Life Well-Lived, Vol. 10

Happy Wednesday!  Today is my 10th Installment of  "Life Well Lived!"  I didn't post last week because I had some things in the works that I really wanted to put all on one post as a BONUS to the 10th posting in this series!

In case you needed a reminder, LIFE WELL LIVED is all about celebrating ALL the joys in your life, both big and small. Just because I feel like 10 is such a nice, round number, here are the previous 9, in case you were curious:

Week 1: College, Babies, The Today Show, and Frivolous Purchases
Week 2: Paychecks, The 3-Day Walk, Politicians and Outdoor Concerts
Week 3: Blogger Meet-Ups, Rooftop Parties, General Silliness and a Disney Honeymoon
Week 4: Mavericks Mascot, Real-Life Movie Moments and My Best Friend's Wedding
Week 5: Neeley's Guest Post!
Week 6: Cover Girl, Mama Morton, Celebrity Tweets and Baking Cookies
Week 7: International Kissing Day!
Week 8: Excerpt from The Cellist of Sarajevo
Week 9: The "Girlfriends" Edition

I think the most important thing I have taken from doing these posts every Wednesday is that I have been seeking out opportunities to make my life even more well lived than it already is.  I think that's really the point...both recognizing the awesome things and blessings in your life as well as taking the opportunity (or opportunities) to create more.  This week?  IS A DOOZY!

(Don't forget to follow @MyLifeWellLived on Twitter!  Blog, or just tweet about what makes your #LifeWellLived (don't forget the hashtag) and join in the fun!)

Let's get to it, shall we??

1. I sat at a coffee shop with some tunes and a good friend....and COLORED. 

My friend Heather and I got together last Wednesday, since we NEVER see each other, and on the way there, I got a wild hair and stopped off at the drugstore and picked up a brand new 64-pack of Crayola crayons and three $1 coloring books (Tweety & Sylvester, Penguins of Madagascar and Star Wars: The Clone Wars!).  We drank chocolate milkshakes and colored and talked and caught up with each others' lives.

It. Was. Awesome.

Is there anything better than a brand new box of crayons??

I rule at the coloring.  Look at that shading!

So excited about the coloring!  I highly encourage you all to do this!  Go by yourself with your iPod full of favorite tunes, or go with a friend and remember what it felt like to just be a little kid and color.  It was very good for my soul!

2. I was recognized by my peers for playing one of my favorite theatrical roles to date -- with an award!

A couple of weeks ago was the Lakeside Community Theatre end-of-season awards banquet.  I received the award for Best Supporting Actress for my role as Laura in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams...

And the entire cast was recognized and awarded for costume design (we all worked collaboratively to costume the show):



This was definitely one of my most rewarding theatrical experiences, and I was so very honored to be recognized both as an individual performer and as a cast.  I miss this beautiful show!

3. I took a dance class with a dancer from So You Think You Can Dance!!

You may or may not already know that I am a HUGE fan of the Fox reality show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD).  I watch it religiously every Wednesday and Thursday night, and I've become incredibly attached to this season and its contestants. 

Well, this past Saturday, July 30th, was the second annual National Dance Day, and while Chris Koehl was, sadly, voted off the show already, he came back to Texas to give some hip hop master classes -- and one was given at a local studio that is very close to my heart. 

This is me with the owner of Denton Dance Conservatory, Miss Lisa Racine-Torre.  I've known Lisa since I was a very young girl, because my very best friend of 20 years, Shelly, was one of the very first dance students at DDC.  Here's a picture of Shelly in the studio:

My good friend Casey, who was in The Producers with me last summer, took the class, too.  This is us before we got all sweaty:

The class itself?  Well it went great!  Was I the best dancer in the room? Hardly.  There were 13-year-olds out-dancing me.  Did I even nail the routine?  Not even a little bit!  Did I have an AMAZING time and enjoy every second of it?  You bet I did!

Chris is one of the very nicest people I have ever met.  He is so humble and kind and was so gracious to be back at the studio where he used to teach, and he answered every question and posed for pictures with and hugged every person in attendance. 

It was so special to me to hear him talking to so many young girls (dancers, especially) about how what we do does not define us, but we have to learn and be comfortable and happy with who we are inside, as people and as individuals.  And, as children of the Lord.  Chris has so much potential for ministry and to bless everyone with whom he comes in contact.  I am so blessed to have met him and to have had this amazing opportunity:

Here's one of my favorite dances of Chris's this season on SYTYCD:

My favorite thing Chris said during the whole class?  "Joy strengthens you." At the time, he was making a point that enjoying yourself, whether or not you're getting the moves down technically perfectly, is going to make you a much better performer and much more fun to watch.  But, after listening to him talk, I know that he means it on a much deeper level, too.  I got tears in my eyes immediately when he said this!

You guys, what a GREAT couple of weeks I have had!  I am so incredibly blessed to have these experiences and to have the opportunity to CREATE opportunities to have a more well-lived life.  I strongly encourage you to do the same.  Blessings can be found ANYWHERE!

Because I Have To

First, watch this (the dance itself occurs between 0:45 and 2:45):

Do you STILL have goosebumps? I have seen it probably 20 times now and I get goosebumps every time. Without fail.

This routine has re-lit a fire in my heart and I've been wanting to write/blog about this ever since I saw it live...but it's so hard to put into words how it made me feel and how it so captured precisely why I love performing.  No...why I have to perform.

There have been some absolutely incredible dance routines that I've seen on So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD from her on out...), even in the short time that I've been keeping up with the show.  I've also been bombarded (in the most awesome way) with YouTube clips of everyone's favorites from seasons I didn't watch.  But this one is going to be hard to top.

Do you want me to tell you why?  Because of the acting.  Is the choreography brilliant? Yes.  Is the execution damn near perfect?  YES.  But it's the acting that sells it. It's the performance of the piece and the commitment to storytelling done by the two performers.  As I said, I've watched this over and over and OVER and I can tell you that there's not one beat of this dance that Melanie and Marko aren't completely committed to the story and to the characters they are playing. 

It makes me want to be one of the characters. 

If you advance through some of the craziness of the judges' comments (which are pretty hilarious...), you'll hear Kristin Chenoweth say to them what I haven't been able to put into words when it comes to why this show speaks to me:

"We sing because we can't speak anymore. Dance is an extension of that. We can't speak anymore, so we move. You are the epitome of the kind of language I understand."

YES.  As a performer myself and as someone who, in my own opinion, was created to love and experience this kind of artistic expression...that is how I feel. 

When I watched this performance live from my own living room last Wednesday night, I couldn't stop crying.  Not because of the story of the piece (that was part of it) but because I felt my heart ache to be a part of something that special again.

I'v been talking to some friends recently about the phenomena I mentioned above...the idea that when something truly special is happening in a performance (dance, recital, play, movie, musical, etc.), there's a part of you that feels yearning...the need to experience that yourself. It's almost like envy...jealousy...but without the negative connotations associated with those words.  It doesn't even have to be a dramatic moment...it can even be the phrasing done by a singer of a certain song, or the impeccable timing of witty, comedic banter. 

But what you're really seeing? Is complete understanding of the piece and the character, commitment to decisions, and a willingness to abandon oneself to the scary (but awesome) vulnerability of complete immersion in a moment in that character's story.  And that's why it's so special to watch, to hear, to experience as an audience member or a listener or a viewer.  It's like an intimate party that only you are invited to...even if you're in an audience of thousands.

For all of you who ask me why I will commit two months of my life to a role, why I have to almost literally sit on my hands to keep myself from attending auditions every time they come up and why it means so much to me that I can't stop tears during performances sometimes (my own or others')...the answer is both complicated and beautifully simple:

Because I have to.