of mascara.

4) GO TO BED EARLY Going by the idea that you don't have a practice late the night before, go to bed early. It's easy to get caught up practicing at home, prepping costumes and make up, or even working on show-prep, but if you're run ragged you'll be too tired to perform to your best ability.

5) PLAN ON CUSHION TIME If you have to be at your venue by 12:00 noon, it takes you a half-hour to get there, and an hour and a half to get ready, plan to start getting ready at 9:00, not 10:00. It's easy to get distracted while doing your make up, or if the road happens to be busy, you don't want to be late for call time, so it's good to plan for extra prep-time.

6) SHOWER BY YOUR COSTUMES If you hang your tutus (or other costumes) upside down on a towel rack while you shower, it can act like a steamer and get all of the wrinkles out.

7) LOAD THE CAR THE NIGHT BEFORE
 If you have costumes and props, throw 'em in the car the night before. Then you'll only have to worry about costume base, your water bottle, make up, and hair products.

8) PUT DEODORANT EVERYWHERE
 Okay, so... not literally. It may sound weird, but if you have weird reactions to plastic straps on leos and/or costumes, or become irritated by tights, putting deodorant on those problem-areas helps tone the problem down slightly.

9) LABEL EVERYTHING
 Write your name on the insides of your shoes, hangers, costume bags, make up palettes, anything and everything. It helps you keep track of *your* items.

10) CONTAIN EVERYTHING
 Pick a spot to put your stuff and keep it in that area. Always put your stuff back in your bag in-between pieces and don't open anything you don't need immediately so you don't lose your lucky pair of ballet shoes right before going on stage.

 I hope these help a little bit! And just remember, have fun and be yourself! Dance recitals are just about having fun and showcasing what you've learned.

Ciao!
Hannah