"Dance As Though No One Is Watching"

I was never the type of person who was amazing at painting or drawing. Sculptures and clay was never my thing either, but I always loved art and expressing myself. Since I was a little girl dance has been something that I loved to do. My mom had always told me that I learned to dance before I could walk across the room. I was a gymnast almost my entire life, but always loved to take a few dance classes here and there.

My sophomore year of high school was my last year as a gymnast due to an injury that was taking over my body. I made the best decision of my life to quit gymnastics and move on to dancing. The first week at my new dance studio was amazing and I could not understand why I never noticed that dancing was what I was made to do. Junior and senior year of high school I devoted all my time to dancing. I auditioned and made the competition team and had rehearsals everyday.

At first I danced because I loved it. My movements made me feel powerful and beautiful all at the same time. The summer going into senior year I started to take my dance experience to the next level, and began to see it as an art form. I appreciated all types of dance, especially modern and contemporary. When I took these dance classes I found that they start out very slow to teach you how important the basics are. Dance has taught me that being successful comes from within yourself and your ability to work hard at something you want to accomplish. If this meant starting from the absolute beginning, then I was prepared for it.

Senior year and freshman year of college I decided that dance was something I wanted to keep in my life. I decided to research different dance companies and clubs here on campus. I found many that have interested me, and even went to a few shows that have showed the talent here at Penn State. The dance program here at Penn State is great, and I am even looking to minor in dance. Next semester I am taking the opportunity to experience the art of dance here at Penn State. I am taking a contemporary ballet dance class, and am hoping this will influence my decision to minor in dance.

Self Evaluation

1)

            English 15s has been a journey through the arts. This class has made me grow as a writer and helped me recognize and appreciate the arts at Penn State. This semester not only taught me how to improve my writing, but also helped me grow as a person. I was never a very strong writer, but this class has pushed me to challenge my methods and style of writing.

The visual argument essay was my first step when trying to challenge myself. When learning about pathos, ethos, and logos I realized that I never actually thought about those things when writing a paper. I always was aware of the fact that my paper needed to have an argument, but never truly focused on it. This class has taught me how to prove my argument and prove each type in a different way. Certain types of arguments, such as visual arguments, need visual analysis and descriptive detail. This semester I learned how to approach this in a way that wouldn’t make the details too overwhelming, but still enough to show the facts behind my argument. This semester I worked on adding pathos into my writing. At first I had a lot of trouble with this because I found it hard to add emotions in to an English paper. The visual analysis paper helped me overcome this obstacle because the piece I chose was full of emotion. In order to prove my argument the tone of the piece had to be translated into my paper. This assignment helped me add pathos and taught me exactly how to do that. I felt that the blog was also very helpful in this class. Writing in my own blog and commenting on other student’s blogs has taught me the difference between formal and informal writing. The blog was a place for me to have my own voice and express my own personality.

This class has also taught me a lot about the arts here at Penn State. English 15s has opened up my eyes to the various possibilities that this campus has to offer. Attending the Palmer Museum and the Arboretum were my absolute favorite things when it came to the arts at Penn State. As a freshman, I was unaware of everything Penn State had, and attending these various places was interesting and beautiful to see. When you are a college student you are so focused on your work, you never have the time to appreciate the arts and other things around you. This class has given me the time and opportunity to become one with my surroundings. I can now say to my friends back at home that Penn State is a beautiful campus, even past the things you see everyday. The play that we saw was also something I really appreciated during this class. Of course this was a fun assignment to begin with, but after actually seeing and writing the blog post, I was able to appreciate the arts even more. These were students singing and acting and I found it to be absolutely amazing.

            I learned a lot from this class, even as a person. The final assignment was a great way for me to build as a writer because I can work on my own mistakes in a memoir that I had previously written. I think this class has truly helped me grow as a person, but especially guided me in my journey to becoming more of a confident writer. This was the first class I attended here at Penn State University, and it made me feel comfortable in getting used to the college experience. 

                                          

2) 

1) http://morgannsays.blogspot.com/2012/09/template-as-i-was-thinking-about-how-to.html?showComment=1348237960057#c4908952795184441669

2) http://theartofanargument.blogspot.com/2012/09/blog-post-3-

arboretum.html?showComment=1349215294585#c699229664313744755

3) http://jspellman94.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html?showComment=1354500003526#c1267019133167088483

4) http://rfatherly.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water-by-tarell.html?showComment=1354500243412#c7226769934206088605

5) http://itsblogtimeeverybody.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html?showComment=1354500454858#c7749104301971084605

6) http://articulatingtheartsatpennstate.blogspot.com/2012/11/artsculture-response-jack-johnson.html?showComment=1354500693601#c7673755073422957842

7) http://morgannsays.blogspot.com/2012/10/good-will-hunting-movie-review.html?showComment=1355183551618#c9182164854892722136

8) http://haileyhere.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html?showComment=1355184353540#c5336414249420400831

9) http://quirkyconfessional.blogspot.com/2012/12/greek-sing_4.html?showComment=1355184818032#c846314632948325809

10) http://jrose412.blogspot.com/2012/12/for-love-of-music.html?showComment=1355185115992#c2045236791978477089

3) Hi, Ms. S--I completed my SRTEs!