BWW Blog: I Don't Dance - My Plans for Fall 2020

In a couple days, I’ll be moving into my dorm on the University of Central Missouri campus.

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BWW Blog: I Don't Dance - My Plans for Fall 2020

The start of a new school year is officially upon us, bringing to an end this weird, long and drawn out period of online schooling. In a couple days, I'll be moving into my dorm on the University of Central Missouri campus. As I start this new chapter in my life, I feel anxious, but at the same time I'm excited and determined, which is something I would not have been able to say two years ago when I was starting my freshman year at State Fair Community College.

The anxiety was there, but the excitement and determination took a little while to set in.

Transferring to UCM is going to be a huge change, not just because I'm transferring to a larger university from a small community college named after the summer festivities that take place in Sedalia every year. I'm majoring in musical theatre, so naturally my course load is going to include a lot of classes geared toward my major, the likes of which I've never taken before. During my two years at SFCC, most of my theatre classes focused on script analysis or stage design. During my first semester at UCM, half of my classes are going to focus on dance, and if there's one thing you ought to know about me, it's that I don't dance.

This was made painfully obvious during my audition at UCM back in February. As I walked into a room full of people who had clearly already had prior dance training, I knew I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. However, I told myself that if I was going to screw up, I was going to screw up big and make the most of it.

Did I screw up? Absolutely. Did I make the most of it? Absolutely. While the majority of the room was dancing almost effortlessly to "Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Show, I just did my best to keep up, all the while thinking: "What did she say? What does that mean? Oh, we're at that part already?" I was accepted into the program a week later.

I've never had any formal dance training. The only dancing I've ever done has been choreography that I specifically had to learn for a show, and I made that clear during my audition. The whole dancing thing kind of makes me nervous, and I know that it's going to be intimidating at first, but I'm eager to learn and finally have that training by the time I'm done at UCM.

I'm also really excited to finally be able to start working with other people again. Although they haven't been announced publicly (as of my writing this), the Theatre and Dance department at UCM has a great list of shows lined up for this semester, with safety measures being put in place amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

In addition to classes and shows, I look forward to starting this new journey with my friends who are transferring with me from SFCC. I also really look forward to getting back into podcasting.

BWW Blog: I Don't Dance - My Plans for Fall 2020

Back in September 2019, my friend Josh Barner and I started a podcast called Just Two Thespians. Lacking any sort of formal structure, the podcast features us rambling about what's going on in our lives as college theatre majors. To say that we're great at podcasting would be a lie. We never quite figured out what we wanted the show to be, so a lot of the episodes are nonsensical and messy, but we're ready to work out the kinks and give it another go.

While I think it's going to be an odd semester with being in a new environment and doing theatre while social distancing, I couldn't be more excited to start this new adventure, and as I did in my dance audition, I'm going to make the most of it. Here's to my next two years as a UCM Mule!



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