Birthday

Today's my birthday. I'm 26 today. Though I have accomplished a lot in my 26 years, it is certainly not time to relax or celebrate. I am not in a celebratory mood today. But don't think I'm in a bad mood. I am in a good mood, I'm just in the thick of things: dancing, school, writing, planning, proposing, deciding. Yesterday and today, I sent off another rash of applications with hopes of either residency, performance opportunity or money to support my art habit.

This morning I made my way over to the River Run offices for the last time for my internship, to help wrap things up and debrief. The three months went very fast, but I am hoping there will be some way I can be involved with the festival next year. Such a wonderful event to have in our city.

This afternoon, I buy lovely vegetables and fruit. My body craves them. I put them in my cart, and wonder why anyone would buy anything else to eat but these beautiful, colorful, artful offerings. When I arrive home, I can't help but pop a strawberry in my mouth before I even unload the rest of the groceries. At home, I whip up a quick late afternoon lunch and run out the door to get to East Forsyth High for the Wingspan Project performance.

The Wingspan Project is an annual arts in education initiative led by the Alban Elved Dance Company. A residency is scheduled where high school students engage in process oriented workshops where performance pieces emerge for a culminating performance. The program is shared, between students and professional artists. Though I did not teach for the program this year (I did last year), I have been asked to show some work. I show the first section of "Words Apart," and I show our film, "Two Downtown." The small audience seems to respond well! They laugh and clap. The rest of the show went well, too. The students all did a great job, and showed dedication and maturity. We only hope that there will be more audience present at tomorrow's performance. Arts in education seem to be some of the hardest events to get people out to, even though one would think the families of the students would fill the theater. The sad reality of it is that many parents and siblings do not support these performances, as they are not seen as important events like sporting events or academic competitions. Last year's audience was very small, too. Hardly a soul to speak of.

It is late now, I just came home from my friends' house, where they and Rob had ice cream cupcakes waiting for me from Coldstone! I had two. My contacts are stinging now, and I can hardly keep my eyes open. More of the same tomorrow, teaching, lunching, photo shooting, interviewing, performing and awaiting a busy Saturday, Sunday and week ahead. G'night, fam.

~Cara