The End is Near

     It's December so for college students that means one thing, finals and break.  As a dancer I go through two weeks of finals and I have finally figured out the best way to handle the stress of finals. It is all about the way you prepare for them.
     The first week of finals for dancers are our technique finals.  These vary from teacher to teacher and technique to technique.  Ballet finals are the finals that are the most strict, but that is all because ballet is the most disciplined of techniques.  For the final you learn an entire class, the teacher goes through every exercise and then the day of the final the class is broken up into groups and the groups have to execute the exercises without the teacher going over them.  What you need to do to prepare for this is to write down the exercises after class and go over them the night before the final.  For tap finals it is a solo that is self choreographed.  My suggestion is do not improvise when performing it in class, choreograph it and practice it ahead of time.  The best thing to do is to perform it in front of friends ahead of time to get there opinion about it.  The jazz final is choreographed by the teacher and you work on it for 3 or 4 classes before the final.  The day of the final its a quick warm up, across the floor, and then the combination.  The best way to prepare for this final is to pay attention in class to every little detail about the combination, and then work with your friends in the class to rehearse it the night before. The modern finals are a combination of choreography from the teacher and group choreography.  Although given time in class to work on the group choreography, the best thing to do is to get together in the group and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.  For all of these finals the best preparation is rehearsing and I personally like to write all of the combinations down.  I find it as a memory trick that is best for me. 
     Academic finals are the weeks after that and they vary from exams, papers, and projects all of which are equally challenging.  Projects just take time and the best thing to do is not to procrastinate, work on it every night and leaving it for the night before is just asking to fail. Papers are the same, do not leave them for the night before because if it is your final it is going to be at least  10 page paper and the teacher wants to see your best work of the semester.  Also, utilizing the writing tutors and having them look over you work is the best thing to get a better grade.  The tutors are there to help and why no use every resource you have access to, it is your final after all.  Exams are what takes the most preparation ahead of time.  To prepare these the key is to STUDY.  Study by yourself, or in groups.  Study groups are good because others will remember information that you did not remember from the beginning of the semester.  Teachers are also willing to lead some study sessions so they are the best sessions to go to.  The teachers are the ones who made the exam after all, they know what is on it.  And most of them tend to give little hints at there study sessions as to make it easier for there students to do good on the exam.  After all, the goal of all the teachers is for their students to succeed!
     Winter break starts right after the last final, so for me that starts on December 14th!  Leaving all of your friends behind is tough, especially when you know you are not going to see alot of them for a month, but that just means in a month when the new semester starts there is more fun to have.  Until next semester....
~Christy

Coming Together at Dean!

     Sorry for the lack of blogging, the past two weeks have been crazy with midterms, final rehearsals, and Dean coming together to support different causes.  What is amazing to me is that most people on campus came together for the causes, it shows the great support system that Dean can be for each other.
    Exams and papers in college are plentiful when the semester is halfway done.  Every class seems to have something that is considered a midterm for teachers to track your progress through out the semester.  But the good think about Dean College is that you can track your progress through out the semester.  Dean is truly focused on making sure that everyone reached their full potential.  Every other week your grades are sent to your academic advisor so that they can advisor you if your grades are slipping on the best ways to get better grades.  There is free tutoring services and professional tutors in the Green Family Library Learning Commons where students can go to for that help, as well as their professors office hours.
    Dean College School of Dance presented our annual Campus Cabaret on Friday night and it went so well, I am very happy that I got to dance in it this year.  Cabaret was full of student choreographed dances and musical numbers for the audience to enjoy.  This years theme was Hollywood Through the Years so there were songs ranging from Singin' in the Rain to Rent.  The joy of performing brings a smile to my face every time.  No matter how much pain I am in or how bad a mood I am in, performing just brings a joy to me like nothing else. Now it all starts over with the preparations for our next show, Junior Senior showcase, auditions are just before Thanksgiving and the show is in February. 
     Three different clubs on campus supported three different amazing causes to get awareness out for these growing problems.  My club RHA held a Blood Drive with the Red Cross.  We do this once a semester and this semester was the most successful yet.  We had all 60 appointments filled and dozens of walking that wanted to donate blood.  And even better is the people who could not donate blood, but wanted to still donate something donated their time and helped run the blood drive.  Gay Straight Alliance had a day to show support for those who have committed suicide or been bullied due to their sexual orientation.  Everywhere you looked people, including myself, were wearing purple.  The following day Sisterhood had a day to wear pink to support Breast Cancer.  Once again everywhere you looked everyone, including guys, were wearing pink!  It is so great when everyone on campus comes together to support causes such as these, it makes me even happier to be a Bulldog. 
     As part of my student ambassador duties I give weekly tours to students who are looking into coming to Dean College as after High School.  But this week instead of giving my weekly Friday morning tour I got to participate in my first Discover Dean Day (DDD) as a student ambassador, and it was so much fun!  Don't get me wrong I love my weekly tours, but there is just something about DDD that made it even better.  The entire campus comes together on days like this because we do want to make sure the the visitors get to see everything that the campus has to offer. 
    I am going to start a new part of my blog.  At the end of each of my blogs I am going to put the upcoming events for performances and Dean College.  As well as putting the link to get tickets so you can come see the shows!  So here we go...
Upcoming Events: 
-Medea: November 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21
To Get Tickets


~Christy

Time to Unwind and Back to Reality

     College is more than what you do during the week, it is also the fun you can have on the weekends with the friends you make.  When you spend the entire week stressing about classes, rehearsals, and a club there is nothing like a long weekend to unwind.  So thankfully it was Columbus Day weekend and time for my friends and I to get off of campus and go to a show that we had been waiting for for months, the So You Think You Can Dance Tour!  Five of us traveled down to Connecticut for the show that had been getting us through the semester, something to look forward to. 
    The other good thing about this weekend was I was not just going with two friends from school I was also going with my mother who I still see all the time and my sister who I hadn't seen since she left for her freshmen year of college.  And let me tell you I was having withdrawal.  The entire drive down to Connecticut was spent with the five of us catching up, we are all so close it was like my mother was taking 4 daughters to the show not 2 daughters and 2 friends.  That is the type of friendship I have with Adriane and Amanda, we are a family.
     The show itself was amazing, we knew it was going to be good, but it was so much better then we all thought, none of us wanted it to end.  When it did end our usher told us about the meet and greet after the show (it pays of to use your manors because that is what we did all night).  We waited an hour and a half after the show to meet them but it is worth it. 


Emily, Amanda, Adriane, and Me before the show!




Me and Kent (Season 7 runner up) my FAVORITE!!



Me, Amanda, Lauren (Season 7 Winner) Adriane, and Emily



     Then after the great weekend it was back to the reality of school and rehearsals.  But after seeing the dancers on tour it made it so much easier this week to put everything I have into my dancing.  It came at the perfect time, we are all soar and tired.  There is just something about seeing a performance that makes it all easier, and I know Amanda and Adriane have felt the same way.  There are always some times that you question is it worth dancing with all the pain, then you see people dance as amazing as the 13 dancers in the show and it give you more inspiration to dance. 
     This week had rehearsals and papers but my time management skills are back up to par and I am back in the swing of balancing everything.  Classes, rehearsals, a 7 page paper, a test, and normal assignments can really put a damper on my week.  So I keep thinking about the weekend I just had with my friends and all the fun we had.
    College can be stressful, I know that probably better than anyone.  When my friends tell me to relax our joke is "relax" is not in my vocabulary.   But after this weekend of fun with my friends I have actually had a relaxing week and will work my best to add that to my vocabulary.  College may be stressful but it is truly what you make of it.
~Christy

Cabaret Audtions!!!

And the winner is....Woodward Hall!

     However, more importantly this week was auditions for Dean College's Annual Campus Cabaret.  This is a show that consists completely of student choreographed pieces and each year has a theme.  This year the show is "A Journey of the Hollywood Musical".  The first few weeks of school everyone is going crazy trying to choreograph, learn, teach, and rehearse pieces to audition for the show.  Each piece that auditions does get considered, and this year the two people choosing the pieces were the Dean of Dean School of Dance Joan Palladino and the jazz professor/director of Cabaret Michelle Dasilva-Ball.  They had to pick from close to 40 dances and musical numbers and narrow it down to what they think is the best for the show.

    The past four weeks I have been rehearsing four different dances choreographed by my very talented friends.  If you think that's to many I know people who auditioned in seven!!! Thankfully that was not me, I would be honored but do not have any idea how I would be able to do that and everything else I do on campus.  The dances I auditioned in with my friends are: Dancing Queen, from Mamma Mia; What You Own, from Rent; Bushel and A Peck, from Guys and Dolls; and finally a Lion King themed piece.  After hours of rehearsal it all comes down to the few minute you are in the room to audition the piece, hoping that it goes well.  The hardest part is waiting to find out it the pieces get in, it is a long three days.

     It is stressful when you audition dances, even if you did not choreograph them.  It makes you wonder when a piece does not get in is if it was because of the way that you danced it.  The one thing they say to everyone at the auditions is to dance as if you were on the stage.  More importantly I do not want to let the choreographer down, I want every piece I audition in to get it the show. 

     So did I get in the show....YES!!!!!!!!!!  Two of the pieces I auditioned in made the show, Bushel and a Peck, and Lion King.  My roommate is in five, yes five dances.  It is really going to be a good show this year.  I believe that there are 16 pieces that got into the show and they are all going to be amazing. 

I do suggest that people come see the show on October 29, to buy tickets go to the performance page to buy Tickets.  These are tickets for every show on campus just not the dance department, and I do suggest that you go to as many as possible because both the Theatre and Dance shows are AMAZING!!!!!!!!

     So now the tough part comes for the choreographers, the show is in three weeks and they need to finish the piece, clean the choreography and costume it.  My joke today has been that I may not be able to choreograph a dance, but I can plan and costume it.  This is what I did with my friend for Bushel and a Peck, once I see something I just know.  These weeks are going to be busy, but well worth it now that I will finally be performing in the show.  My freshman year I was in the audience, sophomore year I volunteered and worked it as an usher, and junior (and hopefully next year as a senior) I will be in it!!  A week of auditions and waiting now lead to rehearsals beginning next week. But it is all about balancing and that is apparently what I do best.  

~Christy

Crazy Week

     As I mentioned before I do a lot of stuff on campus and still work like crazy to keep my grades up, my goal is to always make Dean's list.  Between RHA, classes, rehearsals, and friends it is a hard thing to always do, but I believe you can do whatever you put your mind to.
     For RHA we had a Banner competition and I am very happy to say it turned out very well.  Every dorm on campus made a banner to go up for parents weekend, then we hung them in the campus center for everyone to see and vote on.  After three days of voting, the banners have come down and we will know who the winner is tomorrow.  I will let you all know next week once I know.  I am really happy with my dorms banner, my roommate worked hard on it, and I hope we win!!

Clark House Banner

If you want to see more pictures of each halls banner friend RHA's Facebook page on facebook for up to date pictures and information of what is going on. 

     This year my classes are harder than ever, it does make sense, I am a junior now, but I feel as if I have no free time left at all.  My nights are spent in rehearsals and doing homework.  This week I had to read a book, 5+ journals/articles, write 2 papers, plus one projects and this is not including the nightly assignments I have.  College is one of the hardest things I have done in my life, but I LOVE it!!!!  The true trick to making it through college is time management.  I am that girl who makes constant list of my day and I have lists of important dates posted on my wall above my desk so I know what is going on.  Without them I would forget to go or do something important.  

     As for rehearsals, Cabaret auditions are on Monday and I am auditioning in four pieces.  This time next week I will most likely know if any of them got into the show.  So I am trying to fit all of these rehearsals into my crazy homework schedule which is not the easiest thing to do.  However, I seem to be somewhat managing it.  True, there has been many late nights the past couple of weeks, but that is what the weekends are for, to SLEEP!!!

     Another key to surviving college is to use your friends as your rock.  Take Tuesday night which was my night of multiple melt downs from stress, but my roommate knew exactly what to do to cheer me up.  My friends are always there for me and I will always be there for them.  We could just be hanging out having fun watching a movie, or hanging out studying, we are always there for each other and always have fun.  Balancing friends, school work, and dance is no easy thing.  As long as everyone is there for each other it will be possible.  A true friend is someone who will be there for you to help or just be a shoulder to cry on.  These are the friends I have found here at Dean College.  Without my friends there is no way I could balance my life.  So thank you to all of them, without them there would be no way I could make it through the day.  I hope everyone has these friends that are true friends, there are still more to come, I am getting more each day!

~Christy

Hello and Welcome!

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Christy and I am a junior Dance Major here at Dean College.  It is my third year here and I am loving it.  Other than dancing and classes I am also the President of Residence Hall Association, but I will most likely be referring to that as RHA, its just easier.  Between all of this and my life at home and my job away from school, my life can get pretty hectic, but I would not trade it for anything.  I cannot imagine not being here at Dean or even being here and not being involved.  As my friends have pointed out to me I have managed to master multitasking. 
But there is so much more to Dean other than academics, dancing, and clubs.  I have meet some of the best friends I have ever had here at Dean.  My roommate Adriane is the perfect example of that, she is my best friend and I do not know what I am going to do without her when we graduate in two years, but we are both in denial about that and will not discuss it until as we say our parents pull us apart with a crow bar after graduation.  All of the friends that I have made here, the ones that have come and graduated, the ones that are still here, and the ones that I have yet to meet, I do not know what I would do without them!
~Christy