Round 2
We were so happy that we made it to the 2nd Round so that we could perform our Contemporary. We had to warm ourselves up as there was no scheduled class because there were stage rehearsals the whole day. These are always hard because usually these things run late because everyone has to give their lighting plan, check that its correct and then only run your piece. It took forever and we only rehearsed at 15:00 and we were meant to be at 14:15. But it was ok, James and I spent that time in the wings going over our contemporary and making sure that we were together and that everything was falling into place. We had lunch (which is virtually always rice and you are very lucky if you don't get something spicy. If you like spicy food then you would love Korean food, but I really cannot handle hot food!!), then we went and rested for 1hr. One thing that many people do not realize about doing a competition is that it takes ALL your energy, in every way. You have to be at your best performance level, which requires alot of energy, then you have the heavy nerves and stress which just drains you, then you have very little sleep because you are rehearsing the whole day, then perform and get back really late and then wake up very early the next day and repeat the sequence. So everyday you are a little bit more tired, sore and fatigued, but still have to deliver your best. You may wonder why we do this then, well its worth every bit of blood sweat and tears! You gain so much, from learning from other cultures, making friends from all over the world and most importantly you improve your dancing.
Anyway, back to the contemporary. We got ready by doing all our make up and hair done (was much better being in the mens dressing room, they really don't stress like us girls). Then we decided that we would go backstage and start to get the feel of our movements and get into the zone. Well we certainly had plenty of time because all the juniors still had to perform the contemporaries, then there was still an interval for 35 mins then we still had 9 contestants before we went on. This was so nerve wrecking, the waiting kills you, plus you have to keep warming your body up. ALL the girls here are super flexible! There is this one Russian girl, who is a Principal in here company, who is the most flexible person I have ever seen in real life. I asked her how she got so flexible and her partner simply translated that she sleeps in the splits. WHAT!!!!!! I will try get a picture so you can see.
So after many hours of getting into the zone and the sleepiness creeping in, we could finally have our turn on stage. We both gave it everything that we had! We had so much fun telling the audience the story, that I forgot about trying to make the steps perfect and I just became the character. If you want to see our contemporary, just type our names on youtube and see if you can figure out the story, because if you can then it means that we did our job ;). We got such good feedback, people wanted to know who the choreographer was and they loved the piece.
We had to wait till 00:30 again for the results, which never went up. So we went to bed wondering... Well we got up in the morning to wake up to wonderful news. James and I are both Finalists!!!!!
