Hello, world!

Man, have I missed talking to you all. I was trying to save a crapton of blog posts to read in my “Save for Later” folder on Feedly, but I knew I just had to press “Mark all as read.” Fresh start this week!

In the past week, I have been running on adrenaline, sugar, and the love and energy of 14 amazing company mates! If you’re not sure what’s been up in the last 7 days of my life, you can read about Benefit Week here (It’s basically my dance school’s biggest, most important, funnest performance of the year). You can also check out Instagram, because I’ve actually been posting pictures of humans rather than just food. Proof that I have friends. 😉

There is so much to say about my very last Benefit concert with company that I actually cannot fully explain it. Thus, I’ll sum up the week in {mostly} pictures! There are lots.

Although we had rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday, I’ll start with Wednesday, since that’s when the dressing room decorating started. These themes have nothing to do with our dances. This tradition is just for fun!  🙂 I actually don’t have pictures of us dancing because….well, I can’t take selfies on stage.

Wednesday

There are no freshmen in company this year, so the new sophomores took over for Wednesday’s themed dressing room. The theme was….

Eloise at the Plaza!

I have neither read the book nor watched the movie, but it was such a cute and unique theme!

They call me Y-money.

Wednesday’s rehearsal included a 1.5 hour staging/lighting rehearsal for the younger dance class I assist and then a full run-through of the show.

Thursday

There’s only one junior in company, so she was joined by the veteran sophomores for decorating! The theme was…

Woodstock/60s!

Such a fun theme! Thursday was our first Community Concert (for disabled and underprivileged in the community). It was a great “opening night!” I do have a picture of me from our big warmup on stage, thanks to my company director:

May O’Donnell technique warmup

Friday

Seniors’ turn to decorate!! There are eight seniors this year (more than half of company), so we went all out with our dressing room theme…

Circus!

This theme worked out so well, and we all had a blast with it. I was supposed to be some sort of acrobat/trapeze artist person…I just found this purple ballroom dancing dress in my closet and used that.

Each year, seniors design and order shirts that coincide with their dressing room theme. Ours said “Cirque du Company Benefit 2014” on the back!

Thanks for the photo, Lilly!

Company ♥ 

Saturday

Benefit day. There is always such a mix of emotions on this day— tears of joy and tears of sadness. We are so thrilled to be dancing together at this big show, but we’re also heartbroken that it’s the seniors’ last one. We soaked up every second of it!

We started with lunch at a great Italian restaurant:

Crab cake for me!

Bux all around.

And then we headed to the theater to walk around, do some company traditions, and bond.

After the show:

Thanks for the photo, Livv!

And with that, Benefit came to an end… 😦

To say that dance company is a big family is cliche, but it’s also an understatement. Our emotional, hormonal sob session on Saturday night sums up our relationship pretty well. I’m wiped out, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. All of God’s blessings are so humbling. I love you, company ladies!

Have a great day, everyone!

So tell me:

Did you ever have/Do you have a group of friends with which you are super close?

What did you do this weekend?