Every wednesday I help with a tap class level 2 which averages from six to nine year olds. Helping with the class really makes you realize how much of a role model you are to the younger dancers. Yesterday we were working on a step and Kaitlyn said “I just realized I used to watch the olders girls do tap and now I’m one of them”. This statement really got me thinking because although she is only in the second level of tap the level under her still watches and looks up to them even though there still technically on the younger spectrum of the dance community in the studio. ]
Kaitlyn saying that really got me thinking about my evolution as a dancer and how i stared from the bottom and worked my way up. .I was the ”baby” of the group for very long time and now I’m one of the oldest. When I was eight I was asked to be in the dance company at Visions Performing Arts Studio. I was put the younger company. Since I was at the youngest age you can join company I had to wait eight years before I could move up. I was in the younger company at Visions until 2010. In 2010 I was asked to join the jr stars at Off broadway performing arts studio. There was quite a few people in the company however there was only two people in jr stars.I was 11 when I switched studios and was still the baby in the company and many of my classes. For the most part the same group of people who danced at Visions was in the company at off broadway so many of the older girls became my role models. When eight of the older girls graduated that's when I realized I was now the role model that the younger kids look up to My dance journey started when I was five. The first dance class I ever took was jazznastics but I didn't like it very much so after one semester I switched into tap. A few years later I started doing jazz and then eventually started ballet. I discovered I really had a thing for tap. I have been doing tap ever since I started and have experienced some cool opportunities. The first opportunity I was able to experience was a difficult tap piece called “breakout” which at age eight is a very difficult piece but I was able to dance with the older high school girls and even though I was about two feet shorter and not up to there level I kept up pretty well. This was a very big moment for me because it was the first piece I did with my role models. I thought about this when Kaitlyn said now I’m one of them because I was dancing with people who were way older then me and way more experienced. However the journey didn't stop there because last year I was asked to perform at the Wheatland Music Festival. This was a big deal because every year some of the best tap dancers of mid Michigan perform there. Being asked to be in it made me feel like I finally made it to the top even though I was the youngest one in it. Kaitlyn really opened my eyes to how far I have come and also made me realize you can be a role model at any age.
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This week I have been thinking about how happy I am my brothers home . As were were driving to Illinois for my brothers graduation many things were going through my head. One thought was about how excited I was to see him however my other thought was the complete opposite. I was thinking about how I have to put up with him for three to five weeks before he moves to new Jersey. I used to be very close to my brother when we were younger and he lived across the hallway from me. Of course like any siblings we fought all the time but when we needed eachother the most we were there for eachother. When he moved to Illinois he tried to come back about every other month but eventually he was unable to come back as often because he had to work. over the course of this past year we had alot of family illness bringing him home quite often but whenever he came home I would be upset with him because he had left me here in Michigan with our emotionally drained family.
As much as we love having our family of four all back together we would somewhat dread him coming home because we felt like it was very chaotic. It was chaotic because our family had gotten used to it being two parents and one kid and had a routine set in place. When he came home he would live the old baldwin life which was hard for us because we were used to our way of living. All these thoughts were running through my mind as we were driving five hour to see him. Since I hadn't seen him since May when we met up him before the graduation all of the negative thoughts were gone and all I cared about was spending time with him. His new girlfriend was coming back to michigan to stay with us for a week which concerned me a little because i was scared he would only spend time with her and forget about his little sister. Now that he’s home I’m realizing how much he actually cares for me and wants to spend time with me. For example on Sunday him and his girlfriend were going shopping so he invited me to come along but I told him I couldn't go because of my homework, so he helped me with my math so that I could spend time with him. I was glad he was willing to help me with it because it showed me how much he wanted to spend time with me Another fun way we have been able to spend time together is by playing board games. Monday night my mom and I and my brother and his girlfriend all played pass the pigs and then played clue with my dad. Last night they were playing monopoly and I really wanted to play but had vocabulary homework for ap government so he wrote down the page numbers for each word. I'm very happy to have my brother back at home with us. No matter what he will always be my other half. This week I have been thinking about the effect the internet society has on celebrities especially recording artists . The internet society affects the ways celebrities interact with fans, the way their albums are sold and the way records are broke.
In the past ten years technology and internet has been developing very quickly causing many changes in the music industry. One thing that has changed for celebrities is the way there music is released and played. Before everyone had iphones and ipods and other music devices the only way to play the new music being released was to go to the store and buy the hard copy of it. The only way you could hear the new music was hearing it on the radio, or listening to it at a friends house. However today when we want to share new music with our friends we go on youtube, find the song and then text them the link. The days of going to the store to buy music is over because now we just download music to our phones. However you don't necessarily have to buy music in order to listen to it on your phone because now we have many apps for music playing. Some examples of music apps include spotify, pandora, sound cloud, Iheart radio, Shazam, beats music and Tune in radio. Many of these apps allow you to create personal radio station based off the music you enjoy. The internet also changes the awards recording artists win and the records they break. For example right now Taylor Swift's the record holder for the most view on a video in twenty four hours for her video bad blood. Another example is Justin Bieber is the youngest artist to have a billion views on his video. Records for youtube viewing didn’t even exist five years ago ,youtube was only invented about ten years ago. Awards at tv award shows have also changed for example last year Meghan Trainor won the award for top digital song at billboards music awards. Digitally downloading a song wasn't even possible a few years ago. Another award that exist is top social artist which was given to Justin Bieber in 2015. This award is given out to the music artist that connect with their fans the most through social media. The interaction between fans and celebrities has changed immensely by the internet society. Fans pretty much have a microscope into their favorite celebrities life. Through the power of facebook, twitter instagram and snapchat fans are very up to date with what the celebrity is doing at most times. The Internet society also gives celebrities a way to talk directly to their fans. For example many celebrities respond to fans through Twitter. Sometimes celebrities follow their fans which makes the fans day and it's only a simple click for the celebrity. Celebrity's can also see pictures from there concert just by searching the hashtag on Instagram. I think this is a very cool aspect of the Internet society because it's help the fans feel closer to their favorite artists. Overall the internet society influences recording artists in many ways. This past week I have been thinking about what it means to help and the many ways to help people because my youth minister challenged to show god's love through helping. The way you help someone can be big or small but sometimes the smallest things help more than the big. We all know the basic ways of helping but have you ever thought about how acknowledgment and creating conversation is a form of helping?
Probably the simplest way of helping yet the hardest is acknowledging people for who they are. If you acknowledge someone in the hallway or anywhere you're giving them a recognition that they are important and that they exist. A small example of this could be seeing someone in the hallway and just waving to them or saying hi. There's also a way to use acknowledgment as being helpful on a large scale. When you see someone on the corner of the street with a sign asking for money we often ignore them but if you gave a moment to them and smiled even if you don't give them money you're still showing them by your body language that you care about them. Acknowledgement is a form of helping because it helps people feel cared about. Another way to help people is simply by talking to them. Conversations are a big way that people connect each other and get help with their struggles. Personally conversations have helped me immensely. For example when my grandpa passed away last year my group leaders from camp came to see me and we had about an hour long conversation . Without that conversation the situation would have been really difficult to get through. Also this summer I was able to have another serious conversation about my struggles with the same counselor. Having someone to talk to in your life that will support you no matter what is very important and life changing. Its also helpful to have someone by your side to talk to because sometimes they have been through the same experience and have good advice. Conversations are very powerful and can start off with a simple hi. When you see someone in the hall having a good or bad day just by saying "hi how are you ?" Can be a huge help to them because it invites them to have a conversation with you if they choose to. Another way you can help people is by including people so that no one is ever left out. Asking someone to join your lunch table or sit by you in class can have a huge impact on someone's life because they might be in a place in their life when they have no one to talk to and no one to hang out with. Inlcuding people is also important because every needs someone to encourage them and someone to have fun with. The more common way of helping people includes holding the door open for people, or picking up someone's books in the hall. When we help in this way we often do it when people are watching so we can make a good impression on them. However there are ways you can help without being noticed. For example if someone is about to pull out of a parking lot and there's a cart in the way that they don't notice you can move the cart so they don't hit it. Even though the person may not know you moved the cart you are still helping them. Other common ways to help people include assisting people with their homework, sharing, assisting them with any tasks they can't achieve be themselves and so much more. There are a lot more ways you can help people and hopefully this has an eye openener to new ways ti help people. |
AuthorI'm Lenae and I'm full of life. Archives
February 2016
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