Family on 3!

Hey friends! Long time, no posts, I know! I am sincerely sorry, but school, work, and life has definitely been a whirlwind for the last couple of months for me. Particularly, my dance life was taking over the majority of my leisure time.

So for the first time, I immersed myself into a dance team that practices hip hop. The norm for me is usually lyrical, contemporary, and a little bit of jazz and ballet, so you could probably imagine how much of a new route this is for me. To me, hip hop is a whole other rhythm and it honestly takes a lot more effort for me. But I am very happy to say that I certainly enjoy trying! LOL.

The dance team that I was a part of this Fall is called Fresh Off the Beat. It stems from one of my university's Asian organizations, the Filipino Student Association. In the Fall semester, there is an annual event hosted by another FSA called Def Talent Jam, where several other teams gather to compete. Although this event was indeed a competition, we as a team certainly never felt the pressure to think of it as one throughout the semester, thanks to our coordinators and choreographers. They really emphasized on making the focus of our rehearsals to be something we genuinely just enjoy being a part of. And when competition came around, our goal was just to simply pour our hearts out on the stage and appreciate the chance to give a great performance. And we did just that!

In past years for this competition, FOB has placed in several occasions aside from first. But for the first time in the past 9 years, we won first place at this year's DTJ XXIII. Although this was a big accomplishment for our team, and we are very honored, it is really just the cherry on top of an awesome season and giving the audience our all. This year's theme was "Dead of Night" and our team performed as inmates that escaped from an insane asylum. (See the performance here.)

Over the couple months of rehearsals, it was a lot of fun bonding with the team and it honestly felt like family. For a first timer in FOB, I wouldn't give this experience up for any other. As much as I wish I had joined this team years ago when I first started college, I am so happy I got to spend my first experience this time and with this group of people. I just felt that everyone made each other feel like we could be ourselves and that was very encouraging. And even though we might have not all gotten super close, we definitely treated each other like family. This was surely one of the best experiences of my college career and I will always look back on it with a warm heart. Thank you Coordinators Garrey and Tevin, and Choreographers Jess and Abby. And another thank you to my amazing team. Love you all!

#FOBon3
#Familyon3
#AsylumonB

From yours truly, DancingMermaid1920s

Blog Post #9