This week ....

I have a pre-tour show with Dancers' Company this week. Thankfully, I now am getting information about tour. We will be on a bus instead of vans. All equipment will fit underneath the bus so we still have to pack really light. I have a show order and have it built in SFX. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for an SFX computer that we can take on tour. With Folk, Ballroom, and Dancers' Company leaving on tour at the exact same time, it's causing conflicts with equipment. We have enough for two teams to leave at one time. Three - is quite a scramble. We're getting there, but have to spend some extra money and cutting back on a lot of things. It is still a slow week, which is good since I may have caught a cold from the film shoot. Right now, I have a headache, but I've got a cough/sneeze going on every once in a while. I may have forgotten to bundle up the first night. It's also good because next week is Ballroom in Concert! YAY!! That's a busy show and since I have no classes, I'll probably be going over my hours helping out when others are in class. I love Ballroom in Concert!! I may try to squeeze in being a truss spot op again. Fun job! We'll see what is planned for that week. The end of the semester is coming quickly ... and it's my last semester :-(

Film Shoot

hehehe... let's run through my last few days.

Friday:
Senior Showcase Dance performance from 6pm to 9:30pm
Inspector 42 Film shoot from 9:30pm to 10am

Saturday:
Senior Showcase Dance performance from 1pm to 4pm
Inspector 42 Film shoot from 8pm to 10am

That's right!! In all, I've put in over 30 hours on the film shoot of Inspector 42. It was great working with old friends and learning new things. Friday's film shoot was at the Amanda Knight Hall in Provo. That was a cold night! Also, we were two hours behind the whole time! Saturday, the film shoot was back up in Salt Lake City. There was this awesome little alley we were shooting in right across from the old Salt Lake Exchange building. It was a bit chilly, but I took my breaks inside the RV. Thankfully, I was able to get in a few power naps. We also gave up in the morning and good thing because right when we began to strike, it began to rain/snow. When we finally left, it was snowing with little visibility. It finally came to Provo a few hours later.

Inspector 42 is the story of a shirt inspector who loves his work and loves Seamstress 61. After a mistake of his own, faulty shirts make it into the world and cause terrible accidents. 42 can't figure out what to do and things progressively get worse for him, the factory and the city. Inspector 42 learns the harsh realities of life and how quickly you can lose that which you value most. Yet in his moment of greatest darkness, a friend remains at his side, and he learns that he is never truly alone.

In a nutshell...

Well, I was out of commission for a bit, but I'm back - just taking it a bit slower. This week is Senior Showcases and I am stage managing. It's a small show in the RB, but it's looking good.

I gave into my weakness again ... but it's been a while, so I'm okay with that. I bought three books, but it was all under $20. Gotta love books!

My computer up and quit on Monday and although I was going to give up on it, I decided to buy a new and bigger harddrive to get it up and running again. Now I have to decide how much I want to spend on how much new memory. The only loss is all that great music and pictures. Sigh ...

Utah spring is weird. I'd get annoyed with the extra windy day, but I find I am always indoors and get a ride home at the end of work so I don't have to deal with the weather. Yay!

I ate three hours ago, but I'm starving again - so annoying! - so I'm off to get food then sit at work reading until work begins in two hours. Yep ... my life!

24 hours ... and counting

It's only Tuesday, but I've already put in over 24 hours of work. Yesterday, I worked 13.5 hours collecting and packing equipment for a tech rehearsal of Dancers' Company. Today, we went to the Heritage School in North Provo to perform and I had put in 11 hours packing, set-up, and working of the performance. *Sigh* The rest of the week will be spent working on DancEnsemble in the evenings and a film shoot "Inspector 42" in the daytime (filming in Salt Lake). No rest for the wicked!!

Macbeth progresses ...

I have been constantly reminded these past few weeks how important a fight choreographer is in many theatrical productions. It can honestly make or break a scene. Done well, it greatly enhances the scene! Amazing!

I first noticed this during the Ballet! The fight choreography for Romeo & Juliet was amazing! I don’t know who choreographed it, but the men were really good at picking it up and performing it.

There is still some work to be done in Macbeth, but it’s not the fight choreography, just the right execution timing. They definitely have the ending fight scene almost “perfect”. The Macbeth death scene is definitely amazing! Hehehe … hilarious! Oh, and with the added music has simply made that scene one of my favorites!!

I am finished with attending the tech rehearsals. I hope all my friends will be able to attend it. It'll be great! Now, my classes are done with and I am nearly ready to graduate. I have some paperwork to complete with Macbeth, then goodbye college courses!

DanceSport Day 3

After Macbeth ended at 2pm, I went over to the Marriott Center to see how DanceSport was going. I heard from my co-workers that the women working yesterday were commenting on how much I had been working. How sweet!

The first event I watched was the Elementary Ballroom Team Match. Wow! I had never even heard of this event. It was so cute. It began with all the elementary teams march onto the stage, each having their own color and the girls having a huge flower in their hair of that color. They then split the floor into two sections and had a couple from each school compete on a dance. The teams would cheer each other on and count out the steps (T-A-N-G-O = 1-2-3-and-4) (1-2-Cha-Cha-Cha = 1-2-3-and-4). I think that has been my favorite part of DanceSport. Cheering really makes the event! They even had "surprise" dances where they would draw from a hat what the couples would dance. How cute!

I finally went home at 4pm to relax before strike at 11:30. Stephen and I showed up at 10:30pm to watch Cabaret, then relaxed in the judges lounge until strike could begin. I was working until 2am driving the truck between the Marriott and Shed #90. Wow, yep, good ol' Marriott strikes!

DanceSport Day 2

Most of the morning consisted of elementary, junior high, and high school dancers. Wow. It’s too bad the popularity of ballroom is mostly contained in Utah and Idaho. I’d consider trying to get a class started whenever I settle down somewhere. These kids look great! Good dancing is not yet dead!!

In the afternoon, there was both Pre-teen and Junior Formation Championships. For the pre-teen, some of the music included movie tunes: “Move It, Move It” from Madagascar, a Disney medley, and a Chihuahua medley. My favorite dance probably was the Pre-teen Extreme Balroom Company from Idaho. They had a Karate Kid music mix and costuming was the colors red, black, and yellow: girls have chopsticks in their hair, boys in karate outfits. Choreography and formations were great. They really worked on their timings. Because I have worked on the Youth Ballroom show in the RB, I’ve seen the BYU Pre-Teen White dance. So cute! Love little kids’ dancing!

The Junior Formations looked really good too. One group (Cenntenial Middle School Advanced team) did a song that Dancers’ Company is dancing to this year. Lol, what a coincidence! I’ve never heard the song before and here I see two different types of dance genres use it! Extreme Ballroom Company from Idaho had a Rocky mix (the boxing movie). Great timings and formations! Extreme Ballroom Company knows how to teach their dancers. I was impressed with both their Pre-teen and Junior teams. Vibe Team A from Utah had very creative beginning choreography. Loved it! Also the music choice was fantastic, not sure what to call it but Cougarettes danced to something similar once. The concept was mechanical workings. Timing, unity, formations, all very impressive! Junior Class Act from Idaho: sailor medley had the cutest costumes. The girls were in blue sailor suits (dress) w/ a sailor hat. BYU Junior Latin team A and B are dances I’ve also seen during Youth Ballroom last semester. Yay. It makes me wonder if I had forgotten about the dance done by Pre-teen Blue or they changed it from the concert last semester.

Okay, Latin formations are cursed for me. They began announcing call backs so I tried to pull tracks from one playlist to the next to prepare for that. The program rebelled and did an Unexpected Error and shut down. When I started the program back up, am my playlists were gone!! That would have been a big deal if this wasn’t the last tracks of the day. Wow, then the next two formation cues for music, I was a little delayed on because I have papers coming at me, I’m trying to rebuild playlists, and my notes got scattered. I was organized again three minutes later. Thank goodness! Oh the joys of working on the fly!

I really enjoyed having the opportunity to run music for all the young formation teams. I saw the progression between the pre-teen, junior, and youth teams. How practice and years can really develop the dancers.

Wow ... i just realized that for nine hours straight, I slid up and down a slider and pressed play every minute and a half. How many times is that? WAY TOO MANY!!! :-P

Dress Tech

Okay, I now remember why I'm a dance tech and not a theatre tech. I don't work well with dialogue. It makes me tired and a bit scatterbrained. Dance is constantly changing every three to eight minutes. Scenes keep going and going and going ... then when they end, another scene begins. lol ... it's not that bad, but I have to keep busy and the theatre run of a show is not busy work. Of course, I'm sure that depends on the show.

Anyways, so we are having fun laughing about the moments when the men are shirtless. These boys need to try and show off their abs. There may not be any to show, but crouching won't help at all. Suck in those guts!! Lol ... wow this costume run through is getting fun! At one point, the lighting and the paleness of an actors skin caused an appearance of him having a white shirt on instead of being bare chested. LOL! Wow!

There is a severed head at the end, and it's lookin good! We brought out the rough of it to check it's appearance. Wow. We hold it up to the actor which looks like a great similarity, then he grabs the severed head and kisses it! Boys! So humorous! I can't wait to see the head completed. It it apparently going to be very detailed and anatomically correct.

DanceSport Day 1

My favorite part of DanceSport is the Formation teams. Today, I worked sound on the qualifying rounds for both the US National Youth Standard and Latin Formation competition. We had some great musical selection, costuming, and especially choreography. The first thing I recognize is the music, so let’s start with that.

We had musical edits from Queen, Harry Potter, Fiddler on the Roof, and Phantom of the Opera. One that I really enjoyed was Provo High School Varsity team that danced to a mix of music from the musical, Mary Poppins. I loved the beginning choreography – very creative and eye catching. Then, their costumes were so cute!

The team that caught my full attention that I must mention is the Pacific Ballroom Dance team from Washington. They are my favorite, so I’ll be rooting for them during finals. Their music reminded me of African type/cirque du soileil/with a hint of the Narnia soundtrack. My favorite, as a matter of fact. Simply beautiful music! Then, their costume were fantastic, I just couldn’t give them justice by describing them. The girls had a feather hairpiece that was tied in with a red streak of hair jetting down to makeup paint streaking down the eye. The men also had pain makeup creating streaks down the eye on their right side; kind of tribal appearance. I don’t know what it was about their choreography, but it really captured me. I thought they looked great with formation and timing, of course, I am not a judge and only work as a technician for Ballroom. If I wasn’t working Macbeth, I’d come to watch the Standard Formation competitions just to see how far they get.

The above were dances from Youth Standard. With the Youth Latin, music selections were: Michael Buble mix, West Side Story, two different Matrix mixes, Bollywood, Queen, and Hairspray. Bonneville High School from Idaho had a great rock medley. Loved it! Costume design was great – red and black. Timing looked good and so was formation. Had some humorous head bobbing and guitar strumming. Very well done! I just wanted to turn on some fog to complete the look. Some of the choreography moves were very well chosen. Timpview High School had an amazing edited mix of the Matrix. Superb! And their overall presentation was very well done. The men wore sunglasses, some choreographed moves were “Matrix trademark moves”, and it did well in capturing attention.

I seem to have made a lot of mistakes on the Latin Formation run. The first track had no dead time at the end so with this playlist rolling through tracks, I have to stop music at the end. The very last possible second apparently has a beat that I cut off. Oh well. I told the director to bring a new track with dead time if she wants that in there. Another director had a specific timing on the walk in for music, but I had muted the channel since the last number had no dead time and forgot to unmute. ALL DANCE TRACKS NEED DEAD TIME AT THE END!!!! Then, there was a number where my cue was when the men stomped. I wasn’t told a single man stomped four times first, then when all men did it in the center – GO music. Ballroom dancers and stomping: what is that? This isn’t the armed forces … or is it?

So, the way I run music for DanceSport is organize tracks from a list into a playlist. We use the Sonic Siren Jukebox software and I just play the first minute and fifteen seconds for each heat (each group of dancers). Sometimes, I just play it once or twice, but for others it can be six to eight times. It’s not too bad, although I have to pay attention to the paperwork in front of me and the tracks on the screen. It gets hard when others need to add files to the computer, set up other cd players, etc.

At one point in the day, one song got on my nerves! It’s a great cha cha “El Bodeguero” but the track quality killed me. It kept feeding back in the track. Can’t fix that on the board very easily. And I had to play it EIGHT TIMES!!! A high ringing even appears for a few seconds during the middle. Ug! Oh well. It is surprising how many poor qualities of music we get … even the formation tracks. It almost makes me wonder if it’s the speakers or something in the mixer… but we use these for concerts. No se.

I do love watching the dancers. Costumes are beautiful, some couples are great with their chosen choreography, others like to show off some great moves. I also like to recognize a few faces from the tour team. I am quite surprised that the morning is upper teams. I was expecting to see the bronze classes dance (entry-level courses – Dance 180, 184, 185). All these dancers have their own pair of ballroom shoes, wearing rhinestone costumes and tail suits, and presents themselves very well. Some of the Silver class (Dance 280, 284, 285) members are still learning and not quite there, but a majority are great! I may possible be interested in looking for a ballroom boy. These men look amazing out on that dance floor. ;-) I also like to see the younger groups dance. We had a Junior High competition and I think it is a great idea to put kids into this program.

I do have to say, I think the screaming from groups off in the wing behind me will cause my deafness before the volume of the music does. I did need to keep the volume down because judges are going to be listening to it all day/all weekend. Oh the joys of DanceSport!

The last hour on my shift, I transferred over to the RB to run music for the Semi-Finals for Cabaret. At first, I couldn’t remember why I always loved Cabaret because it seemed to be based solely on how many lifts they can do. But as the dances progressed, I began to remember. These can become beautiful lyrical dances if they really work with choreography and music. It’s about internalizing it to have the best overall presentation.

Research Paper Ideas

So, for those who don't know, I have been making a list of topics that I may one day seek to research in my free time. I may not be an English major, but after working on my research paper on Candide and its comparison between Voltaire's work and that of the three operetta script writers, I LOVE it!

Um .. I seem to have misplaced my list on my computer. Gotta do some deep searching ... Here's what I remember:

Sweeney Todd: Myth and Musical
Mark of the Beast: Connection to Technology
Fairytale Adaptations: Changes through History

Now, I have added a new research idea to the list - as soon as I find that long list ... OH ... it's in my journal! Anyways .....

This evening while the rehearsals went closer to 11pm, Mike Handley (the lighting designer) was discussing the play with our ME (Master Electrician) because she doesn't know anything about this play. It was amazing the different ideas he was bringing up. This is one of his favorite Shakespearean plays because of the inspiration Shakespeare must have had to write so well as to hit the truths on mankind falling to the temptations of the devil. This play presents a "study in the nature of evil" and what path you will be taken when choosing to follow those temptations. The witches told half truths to Macbeth to get him puffed up and feeling immortal "for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (Act 4, scene i), so no man could kill him, right? He learns at the end that "Macduff was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (Act 5, scene viii). Macduff was born from a c-section, therefore not truly woman born. Then, Macbeth was told that "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him." (Act 4, scene i). It is impossible for woods to move. However, the opposing soldiers disguised themselves with branches, so when the army marched, it gave the appearance of the whole woods moving. Both these were examples Mike gave in this discussion. Another was that Shakespeare took out the appearance of witches in the last scene, showing how they will abandon you in the end just as Satan abandons us to fall in the end.

I have only read this play once. I never thought deeply into it, for it is another one of Shakespeare's tragedies. Now, I'd love to collect the director's note and dramaturgy done on this production of Macbeth and do my own study to see these connections. One of my favorite things to do is finding spiritual connections in places that wouldn't be obviously present. What a good example...

More on Macbeth

So if there are those who find this information a spoiler for the final performance, just skip over any entries entitled Macbeth because I'll be talking about impressions on the technical side of the show.

For those who recall the Indiana Jones ride from Disneyland ... yep! We use the track found while wandering the paths to the ride for the intermission music cue. hehehe ...

After much work, we finally got two of the dance department Martin Mac moving heads working for front of house spots. The first I pulled had an internal error, so I had to travel back and replace the instrument. Then the little guys (these Macs are tiny compared to our other moving heads) were stubborn in striking the lamp (turning on the light) but it all worked out.

Tomorrow is dress tech. So excited! This should look cool!

The BEST scene all around is going to be the Procession of the Kings. The first tech of it was so GREAT!!! Oh the joy of the witches. They are so cool in this play, why would they curse it? It may be a misrepresentation, but it's AWESOME!! Nothing is better then the Double, Double scene!

An interesting change in the play is the changes of names and locations. Because this is set in Book of Mormon times, the names and places are recognizable names in the scriptures. It does not apply to Macbeth and Macduff as those are only slightly altered, but many other names they state are taken from the scriptures. Great!

In Heaven!!!

*Heavenly Choir sings their Ah's*

hehehe ... how often have I said I love my job? I LOVE MY JOB!!! Of course, right now, I'm technically referring to the theatre. Too bad I've left the theatre to work dance. I am having a blast working as an assistant lighting designer for Macbeth. ALL THOSE IN PROVO MUST COME TO THIS SHOW!!!!!! It's going to be great! Of course I may be partial to it because it is placed in Book of Mormon times.

Actors can be quite hilarious! At one point the actor for Macbeth was standing in his "Aside" position and was calling our studio spot like it was a dog to focus on him, as the Master Electrician (ME) was moving its pan and tilt to the proper location. Later, he has a competition with the actress of Lady Macbeth to see who can hold their hand longest over the fire pit. He loses. Just to painful! :-D To enlighten you ... we use a fire bowl that consists of cloth and lighting. With the fan, it's cold rather then hot. Joksters! Oh the joys of theatre!

I can't wait to see this in full production. The set design is amazing! The lighting is amazing! I know the costumes are amazing! And I am sure all props are amazing! I can't wait to see them all placed together on stage. Now, I'm not trying to sound rude for not stating the acting being amazing ... but this is tech week! It's not about the full acting. They are mainly blocking for the designers to put everything together. I'll comment on acting and directing at a later time.

Okay, this is what I just pulled from the Performing Arts Management webpage. Nothing is finalized, I am sure. It's causing a bit of stress in the production side since we don't have anything finalized, how do we finalize needed equipment?

The Dancers Company
April 27 - May 13
Des Moines, IA
Minneapolis, MN
Wasau, WI
Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Appleton, WI
Chicago, IL
South Bend, IN
Grand Rapids, MI
Detroit, MI

The Dancers' Company Looks Ahead to Midwest Tour

The Dancers' Company is looking not only to turn heads and win applause on their upcoming tour of the United States but also to change the way its audiences view contemporary dance.

Artistic director Pat Debenham wants the company to connect with crowds in a new and exciting way. "I want to share our vision of what contemporary dance is," he said. "I want audiences to see that it's vibrant and has a lot of variety; that dance has the potential to be both humorous and serious."

The Dancers' Company will travel across the Midwest in April and May, performing shows and holding dance workshops in 15 cities and six states: Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

Debenham believes that this year's show features dances that will appeal to audiences of all ages and interests. The company's performance of the rollicking "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" is sure to be a crowd-pleaser "that will be enjoyed by young and old alike," Debenham said. "It has great music and really technical dancing, plus mattresses that come to life! It's almost like watching Fantasiaonstage."

The Dancers' Company will also perform "Pilgrimage," an athletic dance set to music written by the iconic Neil Diamond, which Debenham believes will serve as "a blast from the past" for some audience members. In addition, the group will treat crowds to the visual splendor of "Under the Tundra," a virtual aurora borealis of color, light, and motion.

The dancers are excited to share their craft and expertise with the people of the Midwest. Debenham believes that this group represents some of the strongest performers he has worked with and that audiences will feel the same. "The dancers are phenomenal," he said. "Not only are they technically strong, but they have an ability to make the movement come alive. They reach across the proscenium arch and invite the audience to come onstage and dance with them."

Ballet finished

This week has ended. I have finished with the production of Ballet and will soon begin tech week for Macbeth. Although the dress rehearsal for Ballet was stressful, it went a lot better as each performance occurred. Thank goodness! It has gotten me into the ballet spirit, so I went to the Music/Dance Library and checked out three ballets: Romeo & Juliet, Giselle, and Snow White. Yay! One day, I plan on attending a royal ballet production...

Tuesday is the start of tech week for Macbeth. I won't be able to help a lot with dance for the next two weeks because of it. However, I am able to run music for DanceSport this Thursday and Friday so I'm getting some hours put in. Good thing, because I need money. I'm still living paycheck to paycheck ... The joys of a college student!

Facebook Ads

Okay, I usually hate ads, but I couldn't pass this one up. While chatting with friends on facebook, I look over and see this ad. It totally made my day: "BYU Potty Training Chair - actually plays the fight song." Say what, say what!?! I couldn't help but click on it and it takes me to http://www.varsitybaby.com/ where I watch a tv infomercial about these potty chairs that plays recordings of university cheers or even simple voice recordings when they flush. Wow ... where has technology taken us. Hehehe .. Just a bit of humor for the day!

Cap and Gown

Today I ordered my cap and gown! YAY! One step closer to graduation! It is a graduation fair at the bookstore today and tomorrow so I got $5 off my cap and gown, and there was a place where you could spin the wheel to get a possible prize. I landed on a yellow winner marker allowing me to choose either a BYU pen, BYU keychain, a free Jamba Juice, or $10 off a BYU Bookstore purchase. Yep ... I went for the bookstore card. It'll probably be used for a book ... although I do want a good BYU souvenir. I'll think on it. It doesn't expire until May 31st. Awww... it seems to unreal. I don't feel like an almost BYU Alumni. Weird. My friends are asking about my graduation party ... when it is, making sure they get invitations, etc. My response ... I've never had a party and don't plan on starting now. If a friend wants to plan one, that's fine, but I don't feel like it. We'll see how I feel in April. As soon as Macbeth is over, I've got nothing else to do with my life (except Ballroom in Concert, of course).

Corner of complaint...

Okay, to begin, I simply love the composition for Romeo and Juliet written by Sergei Prokofiev. Simply beautiful! If I ever got to pick music for an orchestra, it's be from that ballet. Apparently there is also piano works. Hm .... My favorite piece is from the ending scene of the ballroom. Then it is the last scene of the whole ballet. I am really impressed with Theatre Ballet. They are doing a great job. It could use more practice, but they have done well. My favorite scene is the last scene in the crypt. Oh it is beautiful!! The man could internalize the sorrow more, but wow, I love the choreography!!!! Simply amazing!

It is now time to complain (but politely):

1 I've been calling spot cues for two or three years now. I have done it in such a way that I'll call: Spot standby ... douse on / Spot standby ... douse out. Unfortunately, this week the four spot operators I am working with was trained by Mike Handley. He calls cues by: Spot standby ... on GO / Spot standby ... out GO. It works great, but I'm not use to GO. Unfortunately, my spot ops refuse to answer to anything but GO. Great ... STRESS factor 1

2 The BYU theatre uses a digital intercom station to converse through headsets. Therefore, my station has connection to Stage, Spots, Stage Manager, Lights, TV Truck, and Sound. That gives me a lot of voices in my head. Thankfully there is volume control and mutes and I choose who can hear me so not all channels are hearing each other. Awesome software, honestly!! So, for some reason - probably doing with distance - I am unable to hear the spot operators clearly. It's like they are speaking through a wall (actually a thick glass window). Therefore, I don't know if they get my cues clearly and if any issues arise. Total STRESS factor 2

3 Today was the second rehearsal we've had. We were testing out the cues created and recorded from yesterday. So we were rocky, still uncertain of things, and a lot was still changing. Many of the spot cues were what I saw may be needed then tried to get a confirmation from Benjamin while he was doing lighting cues. So, we had a lot of spot cue changes today. STRESS factor 3

4 To make the last factor more stressful, today was the first film day for this production. All the mistakes we were making was filmed and probably edited into the final cut. Ug. We will have three film days for our productions. Today, tomorrow, and Friday. Why? Today was awful, which means tomorrow will only be a little better. I don't look forward to the final cut. Won't have the best footage, I'm guessing. Scary and frustrating STRESS factor 4

5 Um ... so ... since this is a polite complaining list, I should stop there. There definitely is more, but I do not want to make enemies. So, I am done for now.

Oh the joys of work. What a great love/hate relationship it has!

Ballet in Concert

Wow! This week is great! I am getting design credit for this show, so I am not getting paid for this work and working as much as I can. I show up a bit before Benjamin and don't leave until he does. Therefore, today was fourteen straight hours, and yesterday was ten hours. Yay! It's my job and I love it! Also, my sole job for this production is to call spot cues. Wow am I going to be BUSY!!! All but two numbers have spot cues. I have four spot operators and there is a big variety of cues. Yay! I'm keeping busy and hopefully I'll stay awake. It is definitely some more good experience to get before I graduate!

Stadium of Fire

Yay!! It has been announced. Stadium of Fire has announced the talent for the concert this year: The Jonas Brothers! Wow, is that good. I am really going to miss working this show. I have decided I need to stop my Stadium of Fire work, but it has brought great experience and memories. Oh well ... things come to an end.

Tickets for Stadium of Fire go on sale this Friday, March 6th at 5:00pm and will be sold simultaneously online at www.byutickets.com and at the BYU Marriott Center ticket office. More information is available at www.stadiumoffire.com or by calling (801) 818-1776.

Graduation is coming ...

Seven Weeks ... My college graduation day is coming up quickly. I am done with classes and just have to work on Ballet in Concert, Macbeth, and Ballroom in Concert. Wow ... the time is going fast.

As I get closer to graduation, I keep thinking about what I would like to get myself for a grad gift. I want to leave BYU with something in my possession that will act as a reminder of my years at BYU. I've been looking at BYU memorabilia at the bookstore and saw a plaque of the bell tower, or Y mountain, or the Maeser Building that I thought would look great. I've considered getting a class ring. Also, recently, I've really begun to like the idea of getting a pocket watch (I don't like wearing watches but need to know the time when I don't have my cell phone). I thought it would be a great reminder if I got an inscription on the inside of a pocket watch that stated "Go Forth To Serve" or some other BYU message to continue to remind me what I want to do with the learning here at BYU. I am a Theatre Arts Studies Major. I want to use my knowledge of the theatre to begin spreading the gospel through the theatre. What a great way to remember. As I was searching, I came across watches with a blue face and thought that would be even better. It's a great slick look, and another reminder of my Alma Mater.

Blue Sunray Pocket Watch

Colibri Pocket Watch Men's Stainless Blue Dial

Of course, I'm always changing my mind. It would be great, though. I really like the watch idea. I've always wanted a pocket watch. I'll do it one day. I don't know if that day will be soon or not.