Round Two

My semester began in Lakeland, Florida with four weeks of staging.  Like last semester in Denver, the cast spent the four weeks preparing for the semester and learning our show.  Although most of the show was the same as the previous semester, we did add several new songs and dances into the show.  As Cast A 2013 started getting into rehearsing the show, the day grew longer.  However, after only four short weeks, we had our show, Voices, ready to take with us on the road. 

During my time in Lakeland, I was blessed to live with a very special family, the Eidenbergs.  We had a houseful with four roommates- Wouter, from the Netherlands, Caleb, from Arizona, and Arley, from Cuba, in addition to their two teenage boys.  Over the course of the month, the Eidenbergs took me and my roommates to numerous places to experience the Floridian culture.  From monster truck shows, holding alligators, and riding Segways, there was never a dull moment in our family.

It was very difficult to say goodbye when the time came to start traveling.  After only four weeks, I had become part of their family and they had become part of mine.  One of the things I admired most about the family was the love and support they had for one another and that is something that is a characteristic I want my own family to have someday.  I am very grateful to have had the chance to learn and grow from the Eidenberg family and because they hold a special place in my heart, I know I will be seeing them again soon.   

On Monday morning we drove south to Fort Myers. During the afternoon we had several educational workshops before we met our host families.  This week I was hosted with our show manager, Miguel, Josh from the Philippines, and Thomas from Belgium. Our host dad, Dan is an administrator at the local children's hospital.

The next morning was our Community Impact and I went to a human trafficking rehabilitation organization and helped create a garden. We spent the day weeding and planting flowers to beautify the area. During lunch we had the opportunity to speak with one of the women working at the center and she shared her incredible story with us all.  She explained how she had been taken into the human trafficking life when she was very young. After years of drug use, rape, and being bought and sold, she got out of that life and decided to go to college.  She would make straight a's one semester, but would fall back into her old life the next semester and have to drop out. It took her years to get off her drug addiction but she was finally able to graduate from college with honors and go on to receive a masters degree. She was an inspiration to all of us who had the privilege to hear her story and I will always remember my time at that site.

On Wednesday I had the chance to help teach World Dances Classes. This semester I am the dance intern and part of my internship is getting to help with the dance classes.  For the classes, we take the students on a tour around the world through dance and expose the students to different cultural dances.
In the morning I helped lead the warm ups before we started dancing.  During the class, we visited Mexico, Japan, and South Africa.  It is such a joy to see the excitement of the students when they learn dances from other countries.

That afternoon I went to an after-school program for students where we helped paint and reorganize classrooms. Once the students arrived, we taught another dance class with the children and had a fantastic afternoon interacting with them.

Thursday was an internal day with several workshops and time for the cast to prepare for our culture fair coming up.

Friday was a rehearsal day for the cast.  I started the morning working on several dances with some of the dancers in the show.  After lunch, we had a full run-through of the show.

Saturday was our host family day.  We all got to sleep in and when we woke up, Dan made us Belgian waffles.  After relaxing for the morning, Dan took us to walk along the beach.  It was a chilly day, but it was so nice to walk along the water.

That evening, our cast was invited to be part of the Thomas Edison parade of lights.  We marched down the street in our intensional costumes and flags and carried glow-in-the-dark accessories.  We promoted UWP for 500,000 people on the streets.

Sunday was our first show day on the road and it was a double show day.  Great way to start off the semester with two very responsive audiences.