Summer of 2014

Busy! Busy! Busy! Exactly the ways to describe my summer. My summer started off in the studio (dance) preparing to go off to nationals which happened to be a week after school let out. So basically here I was eating, living,sleeping, and dreaming about dance. Yay! When the time approached though, my team as was I, were very confident that we were going to Virginia with a mission and that mission was to make all the large studios notice 12 teenage girls. Virginia Beach was about to be taken over by a small studio from Lowell, Massachusetts and I must say we held our own. We walked out of nationals the Senior Large Group Champions of 2014. Not only did we win that we also got the highest scoring piece of the entire competition. I don't think we could have sent off our seniors in a better way. There were so many emotions that night that we all got temporary tattoos that said number one and put them on our hips to remember that moment that will always hold a place in my heart. "We may be small but we are fierce"

The day we were suppose to leave though a huge hurricane was coming our way. Most of the team left at 5am in the morning but my mother and her friend found a cheaper flight later in the day so we went to the aquarium that day to pass the time and I must say i was thoroughly  entertained until we left for the airport. Our flight was delayed for a long time and then when we finally got on a flight to Baltimore, we happened to get stuck in Maryland for about 2 more hours. Please note that 2 yrs ago when we left Virginia we also got delayed in Baltimore. Needless to say I have bad experiences and memories in that airport. But finally we made it home on the Fourth of July to rain and storms so that was a clear indication that our perfect little vacation was over.

     So here I am back in mass thinking I'm finally gonna get a break, how wrong was I. We were chosen from thousands of pieces to dance in New York at the ACE Dance Awards which is a huge deal.  This meant I was dancing with professionals in front of professionals and scouts and a lot of famous dance people. So needless to say I worked my tail off in July just so I wouldn't mess up. Here I was again living, breathing, seeing dance. When the time finally came I was a nervous wreck. I left for New York on Friday Augest 1. The ride was long but it was so worth it. I love New York with a passion and being in the city made me realize how much I want to live there. So saturday we had our performance and what a stressful and exciting day that was. Personally I was so nervous but so excited that I'm pretty sure I had this look on my face that looked like I was gonna cry.

 We had a tech rehearsal at 1 which was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened. Not only was the stage not what we expected people were rude. Dancers are not the nicest people. We were the youngest dancers in the entire competiton by at least 4 years and the looks we got were very scary. In the dance that we did we had to dive off the stage the only problem was there were stairs there and dress rehearsal was so terrible. By the time of the performance we dedicated it to our parents and out choreographer for giving us these opportunities. I can't say I remember those 12 minutes we were on stage dancing but I do remember after words that we got so many compliments and so many people saying we were taking home first place. We didn't win but just the experience alone is more than anyone else can say they've done. That Sunday when we left I was incredibly sick that all I wanted to do was curl up in my bed. That next Monday I began intensive which is a 6 day dance camp where you dance from 9am to 6pm. Then the rest of the summer when I wasn't dancing I was working on homework and watching movies and hanging out with friends. I had the perfect summer to represent the last time I'll be dancing with everyone of my "sisters" cause I may never have that opportunity again. 

Two big news stories from this summer were the Market Basket Strikes and Ferguson riot. The Market Basket riots started because the beloved CEO Arthur T. was fired. Deliveries stopped at the stores and employees refused to work until they brought him back. The stores were empty and no one could shop there even if they wanted to. These riots lasted for about 4 weeks until Arthur T. was rehired bringing the riots to a close.

Market Basket Rally

The Ferguson riots happened because Micheal Brown, a Black individual, was shot by a white cop for no reason. The community was taken aback so they started rioting and the law enforcement was taking no mercy on them. The Coast Guard got involved to resituate the problem and bring peace to the community.

Woman expressing herself at the riot