Past Year's Resolutions: 2015

What did I accomplish this year?

Every year I ask myself this question and make my retrospective resolutions for the year.  Hindsight is 20/20.  And I think it is much more uplifting to reflect and think, "Wow- I did that!" than to think, "I didn't meet two of my ten goals.  I'm a failure."  Know what I'm saying?

In no particular order:

1. Attend the Tony Awards in New York City!!!  What a dream-come-true, all thanks to my little sis.
2. Be featured on a national network television show.  Blood and Oil.  Opposite Don Johnson. Yes, that Don Johnson. 
3. Choreograph Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Taylorsville Arts
4. Choreograph 4 elementary school musicals for Murray City and Sandy City
5. Be dance captain for Sandy Arts Guild's Shrek
6. Perform as an ensemble member for my very first time in Sandy Arts Guild's Shrek
7. Perform in Nunsense for my third time.  Sister Mary Leo and I can't seem to part ways.
8. Meet the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys (minus John Lloyd Young) and sit front row center for their concert - Midtown Men
9. Increase my husband's business, Life of the Party Entertainment, 234%, since I first began working with him three years ago
10. Continue to celebrate many special occasions and adventures with my hubs
11. Continue to work out regularly
12. See myself on the big screen at the movies during the Sundance Film Festival - Don Verdean 
13. Live through rubber bands, metal springs, and braces galore
14. Take a road trip to California with one of my dearest old roommates, Andrea, for the wedding of one of my dearest friends of the past 14 years.   I love him with all my heart, he was one of my toasts at my own wedding, and now I can love his darling wife just as much!
15. Visit Las Vegas thrice - once for Mobile Beat, once for Las Vegas DJ Show where my little sis and her hubs met up with us, and lastly for a quick 24-hour trip to visit my older sister while she was there for a convention.  On the February trip, I survived the most violent illness I've had in a long time - even having to call a doctor to come to the room to treat me because I could not leave the room.  Awful.  Rob learned a lot about me that day and I him - he's amazing. 
16. Take my parents to see some of Utah's/Arizona's wonders they had on their bucket lists: Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, Zions' National Park and the Shakespeare Festival.
17. Visit Disney World and Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights/Harry Potter with my husband - we've been talking about doing this since I first met him and he told me he worked there for three years.  Lindsay and Elliot were extremely generous in hosting us.  I can't wait to go back in November to help make their wedding the best day of their lives.
18. Throw the greatest "A Christmas Story" party yet
19. Continue helping beautiful brides plan and implement their weddings
20. Continue helping with The Cultural Hall Show Podcast
21. Learn how to groom/shave my cat 

Resolutions of Year's Past
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008 

Taylorsville Arts: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Every once in awhile something magical happens with a cast both on and off the stage.

In years past, I have had a rough go at teaching my choreography.  The ideas are all beautifully harmonious in my head, but due to my little voice disorder, it becomes painful to project/yell (yes, even with a microphone) for three hours at a time.  Don't worry, voice therapy and medicine mostly keep my vocal chords strong and can now last a two-hour show no problem.  Most community theater participants are performing for many reasons - one of them being social.  I love it when my casts love each other, but the anxiety that grips my heart when I realize they love talking, and loudly, is pure dread.

I love to perform as well as choreograph.  The two most often can't go hand-in-hand because I have to dedicate my voice to one or the other.  Yet, when director Wendy Dahl-Smedshammer approached me to choreograph Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, I could not say no in spite of the stifling fear of facing a painful and not-as-successful-as-I-would-have-hoped experience like I've sometimes had in the past.  To cover all my bases, I found a wonderful choreographer friend in Natalie Fortie Adams for 5 of the bigger of 21 numbers who also covered some of the rehearsals I could not attend and the best dance captain a girl could hope for in Aubrielle Johnson. 

Miracle of miracles - everything fell into place to choreograph and perform all while successfully pleasing both groups.  But this is not the point of the story.

The point is, I was scared going into this experience.  I didn't know if I could do it.  I didn't want to let down my performers or myself, but could I get them to successfully bring to life the dancing visions in my mind?

YES!  The answer is a resounding, "YES!"  The 70-ish performers in Taylorsville's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat work incredibly hard.  They love each other and talk, but also respect all of the production team members when they are talking.  They remember all of the notes they are given for a better performance.  They practice.  They ask for tips on how to be better.  They help each other.  The list goes on and on.  I could not be more impressed with this group.

In fact, for the first time I have teared up watching them dance.  This is the first time I can say, "Yes, that is the vision that was in my head and there it is on stage just as I imagined!"  I tear up watching how much they have grown to love each other the past couple of months.  I tear up thinking about how there is no way we could have known when we were casting the show the first weekend in May that these performers would step up to a level they were not near two months ago.  There is no way we could have known the magic that would happen.

I love this cast.  I would work with them time and time again.  There is an air of love floating around that stage I have no doubt the audience feels.  There is laughter and joy every night.  Mingling in the crowds after the show, I see nothing but smiles.  We don't have a budget for fancy technology or sets or costumes, but we've got magic.  What more do you need?

Closing night is tonight.  I truly hope lives have changed this summer.  I also truly hope I have been a part of that.

Alder Amphitheater SLCC Campus off 4600 Redwood Road.  8:00 pm.  $7 or $5 for groups larger than 6.

All photos courtesy of Janel Williams. 

    

Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood: Murray Arts in the Park

Finally!  A show for the kids. 

Did you know Red Riding Hood has 2 sisters?  Parents who are addicted to television?  A Fairy Godmother who sings the blues and twirls baton (oh, that's me!)?  Come check it out and meet all the fairy tale characters your children love!  Stick around to see what kind of work I produced in my first go-around as choreographer in the 50s musical olio.

Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood & 50s musical olio
Murray Amphitheater - 520 E. Vine Street   Murray, UT
June  21, 22, 24 @ 8pm