fastwrites...

~Choose an item from any of the preceding lists as a prompt. Just start fastwriting about the item; perhaps start with a story, a scene, a situation, a description. Follow the writing to see where it leads.

It was our second competition of the year and we were just as nervous about competing at this one as we were our first. In our beautiful handmade white outfits me and the rest of the spazzlers waited behind stage for our turn. We preformed our lyrical routine flawlessly when the time came. The song we danced to was called “Slow me Down”. It really was a beautiful dance. We continued through our day competing our various other dances, tap, jazz and finally production. At the end of the competition there are three encores announced. These are the three most entertaining dances of the competition asked to preform again. As expected our studios production got called back along with another studios production and a senior hip-hop dance.

We all rushed back to our dressing room to get dressed for our performance completely excited. About two minutes later our dance teacher comes running back saying that the hip-hop had to pull out due to girls having left. Our lyrical had gotten the encore too! We all started screaming our heads off. Keep in mind this is out of 600+ dances over the course of two days. So the plan was we would do our production and run to our dressing room change while the other team was dancing and then go on again! That was the craziest 15 minutes of my life. Clothes, makeup, and shoes flying everywhere helped it go by in a blur.

When all that was done we went and sat down on stage for awards. My lyrical and production took first in their categories. We finally got to the last three awards to give out. Encore, Sportsmanship and Overall. Encore went to our production. After screams and hugs we all sat down to hear who got sportsmanship and overall. The sportsmanship award went to a small studio that I can’t remember.

As I said before there were 600+ dances at that competition. It spanned over two days and ranged in age groups from 5 year olds to adult dances, and ranged in styles from tap to jazz to ballet to modern to hiphop etc.  We now listened with curiously for who one over all.  In the typical dramatic voice we hear, “And the overall winner for this year’s competition is….. Slow Me Down, from Premiere Dance Academy!” I wish we had a camera to capture the moment because all of our faces went from shock to screaming to crying. None of us had put the fact that we got encore to the chance at winning over all, together. Encore was more for most entertaining.

We claimed our four foot trophy, still in complete shock. I will never forget that dance or those girls or that competition. We really did danced to that song with our hearts and I think this is one of the reasons the judges loved it so much. It had meaning and purpose. This was one of those moments in my life I wish I could slow down. Later that night I still couldn’t believe we had been honored that way. It was one of the best days of my life.

~Most of us quietly harbor dreams—we hope to be a professional dancer, a good father, an activist, an Olympic luger, or a novelist. Begin a fastwrite in which you explore your dreams. When the writing stalls ask yourself these questions: Where did this dream come from? Do I still believe in it? In what moments did it seem to be within reach? In what moments did it fade? Plunge into those moments.

I dream to be a successful educated mother someday. I have always worked hard in high school to get into college. Right now I want to get into dental school and become a dentist. When I use to live in Texas I had the nicest dentist. I loved to go there! I have only ever had one cavity so I really never have associated pain with trips to the dentist. Maybe I just like the attention, or the amazing cleanness in my mouth after a visit, and that’s why I enjoy it so much. Right now being a dentist seems like the ideal job if I want to have a family. They can work wherever basically, from the city to the country. Everywhere needs a dentist. Also, once I have had enough experience I can open my own practice and make my own hours. Dentists make a lot of money too. I want to have kids and give them all that I can. As sad as it is, money really is important now a days. My family now isn’t wealthy but we get by. We only ever travel to Texas to see family and never go on vacations. That is something I want to be able to afford in my future.

This dream came from my past and previous experiences with dentists. They are all so nice and funny! This career also just seems so ideal so me! I know I should probably be dreaming of being a famous actor or something but I think more logically then that.

Right now, this dream seems to be in reach! It isn’t a ridiculous dream and if I keep up my hard work I can reach it. As I am looking into colleges for next year, I am trying to keep my future for a family in mind. This simple dream will bring me happiness and that’s all I can hope for I guess.

This dream fades whenever my mom and I talk about money. Going to a university is going to cost a lot of money. If I can’t get the scholarships I need, my dream is going to be harder to reach. I almost cry when we have to talk about this. I get super quiet and upset. I tell my mom I can do it myself and then feel mean for saying it because I know she wants to help me through college the most she can. Life is tough though and I know I can do whatever it takes to get where I want to go.

~What do you consider “turning points” in your life, times when you could see the end of one thing and the beginning of something else? Fastwrite about one of those moments for seven minutes.

My quinceañera was probably one of my biggest turning points in my life. The party itself traditionally represented me becoming a woman and my family presenting me as one. But I think the whole experience of planning it and the day really did change me. Before the quince I was really self-conscious and overall a really awkward little girl. I had about 4 good friends that I always hung out with and no one else really. Boys never came over to my house and that subject was always awkward whenever my mom tried to talk to me about it.

For the party I had a court that did a waltz during the presentation. I choose seven girls and seven boys to be in it. We called ourselves the quince group. In and out of school we all became best friends. Boys didn’t seem so strange to invite over anymore and me and my mom became a lot closer. The hours of planning the quinceañera helped this greatly. I felt more confident after 500+ people showed up to celebrate me. I had grown out of my awkwardness after that. As of today I still am more confident and know it is okay to be me.