The+Emotion+of+Lyrical

Gina Grenga 5/25/12 Mrs. Dabrush L&L 1

The Emotion of Lyrical


 * Thursday, April 13, 7:55pm, Susan Lee Dance Studio**

“Julia!” Miss Susan exclaimed, “You have outstanding technique, but this is lyrical class! You have put emotion in your dancing! You’re ten years old, your little sister should not be able to express more emotion than you! Competition is only 2 weeks away!” Julia Stevens hung her head in shame. She hated being embarrassed like this. She had a reputation to uphold. Ever since Daisy had been the youngest student ever to make it into the Susan Lee Dance Company last year, when she was 6, she had been stealing all of the attention away from Julia. Thats another thing Julia hated, her little sister Daisy, or as she liked to call her, ‘the insect’. “Class is dismissed!” Susan yelled. Julia scurried out of the studio, she still had a lot of homework, they were always at the studio from 3-8 almost everyday after school. “Hey, don’t feel embarrassed,” Cecilia Miller, or CiCi, said as she caught up to her. “Why? Now my parents are just going to laugh at the fact that Daisy is better than me,” Julia replied with a frown. “Don’t think that way! Your parents love you the way you are,” CiCi stated. CiCi was Julia’s best friend. Since they were the same age, they spent every day together, at the studio and at school. The girls in the company did not have much time for a social life, so they were pretty much each others only friends. That was okay though, because they were like one big family. Lisa and Lauren Sanders were 9 years old and identical, it was always hard to tell them apart. They were so flexible, it was unbelievable. Everyone looked up to twelve year old Casey Smith, she was a role model dancer with outstanding technique and grace.


 * Thursday, April 13, 9:07pm, Stevens’s house**

“Did you finnish all your homework, girls?” Mrs. Sarah Stevens asked her daughters, as she stood next to her husband, Mr. William Stevens. Every night after dance, Julia and Daisy went straight to the work room to do their homework. “Almost, I just need to do a few more problems on my math homework,” Julia replied. “Hey mom, dad!” Daisy exclaimed. “Guess what happened in class today!” “What, honey?” Their mother said with enthusiasm. “Julia got called out for being a terrible dancer!!” “I did not!” Julia was astonished with her tattling little sister. “I was just told to put more emotion into my lyrical dancing.” “Miss Susan said I did a better job than her,” Daisy smiled at the fact. Julia slammed her work shut and scrambled to her room. She slammed the bedroom door. I can’t be embarrassed again, she thought, //I will work on my emotion tonight//. She in front of the mirror and started marking through her dance. Julia had beautiful locks of curly, blond hair and bright green eyes that had her looks exquisite, but as she looked at herself, she saw how much of a disgrace she was. She tried over and over, but her face looked so dull and expressionless. //How is it so easy for her? How can’t I do this? How am I not a good dancer?//


 * Friday, April 14, 12:49pm, Miller’s House**

As CiCi was preparing lunch, Julia was thinking about the day before, she had not stopped thinking about it all day. For the first time ever, she did not want to go to dance. She had been waiting all day, so she could talk to CiCi about it before dance. Ms. Claire Miller was a single mom, with a full time job, so she was not home to watch over the girls, who had got home early, due to an early-release day. But that was fine with Julia, she wanted some alone-time with her best friend, who was always there to lighten the mood and put a smile on her face. “Daisy told my mom about yesterday,” Julia stated blatantly. “Really? It’s not like it was that big a deal.” “It was for my parents. They are always looking for a way to ensure that my sister is better than me.” “But she’s not, you’re amazing and you know it,” CiCi said, comforting her a little. Julia tried to get herself to believe CiCi, but she couldn’t, not with the shame she felt. “How do you do it?” She asked. “Do what?” CiCi replied. “Put that kind of emotion into your dancing. Your really amazing at it, I just don’t understand how I can’t do it.” “It kind of just comes naturally to me.” It was easy to tell that CiCi felt bad saying this, but there was nothing else to say. They practiced together for a while, but Julia just couldn’t get it. She tried so hard, but when she compared herself to CiCi, she felt horrible and useless. CiCi tried to assure her that it was no big deal, but Julia refused to believe it.


 * Friday, April 14, 8:05pm, Stevens’s House**

Julia and Daisy rushed inside to their parents after being dropped off from dance. As Daisy bragged about how Miss Susan had praised her for doing a good job in dance that day, Julia thought back to what Miss Susan had said to her. She had scorned her for not doing a better job with her lyrical piece. “You should be putting in emotion, Julia!” she had said. “You should be acting more like you little sister,” she said. “I don’t know what else to do. If you can’t pull this off, I can and will pull you from this number” Julia shuttered at the thought, she just wanted to curl up in her bed and never wake up. //Why is the whole world against me? Why can’t I be good? Why me?//


 * Saturday, April 15, 2:15pm, Stevens’s House**

“Get up, Get up, Get up!!” Daisy shouted, as she jumped on Julia, who was still laying in her bed. “Mom said you can’t stay in bed all day!” “GET OFF OF ME YOU INSECT!!”Julia screamed in return. “Tell mom I don’t feel good.” Julia, actually felt fine, physically, that is. But mentally she felt terrible; her sister was attention seeking, her parents weren’t proud of her, her dance teacher had threatened to pull her from the piece. She couldn’t imagine it any worse. For the rest of that day Julia just laid in bed with a terrible “headache”. She thought about how she could improve. From time to time she got out of bed to watch herself in the mirror, once again, she failed. Occasionally, she spend her time crying and wishing that she could just disappear.


 * Sunday, April 16, 3:24pm, Susan Lee Dance Studio**

Sunday wasn’t going any better for Julia. With everyday that was passing, she kept getting sadder and sadder. She had to spend 8 hours at the studio rehearsing for the upcoming competition. She would watch herself in the mirror, and still no change. She just didn’t understand how she could dance with emotion. She looked at the others girls as they were dancing, they all looked so into the piece with so much emotion. She was praised for her dancing in all of her other classes, but when it came to lyrical, she was frowned upon. She had rehearsed her dance over and over and over, trying out different techniques to make it look like she had emotion. She was getting so frustrated that her face was bright red and she couldn’t focus. When Julia got home Daisy told their parents about how Julia was still failing. Julia expected her parents to get angry, or even yell at their sad excuse for a daughter. So Julia was appalled when they started laughing, her own parents, making fun of their daughter. She could not believe it! //When will I be able to do this? When will my parents respect me? When will I be better than my sister?//


 * Tuesday, April 18, 6:14pm, Susan Lee Dance Studio**

“I am giving you one more chance, Julia,” Miss Susan was saying. “If by next week, you can not preform as well as the rest of the girls, Daisy will take your spot in this number.” It was bad enough that she was likely to be pulled from the number, but to have her annoying little sister take her spot, it just couldn’t happen. Like all of the previous days, she tried and tried and tried, but still no change. At this point, Julia had lost all hope, that’s what she was, hopeless. She might as well give up now. It was her ultimate low point. She wasn’t even going to go back on Thursday. She thought that she could get away with quitting dance. Later that night, though, when she told her parents about not wanting to go back, they were furious. “I have wasted so much money paying for your dance classes, you better make it worth it!” her father screamed. Julia was being forced to go back to the place that she hated most now. But little did she know, it would make a BIG difference.


 * Thursday, April 20, 5:40pm, Susan Lee Dance Studio**

While Susan was running another dance in the studio, Julia stood in the locker room trying to rehearse her lyrical number. It was a few minuets before Julia realized that Casey was standing behind her, watching with an awkward grin on her face. “What?” Julia said with an attitude. “Nothing,” Casey replied, “It’s just kind of funny” “What is funny? Nothing is funny!” “You’re making too big a deal out of this,” Casey said with a sincere look. “Your over thinking this. Right now you are just making faces in the mirror.” “So?”Julia still had that same attitude, “What do you suggest I do?” “Do you know what lyrical is?” Casey asked, “Not just a style of dance, but it means having having poetic, expressive quality.” Julia gave her a strange look. “Don’t you understand!? You have to connect with the piece, not just go through the motions. You have to put yourself in the situation and believe.” Thats why everyone looked up to Casey, she didn’t have much to say, but when she did say something, it was always inspirational. Julia decided right then and there that she was going to do it. Put herself in the dance, and feel it, with her heart and soul, and overcome this flaw.


 * Saturday, April 22, 2:19pm, Stevens’s House**

Ever since Julia’s encounter with Casey in the locker room, her mood had lifted so much. She had found out the key to success. She had to connect with the piece. Up until then, she was only trying to do weird facial expressions. Once she had put herself in the situation of the song, she was getting better with every try. Of course, it had only been two days, so she was in no way perfect, but she was improving greatly. On Thursday after rehearsal, she went home and watched many videos of lyrical dancers. She understood now what she was supposed to be doing. Before now, she was letting her frustration get to her head. She had felt worthless, but now she opened up her eyes and felt rejuvenated, she felt inspired again. As she watched herself in the mirror this time, she saw how good she was becoming. She was telling a story with her dancing now. She had not fully conquered the emotion now, but she could tell that it was getting there. Even when she saw CiCi later that day, CiCi said she saw great improvement already. Who would have thought that I would come this far? Who says I’m not better than my sister?


 * Sunday, April 23, 5:17pm, Stevens’s House**

Luckily for Julia, she did not have dance today, so she spent all of her time practicing for her lyrical piece. By now her dance was practically flawless, she was very proud. It was unbelievable how she could turn her own story around in just a few days. She thought back upon how disgraced her parents were just a few days ago, how Daisy was stealing all of her attention away from her. Things were starting to change for Julia, her mood was always light and happy. For the first time in a while she felt that she had a purpose, she would make her parents proud.


 * Monday, April 24, 3:14pm, Susan Lee Dance Studio**

This was it for Julia, her last chance to prove herself. As she stretched, she practiced her emotion, over and over and over. She felt really good about this dance, how she would show Miss Susan that she can, and will, be the best. She went over somethings in her head; Connect with the piece, use your face, make your sister jealous of you for a change. She was called into the studio from the dressing room. She walked out into the middle of the dance floor. She got into her position, it was dead silent, the pressure was on. Julia wasn’t nervous though, for she knew that nerves do bad things when you’re trying to succeed. The music started, Julia could not believe herself...


 * Monday, April 24, 8:13pm, Stevens’s House**

Julia raced into her house. “Mom, Dad, I did it!” she shouted, “Susan said I have proved myself to be outstanding. She said with the improvement that I have gone through,I am irreplaceable,” she said that with a huge smile on her face. After all, she had done it. She had proved to her parents that she was amazing, there was no one as perfect as her, and most importantly (in Julia’s eyes), she was now and maybe even forever, better than her little sister. I have done it. I have a purpose. I am the best.

It’s a funny thing, how in just a matter of seconds it is easy for an attitude to change. In Julia’s case, it might be the sole reason for her success today. With that one change she was able to make in her own repertoire, she not only won first place in the competition later that week, but impressed some very important people. She got a scholarship to a very important dance school, that has led her down a very important path. To conquer the emotion of lyrical dance was a not-so-easy goal, that at first, Julia did not handle well. After she was able to open her eyes and think a little differently, she was able to achieve what she wanted. Fortunately for her, Julia Stevens has now reached her life-time goal in becoming a professional dancer, who has won many awards for her lyrical performances.
 * Julia’s Success**