So Very Finished

Hello fellow strangers and people I have pestered to read my blog,

Here we are, the final bow, the closing scene, the final chapter, the last 100 feet, the final stretch. This is the end of the school year as well as the end of this blog, which to those rare visitors that do not know me, is a school assignment. I didn't really consider it to be a school assignment since it was so fun, and previous 9th graders had raved about how wonderful it is. I have to agree, but all good things come to an end.

Ali's birthday party (Picture credits to Ali's mom) From left to right, Taylor, Faith, Claire, me, Ali, Holly

I started this blog to appeal to an audience consisting of my friends and trying to make them laugh and tell others about my blog and for me to become popular, but over the course of the year, I have stopped caring how many people view my blog and begun thinking more about my own needs and what I wanted to write about. This is also what happened to me over the course of the year, I stopped caring about what others thought and more about myself. I let myself wander into my own mindlessness and release my inner child. (see above picture)

At the beginning of the year, I wasn't shy, but I didn't openly approach people in order to befriend them, as well as being extremely mopey about my academy placement, but got over that and took it as a learning opportunity to be a better dancer, plus got some of the most amazing friends I have ever met, including Bella, Maddie, Carlee, Lena, Maria, Allison, and more. I grew close to them and I believe I grew as a person. I consider myself to be a pretty selfless person, but that wasn't always the case. I was pretty selfless last year but never though about others and was too busy trying to share my part of a story to really listen to others. Now I think I do this pretty well though I'm not perfect.

Plus, I got moved up in dance and will now be with my old dance group in Senior and Intermediate C, plus some freaking amazing new people that I danced ballet with. I am so excited to be with my 'family' again, but it has been nice finding new friends. If I have learned one thing from taking an hour every 10ish days to really think about myself by blogging, it has been that the only thing holding me back from greatness is myself, and I don't care how cheesy it is, I know that I can do it, and help the people that are in the place I was last year with either being held in place or moved back. I hope that they realize how wonderful the entire experience will end up being.

Lots of love, I'll see you when I see you next,
Alicia.

So Very Short

Hello fellow strangers and people I have pestered to read my blog,

So if you know me in real life, you probably know that I'm kind of short. By kind of, I mean quite short, but recently I have began to grow to be about average sized. This came as a bit of a shock and I don't really want to grow anymore, because honestly being short is pretty freaking great, no matter how much I complain about it. Why? Well I can tell you.

• It makes you unique.
• If you're short, people notice that about you and tease you about it, which can be annoying but it's just them pointing out that you're short and that they kind of like it.
• You are easily spotted... Well if you're not in a crowd, because you'd get lost among taller people.

Me and Taylor at the White Barn (Photo credits to Faith from our shared album)

• Hugging is fun with pretty much everyone
• If you are short, with friends, or more than friends, you get to go on your tiptoes to hug a person and you get the comfort of resting your head on their torso. (As seen in the above picture)
• You automatically know where to put your arms in the hug.

• You get hand me downs.
• Honestly I'm pretty sure that over 50% of my closet is hand me downs (Thanks Taylor and Faith, major contributors) and it's freaking wonderful. I get all these wonderful beautiful clothes for free
• If you like someone's fashion taste, you can gain a little part of that from hand me downs and develop it to be your own.
• You get picked up and are part of stunt things.
• I was trying to avoid dance in this, but being short is good when you're a dancer. The short people are the ones involved most in stunting, which is something I love.
• It's easier to convince people to give you a piggy back ride.
• More room
• I've heard many tall people complain about how cramped certain things like cars and planes and desks and most seated positions can be. I don't have to worry about that
• I get to lay in bed and stretch my legs straight and arms above my head and still have room.
• Prime spot in groups
• Whether this refers to pictures or to gathering around a phone, I always manage to get near the front because people can see over my head.
• People see me as less of a bother when trying to see near the front.
• Navigating crowds
• I don't know why but I can always just slip easily through crowds. Maybe I see gaps taller people don't or people don't mind me sneaking through
• If I don't want to weave through them, I can always stand behind someone taller and allow them to part the crowd. 

So to summarize, before you get annoyed at someone using your head as an arm rest, again(which is never funny, just rude btw), think about the advantages you have to being short.

So Very Disney (Part 3)

Hello fellow strangers and people I have pestered to read my blog,

We're here, finally, the home stretch of so very disney, the final part. Considering I had to have three parts to explain how much I enjoyed this experience, you probably already know how wonderful this was to me as well as why I am having a very short introduction to this post. Now, back to the story,

Disneyland was so much fun (Picture credits to me)

Saturday morning, I wake up in the Grand Californian hotel from the room service coming early and my mom groggily answering the door. I change into my tan onesie and clothes to wear over it, my bag already packed for the parade. We turn on HGTV (it's become a travel tradition), and eat the most wonderful granola and fruit breakfast ever. Then, I get my face ready for the competition, which takes a surprisingly large amount of time and energy, and slick back my hair using mousse in a coffee cup that I got from the Volmrichs. I put on my Park City Dance jacket and book it to the lobby to meet everyone else. We then wait for the Volmrichs and leave to Small World, where we are meeting for the parade. Here, I learn that we're the absolute last group to march in the parade.

Fast forward a few hours past the Staff Members Only sign when we're waiting in anticipation as the 540 dancers in front of us head out the gates and we see Peter Pan and Ariel backstage (SQUEE!!!). We burst out with as much energy as we could get, which considering we were practicing in a high altitude place then went to sea level, was quite a lot. I could see some people doing the dance with us, as they had already seen 540ish other dancers performing this. It was such a rush and I didn't even mind how sweaty I was. I wasn't really tired after performing it for over 20 minutes straight and I thank adrenaline for that, but my feet were so sore.

After changing and wiping off sweat and excessive amounts of makeup with a towelette, me and some others went on a few rides including my first loop coaster, California Screaming. Then, it was time for us to leave and rest for the performance the next day.

Sunday, we performed a dance to the song 'Better When I'm Dancing', by Meghan Trainor with everyone from the studio that came to Disney. Backstage we saw some people from Japan performing with batons and they looked so good. Anyway, after the stage performance, I went with the Volmrichs, Ali Herman, Faith and her sister, Rian, and a guide (thanks to the Volmrichs) around Disneyland. The guide let us skip the lines so we got to go on whatever rides we wanted whenever we wanted, so we posed quite a bit on California Screaming (see picture). That was amazing.

So overall the entire experience was truly magical. To summarize the entirety of So Very Disney, all I have to say is thank you Dance the Magic, thank you Park City Dance and thank you Volmrichs and other friends for making this such an amazing experience.

-Alicia

So Very Disney (Part 2)

Hello fellow strangers and people I have pestered to read my blog,

I went to Disneyland. I performed in a parade. I danced in front of at least a thousand people for 20 minutes straight, maintaining my smile the entire time as I felt drops of sweat trickle down my face and right below my nose. I avoided wiping it because over a thousand people were watching us. It was amazing, it was beautiful, and it was adrenaline inducing. I lived the dream of so many young dancers. I danced at Disneyland. Here's how it went down.

Park City Dancers before the parate
Photo Credits to my mother

We started on Friday, so I had to miss a day of school in order to participate. I went on an earlier flight that left at 11 with Allie Kenton. There were only two families leaving on the earlier flight, and many leaving later, but we ended up sitting together, they were right in front of us. Needless to say, that was a great start to the most exciting weekend of my life. There were no screens on the plane since it was a domestic flight so I read a book called Cinder, which is available in English, but I read it in Swedish. I love that book.

Once we arrived in Anaheim, my mom and I rented a car and went to the Grand Californian Hotel, then had the longest wait time ever for our hotel to get ready, but I met Allie Kenton, once again and we went through downtown Disney and enjoyed the magic. Her family was so sweet and kind but my mom texted me right as they were about to eat, so I had to leave. Then began the week of birthdays. My birthday was coming up in less than a week, so whenever I ate at a restaurant or anywhere, my mother always said it was my birthday, so that I could get sung to and get a cupcake.

After that, I had to get ready for a workshop with some of the Dance The Magic employees. That was so fun. We learned two combinations. One was taught by an Australian man to the song (insert song). It was fast paced and challenging but was honestly such an amazing experience. Taylor completely rocked that routine and ended up on the Dance The Magic Snapchat story, which I was dedicatedly checking every time I had the chance.  We also learned a dance to a song from Teen Beach Movie 2. That one was slightly less challenging but I also enjoyed it.

After the workshop, the dancers left, drenched in sweat, and met back at Bug's Land and went home to rest for the next day, which would be the parade through Disneyland, which was the thing I was most excited for, so I couldn't really sleep well, but tried my hardest. Sadly, I don't have enough left to describe that entire day, so there will be a So Very Disney, part 3.
-Alicia

So Very Crazy

Hello fellow strangers and people I have pestered to read my blog,
Everyone should have a dance friend. There, I said it. Even if you aren't a dancer, there are plenty of them scattered around the world. I may be biased, considering I am a dancer, but I really believe that dancers are amazing. None of them quite fit the mold and they're all just crazy enough to make you feel normal. Now that you know this, let me tell you about my dance friends. I have three groups, the ones I was with before, the ones I am with now in tap and jazz and the ones I am with for ballet.

The old dance friends being artsy. Pictures credit to me

Old Dance friends:
Tay Tay-God I don't even know how to shorten everything good about you into a few sentences. You are such an amazing friend and are the strong one who keeps us focused. You're also the innocent one.
Faith-You are the grandmother, the kind and caring one that makes food for us but still keeps us together and paying attention.
Rae Rae-You're just the random Snow White that hangs out with us and seems normal until people get to know you.
Savvy-You are the random and overexcited one that kept our energy up all the time.
Jenna-You're the sweet and quiet one that can be loud if you want, but compared to us, you're quiet.
Mia-You're the baby of the dance group, but you're growing up and becoming such an amazing dancer.
Eve-You're the amazing dancer that is sweet and kind and healthy and smart and I'm just complimenting you.
Sophie-You're the flexible sex educator. You have slowly crushed Taylor's innocence by making everyone laugh, including her.
Sami-You're the second baby of the group. I don't even know how you ended up growing up so quickly.
Val-You're the mature one that is probably the most normal of us all. But of course, you're still funny and a slight bit crazy.
Ballet:
Mikelle-You're the 'albino' comedian that has a 'slight' obsession with the pope.
Holly-You're the typical fangirl that always keeps me informed on the ways of pop culture.
Lucie-You're the one that is funny and weird and social and amazing.
Ali-You're the ballerina that inspires us and you are the sweetest thing.
Maddie-You are my fellow cat that is just a little devious angel. I love spending 7 and a half or more hours with you per week.
Claire-You're the literal worst❤︎❤︎. I hate you❤︎ You're so sweet and kind and you are an amazing fairy squad mother.
Bella-You're the laughing person that never stops laughing and it's amazing.
Jazz and tap:
Lena-You're the one that acts older than you are but in a good way.
Maria-You're the rubber band that just stretches so much without thinking it's a big deal.
Carlee-You're the one who keeps us encouraged and happy and sends the longest texts.
Bailey-You're the shy one that is slightly crazy but still wonderful.
Allison-You're the funny one that laughs at her own jokes and it's adorable.
Quinn-You're the quiet one that just absorbs information.
Grayson-You're the one that is pretty quiet but when you say something, it's hilarious.
Rian-You're the bomb.com that has such amazing fashion that everyone in your school has the exact same khaki shorts and collared shirt.

So Very Disney (Part 1)

Hello fellow strangers and people I have pestered to read my blog,

So I have some extremely great news that I've just slowly been getting more and more excited about as the days near. So I'm going to Disneyland to perform in the Diamond Classic 60th Anniversary and dancing in the parade down Main Street, USA. We're going to be filmed and have to do a high intensity, extremely energetic 1 and a half minute loop approximately 20 times down the street and it is going to be the best thing ever! I am honestly so excited.

The costume that our studio has, is a short, turquoise, fluffy dress. Each studio has a different costume but all of us are required to wear tights and white Keds while dancing in 80 degree heat. We've been practicing on the street in 40 something degree heat so we learn to move forward.

"Damn Disney, back at it again with the white Keds"
Quote by Alex, picture from Keds

We're going to be backstage, and have a rehearsal with a lot of other people and it's going to be great. After the parade, in order to get back to our parents, we're going to be able to walk the infamous tunnels under Disneyland. Plus, we're going to be performing for Disney. I am such an immature and Disney loving person that I just can't get over it.

An even better part of this that just adds everything up to be the best birthday present ever is that I get to do it with my friends. I know that me, Taylor, Rachael, Lucie, and Savvy are on the same flight as me. And I know I will never get bored of them because they're all freaking hilarious and amazing and pretty and nice and amazing dancers and inspire me every day (Foreshadowing to a future blog post). Honestly, I don't know what I would do without them because they're just such supportive friends. The age difference between us is a few years and in high school, that is usually a big deal but we just always get along so well.

There are going to be a lot of people at Disneyland, considering California is going to be on spring break as well as us. This might not be too great for people in the parade that have stage fright. Usually this would bother me since we're going to a theme park, but as said, I am not worried at all that I'm not going to be bored at all.

So back to the dancing in the parade part, I am going to leave next Friday and perform on Saturday and Sunday. I'm hoping to learn what it's like to be a member of Disneyland. Plus, if I ever want to work for Disney in the future, this might give me a slight bit of an advantage. Well that's all I have time to write today, but I'll write more after or during Disney.
~Alicia

So Very Hangry

Hello fellow strangers and people I have pestered to read my blog,

Today I will be talking to you about dance competitions. I had one yesterday and the day before and they are stressful. They are challenging and they will make or break a friendship depending on how you react during them. As I have been through many and still have all my fingers, toes, and dance friends, I thought I would make a list of things that I do to help those of you who are just entering the competition world or could use more advice.
Step 1: To avoid stress, make a list

Generic one I found online that has everything necessary. Link here

This is the first year I made a list but my friend made one for our group last year and it was the most useful thing ever. It helps you to make sure that you have everything you need. Of course if you have a list, make sure to include EVERYTHING, from the exact makeup you need to the costume accessories to bandaids and safety pins. This will make it so that you don't forget anything at home and so that you stay organanized. 

Step 2: Get organized and stay organized

This is not particularly my strong suit but recently I've gotten a lot better at this. With the help of your list, organize each costume together. My recommendation is to get a costume bag(also known as a garment bag). I have two for four costumes and they have 4 pockets each (see above). The big one is for your costume and has a hole in the top for a hanger, and two pockets for something like a headpiece or gloves, then a long pocket for stuff like hairspray, tights and shoes.

Step 3: Pack an excessive amount of snacks

There is a reason this blog post is called so very hangry. Dance competitions take up so much more energy than regular classes for whatever odd reason. This may have to do with the fact that there is a lot of running around and adrenaline induced energy, plus multiple dances and warming up, plus more energy is used in each dance, thanks to the adrenaline induced rush. All of this means that you will need fuel, and that fuel is food. Make sure to pack extra in case someone forgot some of their own, plus you might need to eat more than you thought. 

Step 4: Expect tension

There will be a lot of stress in the air, even if you follow these rules, and stress plus occasional hanger will probably mean tension. We can't also forget that dance competitions usually start early and end late, meaning you will be tired. You probably know what people are like when they're tired, hungry, stressed or any combination of them. Try to be as nice as possible toward everyone, but if you do end up arguing, be the bigger person and apologise. You will think back on this and just know that it was the competition. 

Good luck,

Alicia