Floating

Forty posts in 2011, this is what I realize when I finally log back into my account. It is now 2012. Not only is it now 2012, but 2012 is halfway done, and the last time I updated on my life was 6 months ago. It has been a slow blur since returning to the states. I do feel as though quite a bit has changed in my life, but I'm not quite sure how or when. It's like when you start daydreaming in the car and the next thing you know your pulling into your driveway. This is how I feel I ended up in Atlanta. Georgia feels like home to me, and returning here after spending time in Oklahoma has been a breath of fresh air. I love all of my Oklahoma family and the sweet town I spent my childhood in, but at this point in my life I need the hustle and bustle of Atlanta and the exciting up and coming dance scene. As I'm typing this, I know I am still floating a bit, but I am now floating towards something downstream rather than circling the lazy river.


Since arriving in Atlanta in May I have started nannying for a wonderful family with two sweet little girls (ages 3 and 6) a few days a week. It is a great summer job and the hours are perfect in that I work during the day, and can still dance in the evenings. Speaking of dance, it has been so wonderful for my mind and body to be able to take a variety of classes many times a week. I have been able to attend performances and meet various choreographers from all over Atlanta, as well as take class from many of them. I have just recently started rehearsing with Zoetic Dance Ensamble and was able to work with their guest artist ChristinaNoel Reaves intensively for a week, which was a shock (in the best way possible) for my body! I have missed the intensive work phases that come with rehearsing with a company, spending hours in a studio and work-shopping ideas to produce dance. It is interesting to me, always, to try to explain to people why we spend so many "unpaid" hours in the studio in preparation for one or two "profitable" shows, but there are so many unexplainable non-monetary rewards that come from this. Especially as a young professional dancer in a new city, I am excited to be working with any and every choreographer I meet and I try to take a bit of their knowledge and experience and apply it to shape what I want to become in the dance world. 


In addition to dance and nannying, I have been spending every moment possible hanging out with friends and exploring new and exciting things around Atlanta. Surrounded by my old college friends, as well as some new friends, I feel like I am 23 again. Excited to be at midnight film screenings, and dancing at Noni's till 3am, or making and enjoying breakfast outdoors with my roommates on a lazy Saturday morning. There certainly are times when I stress that I am not making as much money as I could, or dancing and working out as much as I should be, but I am trying to remember the Irish way of life as much as possible and enjoying these moments when I am young and free and can relax a bit even in the hustle bustle of city life.