Staging Week 1

Phew! What a week! I'm sitting on the couch, SORE as all get out, and completely exhausted. But I wouldn't change it for anything! This week has been a whirlwind. Days have flown by, yet I can't even think back to the beginning of the week because it feels like it was over a month ago. Weird how our perception of time can change so drastically! I'm LOVING having a busy, busy schedule that keeps me going non-stop, and I can't even begin to describe how much I LOVE having over 100 new, amazing, unique, interesting people to talk to everyday! This family has only existed for a week, and already it feels like home!

So. This was the first week our whole cast was together...and we wasted no time! Monday we worked on some orientation stuff with getting to know you activities and workshops, etc. but then we jumped feet first into the staging process on Tuesday.

Tuesday was "Module Day"... aka a day where we were broken up into small groups of 10-12 and we rotated around to different stations for 50 minutes at a time from 9am-5pm. PHEW. Module Day gives each area of the production team a chance to see the cast in small groups and get a better feel for our strengths and weaknesses. Kind of like a day full of auditions...but not quite as intense.

My module day schedule went: Dancing first thing in the morning (UGH! SO INSANELY DIFFICULT!), Late Registration where we made sure we had EVERYTHING turned in we needed and answered some questions about UWP social media! Then we had a tour of Florida Southern College's campus, and then lunch with the cast. Yum. Did I mention we LOVE lunch here? After lunch we went to costumes to have our show costumes approved and take our cast head shot (Yeeee!). We had a mini tech workshop, then headed back for vocals where we all sang solo. Then we had speaking (for narration throughout the show). Then we ended the day with Admissions answering questions about ourselves and our decision to come to UWP, etc.

Ever since then, we've been plowing through the staging process. Each day has some kind of educational workshop, group vocals, and group movement (aka working out and/or show choreography). So far we've learned the choreography for an AWESOME country line dance to Rascal Flatts' "Backwards" (this is so fast and insane, but I've never had more fun learning a dance!) and Jai Ho! Also, throughout staging, folks in the cast can be pulled out in small groups for dance or vocal callbacks. I've been called back 2X for vocals and spent ALL today in a 4 hour dance workshop for the 60s/70s medley. Holy crap. I used to think I was pretty decent at picking up choreography. NOPE! I felt like a bumbling idiot today, but I'm going to keep trying! Our choreographer/instructor Ken is AMAZING and I love spending time in his workshops, but BOY does that man move fast. No time to stop and go over things 50 times. Do or die, right? Anyway, the staging process moves so unbelievably fast, and whatever we miss while we're pulled out in other sessions, we're responsible for on our own time. They don't mess around! haha

I'm loving every moment of this experience. Of course there are ups and downs, but I know this experience is going to change my life. I'm already developing amazing friendships and challenging myself in new ways...just in Week 1 (Well, Week 2 for us FSC kiddos, but you know!)

These types of photos happen spontaneously and quite often in our cast! A camera appears and everyone comes running! Yay Cast A family!