A Little Christmas Miracle

Christmas break is a wonderful time, made even more wonderful when it's actually a break. Although after sleeping in every day for a week straight I find myself feeling a little anxious to do something at least somewhat productive... so now I'm blogging.

Life has been busy so I kind of forgot to make a post about dancing in Christmas Around The World in the Marriot Center. It was a great concert and I was thrilled to be a part of it as a part of the Performing Arts Company this year. Really it's been a dream come true. The entire week before the performance was definitely crazy with all of the rehearsals, but luckily my biggest paper was due before all of the rehearsals got started that week. For the actual concert I got to dance in five of the numbers: Haj'd Povedi Veselo from Serbia, Hambone from the USA, Balle Balle from India, Betekintés Szatmárba from Hungary, and the Hopak from the Ukraine.

Last year I was in Christmas Around The World and did Tinikling from the Philippines. I remember being in the wings waiting to come on for the finale while PAC did Hopak. Each night I would watched Hopak and wish that I could perform it... someday... maybe if I was lucky. But I never really imagined that I'd actually make PAC and perform Hopak in Christmas Around The World. Folk dance is part of my heritage since my parents were both folk dancers, and something about that dance really has allowed me to connect with my heritage in a whole new way. So this year I've had a simple prayer answered that I prayed offstage and never imagined would actually come true. It was a tender mercy for me.

Below is a picture of my mom, Mary Bee (the founder of folk dance and director when my parents folk danced at BYU), and me in the Serbian costume.

Here is a picture of me, Ed Austin, and my mom. Ed is the director of the Performing Arts Company now, and he danced with my parents way back in the day.

After the concert I had finals to look forward to. Don't worry, I survived, and almost all of my finals went better than I was expecting them to. Okay, now I'm going to go back to relaxing and taking advantage of the break. Have a happy new year everyone!