Wow! I have to be honest, but this first week felt like a month or even more. But I mean that in a good way. Everyday has been so full of fun activities, education, rehearsals, and more. I’ll try to recap as best I can (shoot its only been a week and I’m already forgetting things!).
Well, my roommate, Haruna, and I take a 30 minute bus downtown every morning to the Sherman Center which is where we practice. We are there every day from 8:30 to 5:30. Everyday has been a little bit different so far. On Monday, we did a lot of get-to-know-you activities. There are about 70 people in my cast (not including 20-ish staff members), and we represent 17 different countries! How awesome is that?! We have Japan, China, France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Mexico, Brazil, Bermuda, Taiwan, Ethiopia, and of course the U.S.. It’s so amazing to be able to get to know people from all over the world!
On Tuesday we did “modules”. Basically, we were split into groups of 7-8 and rotated between 5 different stations: singing, dancing, speaking, technical (sound and lighting), and costume. The first three were kind of like auditions. I had to sing by myself and it was SO scary and very weird! If you’ve never sang in front of a group of people before, it’s the strangest feeling to hear yourself! They basically just wanted to see where everyone’s strengths were so we could be placed in the show.
We have started vocal and dance lessons everyday to learn the pieces in the show. For those who don’t know, Up With People puts on a show at every city we travel to. The show is comprised of songs that have a message of hope, peace, and love, as well as numbers that are just simply entertaining. For the most part, the proceeds of each show are donated to a selected organization to benefit the community in which we are in. For a little bit of background info that I have learned, Up With People began in 1965, by a group of young kids from all around the world who were sick of all the hatred and negativism (“down with…”) that was going on at the time (Hence the name, UP With People). Since then, the group has travelled around the world with a message of, well, their message is exemplified in one of their songs: “one to one, we change the world, by giving to another”.
Whoa anyway, we have four weeks to put this big show together, so each day is full of rehearsals. Learning the songs, learning the dances, putting them together, figuring out where to go on stage, etc, etc. It is a lot of work, but I am having such a great time so far. Just being around people who have the same interests as you is so fun. We don’t just rehearse all day either; we do some educational activities as well. For example, we explored “People’s Barcodes”-as in, what stereotypes do we have about other countries? what is true? And what is not? It was so interesting and enlightening to learn about the assumptions we make about other people/countries/cultures and to find out how those people actually feel about those assumptions. Sounds cheesy, but it was very impacting. We also learned about internships that are available throughout the semester. I am planning on applying for a dance internship.
Each day different people are called back for certain dances, songs, or acting parts. On Thursday, I got called for 2 dances. They were both partner dances, which I don’t have much experience doing, but I had a blast! One was a swing dance-so fun! I still can’t figure out why I didn’t get called back for the rapping part of the show…or the solo ballad for that matter….
Whew! That’s pretty much the first week. I didn’t mention though how loving my home-stay family is and my roomie Haru! Oh, and how much I’m obsessed with Denver! Love it. And love you all! Write me back!
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