Hitting the Road

Last Monday was our first travel day, which began at 4:15 in the morning.  It was difficult leaving Bruce and Linda after living with them for five weeks.  I grew in many ways during the first five weeks of staging and I am blessed that Bruce and Linda were a part of my experience.  Although it was hard to say goodbye to such a loving and supportive family, they are a very special part of my life and I know it will not be long before I see them again.

Our cast had three different flights out of Denver where our final destination was Boston, Massachusetts!  I was on the first flight that left at 8:00 am.  Our group of 19 had one flight from Denver to Atlanta and Atlanta to Boston.  We had a great time traveling together on our first travel day.  We had fun laughing with each other all the way to Boston.  

Once we all arrived in Boston in the early evening, we took a bus to our first city on the road-Lowell, Massachusetts.  We unloaded all our bags our at the host pick-up facility and waited to meet our new host families.  Since both my previous host sisters-Marloes and Linda left early to set up the cities in Massachusetts, I was very excited to have a roommate.  Luckily, my first roommate was Georgie, one of the most fun and energetic people I have had the privilege of meeting and he made my first host family experience on the road much more relaxing and comfortable.  

Georgie and I got to meet our host family at 8:00 pm on Monday night.  We stayed with the Hollinger family-Cheryl and Mark and their three children Mary-15, Graham-12, and Thomas-9.  The Hollinger's live in Littleton, a small city outside of Lowell.  As we pulled up in the driveway, it was as if we were driving back in time 100 years ago.  Cheryl and Mary explained that their Victorian home was built in 1906 and at one point, before a fire in the 50's, it had a ballroom on the third floor.  There is no single front door to the house.  However, there are two double-wide glass doors that were used when the women came to the house for a ball in their large-hooped dresses.  The first thing Georgie and I wanted to do when we saw the house was to play hide and seek.  

Tuesday was our first of three Community Impact days in Lowell.  This week, we had many different Community Impact sites from which to choose.  I spent the day working for the National Park Service cleaning up a little park area in the center of the town.  We swept up leaves and dirt and scraped off old rust on an iron fence so we could repaint it the following day.  I was amazed at how appreciative the community was with our helping to clean up such a small area of the park.  We had several people stop as we were working to tell us how nice our area looked and it was nice to know that our service was noticed.  

Wednesday I was signed out for the day to work with the education team and training for my internship.  My goal as an education intern is to teach the cast about dialogue.  I spent my senior year researching and studying dialogue, which is a form of communication that focuses on the reasoning behind people’s viewpoints and teaches how to appreciate and respect those differing viewpoints.  For the next five weeks I will be planning how I will teach the cast the fundamentals of dialogue through theory and practice. 

Thursday I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club of Lowell.  The kids were working on a talent show so I had the chance to watch them perform and help them prepare for their show.  The children loved to dance, so I taught them part of one of our dances from the show.  The kids had fun learning the dance and then they decided to have a dance off, so we got in a circle and showed off all of our best dance moves. 

Thomas celebrated his 10th birthday on Thursday night, so Cheryl made the most delicious home-made fried chicken, pea soup, corn, pasta with pesto, and to top it off, home-made blueberry and strawberry-rhubarb pie.  It was really special to get to be a part of Thomas birthday celebration.  

Friday was our first show day on the road!  I spent the morning learning some new dance techniques with some of the dancers in the show to help take our dancing to a more technical level.  Unfortunately, I did not do some of them correctly and I irritated my knee.  So after dancing on my knee all afternoon, I was in pain after the show.  Luckily, a little icy-hot, ibuprofen, ice, and several days of rest helped solve the knee pains.      

Mark’s hobby is flying his father’s plane and teaching Mary how to fly, so on our host family day, Mark and Mary took us flying in their four-person plane.  We drove about 20 minutes to their hangar and we took off from a small airport.  Within five minutes of taking off, Mark let Georgie fly the plane.  The first thing Georgie did was push the controls downward and we took a fun little dive.  Georgie had fun experimenting with the controls and it certainly made for an exciting plane ride.  We landed about 20 minutes later at another small airport so Georgie and I could switch seats.  After Mark took off, he gave me control of the plane, and, just like Georgie, I experimented with the controls-it felt like we were on an awesome and intense roller coaster ride.  Mark then took control of the plane again and showed us what happens when the plane stalls.  A plane stalls when it is no longer moving fast enough to gain lift, so the plane "stalls" in the air and begins to drop.  Mark slowed down the plane and it eventually shook and began to drop.  He then quickly used the throttle to gain speed and we were back soaring through the sky.  I had a huge smile on my face the entire time that we were with the plane.  Flying a plane has always been on my bucket list and I am so grateful that the Hollinger's were kind enough to take us flying. 

After flying the plane, Georgie and I went with Mary to explore Boston.  She took us all over the city from the waterfront to Harvard Square.  It was raining sporadically throughout the day, but we still had fun walking around the city.  

Sunday was Mark and Cheryl's wedding anniversary, so Georgie, Mary and I decided to bake a cake to celebrate.  It ended up taking several hours to bake the cake because we kept taking breaks to dance around in the kitchen to the music on the radio as well as having powdered sugar fights.  All in all, the cake was delicious and we had a wonderful time celebrating their anniversary.

I had an incredible week living with the Hollinger Family.  Everyday was filled with laughter and joy in their house and they were so kind to us.  It is amazing how close you can become with a family in such a short time.  They welcomed us in and made us feel like member of their family.  The one thing I will always remember about the Hollinger's is the love and respect they have for one another.  I am so thankful that I had the privilege of living with such an amazing family.

Show Time

This week was the busiest week yet.  Because school is starting back up, we were not able to use our staging facilities in the morning, since our staging facility is a charter school.  We were moved to a large room in a mental health facility where we made a make-shift stage on the floor out of tape.  We rehearsed at the mental health facility in the mornings and then we moved back to the auditorium for full run-throughs during the afternoons.  The entire week was spent cleaning up and trying to perfect the show.

Finally, after five weeks, it was show day!  The morning of our show, we all gathered as a group to hear the announcement of our first interns for the next six weeks.  During our tour, we have the opportunity to serve as interns for all the different staff positions.  We have three rounds of internships-all which last about six weeks.  For this first round of internships, I applied to be one of the two education interns.  The morning of the show, the trumpets sounded and three staff members walked through the doors in togas.  The theme of the announcement ceremony was the Olympics.  Our three education staff members walked out first and pretended to be divers.  They didn't do so well and decided that they needed some help.  They announced that they needed Dristy and I to help them.  So, Dristy (my Nepalese counterpart) and I will get to work together for the next six weeks organizing and planning the lessons for our casts.  

The day of our first show, which was a dress rehearsal for our host families and invited guests, we ran through the entire show three time...prior to our performance.  For our first two shows, I danced in four specialty dances.  It was an incredibly exhausting day to rehearse the show three times before our actual performance and I was not sure how I would have the energy for one more show.  

Before each show we have a green room, which is a time when we gather as a cast to go over final notes about the show and to get ourselves pumped up to perform.  Our first green room was very special and quite emotional.  We walked into the room as our staff cheered for us and dance music played.  We all danced and sang our hearts out. After we danced, Nicole, my education intern advisor, read us four pages of Dr. Suess' book "Oh, The Places You'll Go."  We will continue to read the story as our semester continues.  After we read some of the story, the staff walked around the room carrying signs that focused on "right now."

"Right now, you are ready."

"Right now, your host family in Lowell is waiting for you."

"Right now, you may be nervous."

"Right now, your current host family is going to miss you."

"Right now, you may be sitting next to a new best friend."

"We love you"

It was a very powerful and uplifting segment of our first green room.  Our cast director, Dave Penny, ended green room with a motivational speech, as our eyes were closed, about how we have the power to make a difference in people's lives this semester.  We all opened our eyes and everyone had tears falling down their cheeks.  With all the emotion and excitement in the cast, we gave it our all during the first show.

The second show was just as incredible as the first.  We had another very supportive and receptive audience, which made us all enjoy performing even though we were so exhausted.  For the first two shows I was able to dance in four of the songs/medleys.  Dancing in four songs was very tiring, but I have discovered that I love dancing on stage and I look forward to continue to perform as we hit the road!

Work Hard, Play Hard

It is amazing how quickly my days go by during the week when we are rehearsing all day.  Two weeks ago was a little slower because our production staff (vocalist, dancers, and lighting and sound technicians) where in Tucson, AZ performing at the Up with People reunion.  While the production staff was away, we had our first Community Impact day, which is a chance for our cast to volunteer and impact the local communities during our week-long stay.  We spent the day working with the Coalition for the Upper South Platte-an organization dedicated to preserving water, which is the most precious resource in the mountainous area.  We worked in an area that was burned in the Hayman fire, which was the largest fire in Colorado's history.

After the cast was divided into groups, my group suited up with hardhats and hiked to our work zone.  Our group spent the afternoon rebuilding steps on a hiking trail through the mountains.  We all had a great day volunteering and it was nice to have the opportunity to give back to the local community.  As we spent the afternoon rebuilding the trail, it was encouraging to hear the hikers that passed by appreciate the work we were doing in their area.

Aside from working hard for 9-10 hours each day, I have had some fun adventures around the Denver area.  One evening, my brother took me to his favorite street tacos place for dinner.  Ever since Breton traveled in Mexico, he has had a love for street taco.  It was a neat experience to watch the owners prepare the tacos, which were delicious.  Breton also explained to me how he used to eat street tacos in Mexico, which was adding pineapple to the tacos.  I am now looking forward to eating street tacos in Mexico.

On another afternoon, I went to the pool down the street with some friends.  One thing that I have grown accustomed to is not always having access to transportation.  Vera (from the Netherlands) Janelle (from North Platte), and I had to find our own transportation.  We ended up finding a small scooter, a child-sized bike with flat tires, and a bike without a sturdy seat and flat tires.  We laughed all the way down the street as we slowly biked and scooted our way to the pool.
 

One evening, after a long day of rehearsals, I was invited by some friends to Red Rocks for a concert and to watch a movie.  Bailey (Colorado), Abbey (Colorado), Romane (Belgium) and I had the opportunity to have a tour behind the stage thanks to Abbey's father who invited me to Red Rocks.  We  walked the halls backstage where Prince and the Beach Boys performed.  I had never been to Red Rocks and I was amazed at how beautiful the area is as you look out and see the city lights in the distance.  Because I have to wake up at 6:30am during the week, I usually fall asleep by 10pm.  The movie did not start until 9:30pm, so unfortunately, Bailey, Romane, and I started falling asleep 30 minutes into the movie.  We did not end up staying for the entire movie, but I had a great evening spending time with friends outside of our rehearsals.

For the past two weeks, we have been blocking our entire show.  Our show producer, Lynne Morris, has been producing the Up with People show for almost 40 years.  The first two days that Lynne was with us she walked us through every single movement in the two-hour show.  It was a very tedious process, but our show is finally coming together!  Now that the show is blocked, we have been doing full show run-throughs.  Each time we run through the show, different singers are singing solos and different dancers are put in the dance lines.  We are constantly switching performers so the staff can see who works well in the different parts of the show.  The constant changes certainly make us all stay on our toes and focused.  We actually will not know who will be performing the solos and dances until the night of our show on Friday night.  Even then, the dancers and soloists will change as we travel on the road, so we must always be ready to perform.

It has been a blast rehearsing the show for the past two weeks.  I am very much looking forward to our world premiere performance on Saturday night!  Up with People used to produce a new show every two years, however, it has been ten years since Up with People has produce a completely original show so I am thrilled to be part of a brand new show.

Epic Adventure

Saturday afternoon, after several intense dance workshops, the cast headed downtown for a scavenger hunt in the metro area of Denver.  We were divided into teams and had to race around the city taking creative photographs in front of significant places around the city as well as answer questions about Denver.  We had fun exploring the city and, unfortunately, we did not win, but we did enjoy getting to have an activity away from our staging facility.  

After our eventful afternoon, a majority of the cast decided to stay downtown and have dinner together at the Cheesecake Factory.  All 60 of us sat at four long tables with five waiters serving us throughout the night.  We spent three hours together getting to know each other better and it was certainly nice to spend time together outside of our normal staging routine.

Sunday was a host family day, and I think it may be one of the single most memorable and enjoyable days I have ever had.  Marloes' brother, Johan, was here from the Netherlands for the weekend on his way to Tucson, Arizona for his five-year Up with People reunion.  Linda took Marloes, Johan, me, and another castmate, Azusa, to Estes Park to hike in the mountains.  We left the house at 9:30 am and finally made it to the head of the trail at about noon.  The hike up the mountain was incredibly beautiful.  We made our way up the mountain taking time to enjoy the breathtaking nature.  

After about an hour and a half of hiking up to the very end of the trail, we noticed some dark clouds quickly roll in.  We started to make our way back down the when it began to lightly rain.  We picked up the pace a little, but we were still enjoying our decent down the mountain.  All  of the sudden, a bolt of lightning whipped across the sky and the next thing I know, I see Linda running for dear life down the mountain.  As she sprinted passed all of us, she was telling us how she was afraid of lightning.  The light rain turned into a downpour as we were racing down the mountain.  After about a minute, the downpour turned into hail, which felt like we were being pricked with hundreds of needles.  Johan and I could not help but laugh hysterically at how comical our afternoon had become.  As Linda kept running down the mountain, we could all faintly hear her yell "Is everyone okay?" but she was running too fast to ever look back to check, so we would have to haul it up to her to tell her we were all alright. As I mentioned, it took us 90 minutes to get to the top of the mountain, and we made it down the mountain in 20 hilarious minutes.  When we got to the bottom, after we stopped laughing, we realized we were soaking wet, freezing, and covered in mud.  We laughed about our epic adventure the entire car ride home and could not wait to tell the rest of the cast how much fun we had on our host family day.  

Monday afternoon was devoted to a serious activity called Crossing the Line.  The activity gave us all a chance to open up and share more about our beliefs and values.  A statement was read to us and if we identified with the statement we had to cross the line.  Once we made our choice to cross or not, we had the chance to explain how we interpreted the statement and why we chose to cross or not cross the line.  Each statement that was read required us to become more vulnerable and share our personal beliefs with the cast.  It took us about 35 minutes for us realize how personal this activity was and many of us started consoling one another.  The amazing part was that at no time throughout the activity were any judgements or assumptions made.  Instead, each time we had to look at the other people across the line, there was nothing but support and trust in everyone's eyes.  After this activity, we were no longer a group of students from around the world-we had become an international family.