Back again, only different than before...

Hello, Hello. 8 months later, and decided to start up the blog again, because well.... tis the season!

 A lot has happened since my last post, so I guess I should do a little update. 

:)

Let's travel back in time:

SPRING!

 Spring Quarter was a bittersweet quarter: Sweet because some of the most memorable moments of this year occurred during this quarter; Bitter because I had to say farewell to some of my closest friends that I made when I first started at UC Irvine. I got to perform with two ensembles that I love dearly: Etude Ensemble & Jazz Ensemble, and I also danced alongside my best friends in my old roommate and one of my first friends at UCI's thesis. It was a quarter of new friendships, dance & music performances, pub nights, and all sorts of wonderful. 

View of the Commencement Ceremony: UCI Class of 2014 feat. President Obama

Jamie Nishimura's Thesis <3

SUMMER!

In front of the Colosseum 

1. Rome!! I went to Rome this summer  and it was probably one of the biggest highlights of my year. I got to work and perform with super talented composers and musicians from Rome and improvise on stage with fellow UCI dancers. I experienced the beautiful ancient ruins of Rome and was constantly overwhelmed by the amount of history each part of Rome held. I immersed myself into the busy life of Rome and got myself lost in the city where I found some of my favorite things: little streets with no names, a cafe that opened up to a hip urban bar at night, and fountains constantly surrounded by emerging artists and university students. The experience of Rome is something that I will forever cherish, and I'm so happy to have been given the opportunity to go on this trip. 

NY/VA Photo Collage

2. After my Rome trip, I made a pit-stop on the East Coast! I was in NYC for a couple of days to watch a couple of shows, take some dance classes, and visit old friends of mine. Then I went over to Shirlington, VA to visit my lovely niece Lucy Evangeline Rogers who is the definition of the cutest baby in the world. I'm biased, mainly because she's my niece, but already she is full of spunk and personality and it's probably because she has the coolest parents ever. She's now almost 10 months old and likes crawling, biting things, and giving a mean stank face.

SKC

3. After being away from California for approximately a month, I finally drove back to dear old Half Moon Bay and worked for the remainder of the summer with Steve and Kates Summer Camp! It was my second consecutive year with Steve and Kates, so it was nice to return to a familiar environment. Always a trip when you see that some of the kids you were a counselor for last year have grown significantly taller...

FALL

 Fall Quarter was something that I was looking forward to starting, and by the end of it, I was glad to see it go. I had about the roughest fall quarter to date with a whopping 38 Units (Intro to Earth System Sciences, Poetry, Journalism on the Edge, Choreo Project II, New Slate Dance Concert, Jazz III , Contemporary Dance Immersion, Senior Seminar, Laban Notation, Jazz Ensemble, and Etude Ensemble) because I thought it would be a good idea to dive myself into school (spoiler alert: IT WASN'T A GOOD IDEA). Despite the tears, stress, and an overworked state of mind and physical being that Fall quarter brought, I survived, passed all of my classes and made Deans Honors List! *pats self on back* I've never been so happy to see the end of a quarter. 

Photo from Cierra's Choreo Project

"Moji" New Slate Dance Concert 2014, Choregraphy: Elke Calvert, Photo: Skye Schmidt

Now: 

I'm currently on Winter Break where I'm enjoying days where I can sleep without having to set an alarm, spend time with my family since it's rare to get all of us in the house at the same time, and binge watch on Doctor Who, American Horror Story, and The Office. Why did I start this blog back up again? Probably because of the sudden surplus in leisure time I have due to this break. But mainly, this blog was kind of a writing outlet for me.Writing is something I've always loved, and it's nice not having to write up something for an assignment every once in a while. Hopefully I'll be better about updating this little thing for the upcoming year. :) 

Update Part 2: I'M AN AUNTIEEEEEEEEEEEE & Going to ROME

Also, Just wanted to let THE WORLD KNOW:

My sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl by the name of Lucy Evangeline Rogers on April 13th, 2014!

SHE IS THE CUTEST!!!!

Lucy Evangeline Rogers <3

Flashback to the very first day Jackie and Phil told us about baby Sesame on the way!! 

TEARS OF JOY

I seriously can't wait to meet her officially... I've already met her through Facetime but she probably doesn't remember because she was sleeping. Also she was like four days old and I don't think anyone can remember stuff from when they were four days old. She's got such a cute derpy face. HEH. I'll be meeting her in the summer after my Rome trip...

Which leads to my ROME trip!

I'm officially going to ROME with seven other dancers from UCI-- three undergraduate students(including myself) and four Graduate students. This was actually a really last minute decision, but I've decided since I wasn't able to study abroad this summer, I can DANCE abroad-- which is basically like studying abroad. It's going to be really cool because we are working and collaborating with musicians at the University of Rome and doing three performances there. Last time I was in Europe I was in Austria performing with my old dance studio.... and it was the best time of my life, though I admit I was quite young at the time and didn't really understand how precious it was. SO i'm super excited to go again to Europe for dance. I'm also just really excited to travel to Europe satisfy my traveling crave I've been having ;)

Also who knows, maybe I'll meet an Italian popstar who will ask me to impersonate his Italian popstar duo partner that looks coincidentally exactly like me and then I'll have to sing and dance and present an award at the italian pop music awards and then---- oh, right that's the Lizzie Mcguire movie.... woops.

I'M READY FOR MY OWN LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE! Lexi Friday takes on ITALIA WOOOO

Update Part 1: Dance Escape & first UCSB/UCI Exchange Performance

It's been a while since I've updated, but I've finally found time to blog a little bit before things start getting crazy again. 

I'm in my Spring quarter at UC Irvine, and it's so far been a great quarter-- although I'm finding it incredibly hard to find motivation in doing homework.

I just got finished with two dance shows this quarter:
1. Dance Escape

Dance Escape was a great Graduate choreography show, and I was really lucky to have been casted in two very different but equally awesome pieces.
The first piece I was in was called "81?728" choreographed by Cara Scrementi. Cara was a choreographer that after seeing her piece in New Slate this year, I knew I wanted to work with during her time here at UCI. Her choreography is so quirky and brilliant-- I was more than ecstatic when I saw I was casted for her piece. Though her choreography was a bit of a challenge for me because of its precision and intricacy, it was something that I was really proud to have worked hard and perform it with other talented dancers. Also, I really loved the music we danced to... I'm still listening to it even after the show is over!

Listen to:
Adieu by HitRecord
My family's role in the world revolution by Beirut

A++ songs, yo.

Here's a cool photo from her piece!

I'm in yellow on the far right in the back... Check out Emily (front, center) and her super amazing leg!
Photo By Lisa Bates

The second piece I was in was called "And then what happens?" choreographed by Steve Rosa. I've taken social dance from Steve earlier in the year, so I already had in mind that this was going to be a really fun piece. And I was right! It was a lot of dancers I've never danced with before, so it was great being able to meet some new dancers. We were a pretty goofy cast (in the best way of course!) and it was never a dull moment in class and on stage. Steve was a blast to work with and I definitely had a lot of fun.
Here's a photo of us embracing our weird selves ;)

The second show occurred right after the weekend of Dance Escape::

The dance ensemble I'm apart of ,UCI ETUDE ENSEMBLE, travelled to Santa Barbara to do a research performance exchange with the dance department over at UCSB. It was an amazing experience and definitely too short. We spent the day in SBm took pictures at the beach, and performed Donald Mckayle's repertoire from "Songs of the Disinherited" as well as our Dance Visions piece "Even as the river and the sea are one."

I wish we had more trips like these, because it was such a great way for our ensemble to bond-- even if it was for a brief time. The only thing is, I wish Mr. Mckayle was able to come with us. :(

Here are some photos from the trip!

Even as the River and the Sea are One

Original Class of 2014 <3

Class of 2015 <3

Dance Visions

Last week I performed my first show in exactly a year since Billy.... and of course, I got to perform with my lovely Etude Ensemble!

Let me tell you, words can't even begin to explain how great it was to perform again. I MISS IT!!

Photo Credits: Skye Schmidt

Random thoughts on random things and I have a midterm tomorrow.

Procrastination is deadly. 

I have a midterm tomorrow.

I really want to see Vampire Academy, for a reason I can't seem to place my finger on. 

Oh, I have a midterm tomorrow.

I think I'm going to get boba tea. Boba tea sound so good.

Maybe not, I have a midterm tomorrow. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got Boba tea. Shh, Don't tell. Green Tea Ice Cream Cooler with Boba Tea. I don't know why I capitalized the first letter of each word.

Anyways, I have a midterm tomorrow.

AHH Procrastination.

I procrastinate procrastinating. 

Literally though. 

I think to myself, I'm going to study later because I want to watch this episode of Pretty Little Liars.

But then I procrastinate watching Pretty Little Liars because I am on here. 

I have a midterm tomorrow. 

I am writing to you at the calm of the storm. It's been a few hectic days with writing essays, reading articles and somehow managing to make it to 8 am classes. Tech Week is about to begin for Dance Visions (the dance show that I'm performing in) and I know it's going to be hell. 

I realized that the last time I performed on a stage is almost exactly a year ago. 

My last performance with Billy Elliot was on February 17... and my first performance with UCI will be on February 11. A year has flown by.  

Same person, different year. 

A friend of mine brought this video to my attention and I seriously can't stop watching it. 

Thought of You- Ryan Woodward

Graceful choreography, simple yet intricate sketches and a open-ended concept... I've been watching this video over and over again and have been feeling inspired to choreograph a piece. I can't get over this video. It's so simple and beautiful, and the artist really made his sketches flow so well with the song. I WISH I COULD DRAW.

I have a midterm tomorrow.

Bye. 

Week 2 update

Hello!
Just a quick little update before I head to sleep.
A few things:
I had another great week with Steve and Kate's Camp! My staff and I had an awesome little BBQ where we played on the huge inflatable obstacle course and ty-dyed our work shirts... I had loads of fun bonding with my staff-- They're a really great group of people.

SO happy to hear about DOMA being shut down -- I fully believe that everyone should have the freedom to love and marry whomever they choose no matter what sexual orientation they are. This incredible step towards marriage equality has affected so many people that are very dear to my heart, and I know that a lot of us are spreading our love and pride as we celebrate this week. Love is Love, and I support Love-- all sorts of it. So glad that we're taking a huge step in the right direction. Cheers to Change and Marriage Equality in California :) Let's keep walking in this direction, America!

I got to help out at my old Dance Studio's (Shely Pack Dancers) recital this weekend. I had the handy dandy job of pulling the curtains for the show ;) Got to watch some of my old petite-ers perform and they have improved so much... not sure if I can call them my little petite-ers anymore! also got to watch my brother and the senior company perform some numbers. There were a couple songs that I used to dance to, so it was a bit of a flashback for me.

I also saw This is The End with my older brother last night, and I thought it was hilarious! It's funny because they definitely give audiences what they want to see-- Celebrities playing themselves and facing something stupid ridiculous like the Apocalypse. It's definitely one of those raunchy, vulgar, Pineapple Express kind of comedies- which I'm very indifferent about. I don't love em, but I don't hate em either. It's a movie that I probably wouldn't voluntarily watch on my own, so theres that. But I really love James Franco, Jay Burachel and Seth Rogen in it! They were so so SO funny.
Here's the trailer:

Shoutout to Michael Cera for playing "himself" aka probably the most diverse role you will ever see Michael Cera play in films.

Wish I went to pride today, but alas, several issues arose... Oh Life. Thanks for always throwing curveballs at my face! 

Alrighty, I'm out. Good night! 

Start of Summer!

Hi internet & Happy Saturday!

It's been a whirlwind in the past two weeks which explains my absence from writing a post. I've been dealing with finals (which went fairly well by the way), apartment stuff, transportation stuff, summer job stuff, and a bunch of other stuff. Yes, I'm aware that I used stuff three times in the past sentence. So, let's recap:

My last week of UCI spring quarter was a string of events: finals, studying, graduation parties, and too much coffee for my own good. My finals ended up turning out really well! all the studying was worth it in the end. I'm just really glad I don't have to read another 75 page article for womens studies again or learn about synapses in the brain....

Finals Week also meant Graduation week for a lot of the seniors! It was really sad having to say goodbye to some of my senior pals. We had a couple nice graduation parties to send them off on their way. 

 Literally right after my last final, I had to pack up everything and head back home to the bay area because I had a full weekend ahead of me! I had to get my CPR and First Aid Certification on Saturday before my staff orientation for my summer job which was on Sunday. Which by the way, I am very proud to state that I am now First Aid and CPR Certified! It's a good feeling being able to say that you are officially certified to help save lives :) 

And now that brings me to the start of the week: My first summer job as a camp counselor! It was a hectic first day for me, but it definitely smoothed out over the week. I get to huddle up with 3rd graders-- which seem to be the biggest grade on the field to me. A little overwhelming at first but again, with time it started to get easier and easier and I'm definitely learning a lot from the kids and my co-workers! I am also in the dance studio every day, which is definitely the time of the day that I look forward to the most. Being a dancer, a studio is a second home. It's my place where I can unwind from the stress and craziness for about 2 hours and just enjoy dancing. I love seeing the variety of kids come in and seeing how they move to different music. I've been playing some obvious Top 40 hits (One Direction, Carly Rae Jepsen, Justin Bieber) but after a while when it gets old I would play some oldies like Michael Jackson or the Beatles. I love that even old classics like Billie Jean or I want to hold your hand are still songs that kids are familiar with. Parenting: you're doing it right. ;) 

Fast Forwarding to today: it's officially my first day of nothing since the week before finals! I didn't do too much today-- just went to the mall, and watched a couple episodes of Doctor Who with my little brother. It just felt nice to breathe and not do anything since the past two weeks have been a bit hectic for me. It feels absolutely amazing to have completed a week of my summer job and I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the summer!! 

With that, I'm leaving you with my current summer jam:
You're lying if you're not feeling an itch to move your body to this song

Change is gonna come :)

Happy Friday! (Hey look, It's actually a post on Friday too)

I've got some really exciting news!!! I don't know if I can contain it all into one itsy bitsy little blog post-- so bear with me if it's a bit long...

To get it out of the way:

1) On Monday, I auditioned for an ensemble at my school called Etude Ensemble, which is run by the legendary Donald Mckayle. Etude is an ensemble of about 18 dancers who perform old and new repertory of Donald Mckayle. Ever since joining UC Irvine, I've always wanted to be apart of this ensemble, so auditioning for this was very important to me. And though I may have been running off of little to no sleep, it turned out to be a great audition!!! :D

I can happily say I am now apart of the Donald Mckayle Etude Ensemble at UC Irvine for the 2013-2014 year! Words can't describe how incredibly happy I am to have received the news Tuesday morning. Again, this quarter has definitely been one of the roughest life transitions I've gone through, so it was a blessing to hear news like this. It's inspired me to keep working hard and pushing myself to be the best that I can be-- and I'm so thankful every day that I am fortunate enough to be in such a great university that offers opportunities like this.

2) I just have been hired as a new camp counselor for Steve and Kate's camp! Yay, I have a summer job! I've always wanted to go to a summer camp when I was little, so I guess I'm living those childhood dreams! yippee

And now for some other highlights/lowlights of my week:


1) I trekked out to LA with a friend of mine to watch a small show called PopRocks on Tuesday the 28th! It was put on by Andy Mientus, Michael Arden, and Lady J and it was night full of seriously fun singing. I also met some really cool people. It was just a great night out and I loved every minute of it! Though I wish there were a couple of musical theatre covers thrown in there, the pop songs they covered were like candy for my ears :D

[Photo Credits to Amelia Lourdes]

2) Last weekend, I was supposed to go home to possibly train for a summer camp job as well as present a scholarship check to one of the new Beach Blanket Babylon Scholarship winners. However, unforeseen plans with school came up and I ended up not being able to go... Which I was pretty sad about because I had a good friend of mine in the competition and also knew of the other two dancers.

But, staying in Irvine worked out anyways because it was actually one of my dearest UCI friends 21st birthday so of course, I was able to celebrate his birthday with good company. Had loads of fun, and to put it bluntly: I have some really awesome friends.

3) I got to do a photo shoot over the weekend with one of my best friends here at UCI. She's always liked taking photos as a fun little hobby, so I'm really glad that she's starting to do more with it because she definitely has an eye for the camera.

Here's some snapshots :D

If you like her photography and want some photographs done for any occasion for a cheap price, please contact her at her Facebook Page ---> Lauren Woo Photography

As for the downsides of this week, I cracked the internal screen of my Droid Razr Maxx which was heartbreaking because it was definitely one of my favorite phones to this date-- What happened to the Gorilla Glass being unbreakable?! So I'm currently back to my old phone from last year, which I just reactivated. Thought it's obviously much slower and not as high tech as my Razr Maxx, it will have to do for the time being. It's funny going back and looking at all my old conversations and pictures from a year ago.

Another downside is that a lot of the seniors this year will be graduating! :( It makes me incredibly sad because I feel like I didn't get a chance to spend a whole lot of time with them this quarter... It's been extremely busy for them this quarter, and I really do hope our paths will cross again. In fact, I'm sure they will, because the Dance/Theatre community is really small (something I've realized over my year off).

And with that, I'm signing off! Nighty :)

Macaroons, Dance Concerts, and the Importance of Live Art

Happy Friday!

It's been a great week so far, both academically and physically. I've been having some really great dance classes, I got two midterms back that I did extremely well on, and I did an interview for a summer job that also went well.

Oh, I also had my first macaroon ever so that was an experience. In fact as I type this up right now, I'm chowing down on a hazlenut flavoured one and drinking a cup of tea. I'm feeling fancy fancy freeeee (although I probably shouldn't be eating a dessert since my stomach isn't feeling too great. we'll call this sacrifice)

Anyways, I think the main thing I want to blog about is the importance of live performances. In my last post, I talked about how I was home to watch my younger brother perform with his highschool, School of the arts. School of the Arts in San Francisco is a very Ballet and Modern based school, so their dance concert was mainly works of contemporary ballet, modern, and the occasional jazz pieces.  These kids are all in their teens-- from 15 years old to 18, and all of them have got such talent. My brother kicked some serious butt (of course I'm being biased, but let's be real here... he's an awesome dancer) and it was just so cool to see him dancing in something completely different from Billy...

Except I do have to make note of one of the pieces that kind of reminded me of a continuation of Billy's "Shadow Dance" right before "Grandma's Song".  This piece used interesting lighting to create shadows onstage, and of course my brother whos obviously a seasoned expert on shadow dancing, had an awesome little duet with another dancer where he used his hands to create shadows that fit with her shadow. It was pretty cool and probably would have been the result of Billy's shadow dance if he didn't see Grandma sifting through his private stuff.

There were loads of other talent on the stage as well, and I have to make note of these two dancers... both tall and both are red heads... These guys were featured quite a lot and boy can they move! holy man, I was shaking my head in awe. The two of them had a duet, and it was so epic and ginger. Not sure why there's the idea that gingers are "soulless" and "unfortunate" because honestly, after Ed Sheeran, Rupert Grint, Karen Gillan, Prince Harry (The list go on), and now those two kids..... I Beg to differ. Gingers ROCK.

So despite it being a great show, I think watching this show and watching my younger brother perform was kind of the inspiration behind my working hard in classes this week. Not to say I haven't been working hard in class, because I definitely do, but this week I had a different motivation behind me. After watching a live performance of dance, I was motivated to really work hard in classes so I can perform again. And I think it's really important, especially for artists, to constantly be exposed to live art. I'm really fortunate that the university I go to offers live performances weekly, whether it's a dance concert thesis, a live improv comedy club, or a jazz music night. Not only do you get a sense of inspiration and motivation while watching talented performers, you gain an even bigger appreciation and respect for the art. Don't you agree?

With that said, this weekend is going to be full of live performances: I'm seeing my friends dance in a student choreographed dance thesis, I'll be working on a dance-chemistry collaboration video, and then on monday I'll be attending a musical theatre night show in LA (with andy mientus and michael arden! I've only recently found out who they are, but my golly can they sing!) I'm so excited for these events and I love surrounding myself with such talented people who may have a different focus in the arts, but all have the same passion and drive. :D It makes me just want to embrace all of them in a lovely hug.

That's all for now! Lovely weekend to all and to all. xo

There's no place like home

Happy Saturday at 1:30am!

I am currently writing to you from my very own bed at my home in Half Moon Bay after a spontaneous trip from Irvine to surprise my brother for his first dance concert with SF School of the Arts.

It's been an incredibly stressful week-- I had another midterm that I didn't do as well as I hoped on (Yay BioSci!), a large rough draft of a bibliographical essay on Jerome Robbins, and another Dance History Quiz (which for some reason I had this strange false confidence while taking it... I guess writing "Martha Graham" and "Isadora Duncan" for every answer seemed about right in my mind at the time).   The first part of the week went by at an excruciating pace and I'm praising the fact that I won't have to worry about any exams till June. This was definitely a week I was wishing I was back on tour, especially after seeing my tour family the past weekend. I'm still struggling on adjusting back to student life, and I think it's taking me slightly longer than I thought.

Which again, is why I'm so so happy to be home. After the stress of midterms and papers, there's honestly nowhere I would rather be than here. I love being home.

Home to me is both tangible and intangible. It's tangible in the sense of it being a physical place you're referring to, aka your home that you grew up in. But over the course of years of living away from my physical, I realized that home can be more than just a physical house, but it can be a feeling.  Home is being surrounded by people who really love and care about you. And being back at the Viernes house, I'm getting both the tangible and intangible aspects of "home"-- it's overwhelming in the best way. I'm not saying that I'm not surrounded by people I love and care about at school (vice versa) because I am, and I couldn't be more thankful to have such lovely people in my life... It's just hard when everything you were once familiar with feels foreign again. I would go into greater detail, but given that it's almost 2 am, I might have to stop right about now