Student Blog: How I Prepared for This Spring Semester

When I take breaks from school, I find that I lose a lot of what I've learned and have to spend the first few weeks of school reviewing, rebuilding dance strength, and bringing my vocal technique back to where it was. After a week of auditions right before break, I was told that I would be playing Cinderella in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella this Spring at Otterbein. I knew I needed to dive right back into the semester without needing to build things back up. So this break, I decided to explore ways to mitigate the effects of being home and not training for an entire month. Here are the three biggest things that I did that helped me to dive right back into this semester.

Strength Training: I have been taking Pure Barre classes off and on since the summer before my freshman year of college. I had a back injury from dancing that I wanted to fix before I started dancing every morning for Otterbein’s very intense musical theatre and dance minor program. My injury came from having a lot of natural flexibility without having the strength to support it when I am dancing. I learned that strength training is so important, in addition to the regular dance technique I do every day, to prevent injury and improve my dancing ability. This past December, after receiving the cast list and reading the script, I realized how much I would be onstage for prolonged periods, doing insanely long waltzes and then singing numerous songs in a row without leaving the stage. I realized I was going to need to increase my endurance, so I spent almost every day of break at my local Pure Barre studio, strength training.

Memorizing the Script: The second I saw the cast list for Cinderella, I was so excited to start learning the role, but at the same time, it was incredibly overwhelming. I had two months before rehearsals started, and I needed to be off book. I knew I had to start memorizing, but I did not want that to overshadow my break, because I deserved to take time off and enjoy the holidays with my family. But I wanted to find a way to subconsciously start learning the show. So I decided to just listen to the score whenever I was driving. I would put it on and sing along until I learned my songs. Then, when I finally sat down at the piano with the actual score to officially practice, I already knew so much and was able to sing through it easily. 

Reading: Another thing I knew I needed was to get more sleep. Having an 8 am dance class every day is not for the weak (or the sleep-deprived). I knew my doom-scrolling before bed wasn't helping my lack of sleep. After being gifted many books for Christmas, like Atonement by Ian McEwan and The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods, I decided to try out reading at least one chapter each night before bed. Of course, some nights I have more time to read than others, but I try to get in a little bit every day, even if it means being up a little later. And I would say that staying up late to read a book is much better than the usual late-night phone use. I am also taking many history and journalism classes this semester, and my favorite genre is historical fiction, which I find helps me a lot in those classes.

Officially being two weeks into the Spring semester, I am so grateful I decided to prioritize strength training, memorizing my songs, and picking up reading again, because I was able to jump right back into dance placements, voice lessons, and classes without feeling behind. I am ready for rehearsals to start, and am enjoying my quiet nights reading before going to bed instead of scrolling aimlessly on my phone. What started as an experiment has really changed how I think about many things and has positively affected how I live my everyday life. I find it so much easier to wake up in the mornings because of the reading, ready and strong for dance every day, and I am so confident going into Cinderella rehearsals. I really can’t wait to keep experimenting and find other things that I can add to my daily routine.