A Different Perspective

I know many of you girls like reality dance shows, it's entertaining and the dancers are good, I'll give you that. Here is a different perspective. Ally and Melissa have both posted it on there wall.  http://www.backstage.com/bso/content_display/news-and-features/e3ied8519e098ecf0008963a07cd3fb2e64

Welcome to Appalachia!!

The History of Appalachia:

Once upon a time there was a group of dancers who were in rehearsal for a performance with the Dupage Symphony Orchestra. They were trying on beautiful (but not really...) dresses for the costumes. But alas, there was not enough dresses for everyone!!! (*gasp*) So, plan B was taken into action... This plan consisted of costumes that had a shirt and long pants with brightly colored ribbon embellishments. The dancers were thrilled to discover that these magnificent (just kidding :D) costumes were made in... (*drum roll*) APPALACHIA!! A short time after trying on the costumes the saying, "Welcome to Appalachia!" was born... (*epic music begins to play*)

The "Welcome to Appalachia" Chant:

I must say that I am extremely sad to not be a creator of the saying, but I can explain it nonetheless. To say "Welcome to Appalachia" like a true élan dancer, some things must be taken into consideration:

1. You must raise your arms above your head (as if reaching to the sky)
2. Your hands must be in a jazz hands/ spirit fingers type of thing
3. You need to shout the words "WELCOME TO APPALACHIA" very loudly.
4. When you shout the words, you must speak in an Indian accent (at least that is what I think it was)
5. Don't try to shout the phrase by yourself (you need to be with a group of people). Otherwise, you'll look like a freak (I know this because I tried it while sitting alone at my computer).
6. I think that's it...

*Over vacation I was fortunate enough to visit the real Appalachia and learn about real Appalachians (and their love for quilting..). I also got a bunch of amusing pictures of Appalachian merchandise :)

Dancers Camping

The 2^nd annual dance campout is coming up, so I thought I’d write a little bit about last year. All of us love the idea of being outside and spending time together! What could be better than a campout, right? Okay, it’s not real camping it’s in a backyard, with a pool, but still we’re outside in a tent, right? Well, we tend to forget about what actually ends up happening when dancers campout.  This is how it usually goes.

Downtown Naperville

Well, as you might have figured out, after dance, some of us like to wander around downtown Naperville a lot. Naperville, if you don't know, is a nice suburb and so a group of girls walking around looking like they aren't wearing any pants draws a lot of weird looks. People have even stopped us too to tell us that we should wear pants. And actually, we sort of just wander around when we have a break between rehearsals too, whether it be to go to Einstein's after ballet or Starbuck's for a snack, not just to got to FlatTop for dinner. So I'm just posting this because people will probably post stuff referring to downtown and now you'll kind of have an idea of what they're talking about.

My "Nickname"

So on this blog we were all supposed to have nicknames, but none of us have really done that so far. Anyways, mine is Lil' S, course, you don't see that as my signature do you? Well I got that when we went to FlatTop for dinner (just look at Katie's post if you're confused). And at FlatTop when we were coming up with names someone decided that I would be Oprah. Just so you all know, I'm chinese, and being called Oprah was totally not happening. So then someone else (I really don't remember who) suggested Lil' S, I think because I'm the youngest in Senior and have been for the past three years, and this coming year. And I figured why not? It's better than Oprah, and apparently the name stuck. Well, not exactly Lil' S, because the waitress said something like Lilz instead.

10 Reasons Why Flat Top is Awesome

My friends and I have a sort of tradition where we go out to eat at Flat Top Grill (you're welcome for the free advertising) and then go and get Gelato. This is usually followed by us walking around the downtown area looking for things to do at 10 o'clock at night which of course there never is anything because we live in a "family town" and everything closes at 9 or earlier. Therefore, we usually end up settling and go to the book store. There really isn't any rhyme or rhythm to this tradition. We just go if we haven't in a long time. Of course it's usually after a dance rehearsal, a few of us are always in dance clothes, and yes we do get a lot of weird looks.

It's gonna be okay.