Unlike most seniors, who are busy getting ready to present their written theses at the symposium, this week I’ve been working feverishly with the other dance majors to prepare for our thesis concert, which goes up next weekend. At the beginning of the year, I was daunted by the prompt: “make whatever work you want to make. You have the support and the resources–now be an artist!” Now, though, I’m really excited to be showing a body of work for which I’ve been at the helm every step of the way.

This week, though, I’m even more at the helm than I was expecting to be! Our lighting designer and technical director for the concert just unexpectedly went on maternity leave–we’re really excited for her! It means, though, that the four of us are all of a sudden in charge of self-producing our show. While this caused a minor freak-out for a day or two, what we realized was that… actually, we can totally do it! It’s going to require some hard work and a lot of list-making, but four years of learning how this happens has left us well-prepared. The tech crew has been scheduled; the posters designed, printed, and hung; the program laid out and proofed–it’s going to the printer on Monday. All the things other than the actual dancing and choreographing are things that we–almost to our surprise–actually know how to do.

Though it was daunting at first, now I’m kindof excited. It’s a fun challenge–and best of all, it will result in a show that we can really be proud of!