In this life, I guess you could say everyday is a performance. The clothes you wear, the way you speak, the daily acts, the person you're perceived as, and the person that you know yourself to be. So naturally, we all have performance qualities in us, but with that said, we also all have fantasies. People we envision are held in our crowded yet infinite imagination waiting for moments where we can express them. The stage is an offering to our minds. It is ground made to hold the expression of one's creation, without judgment or question, it is a place where one can simply be, and that is why I love performing. To me it is a meditative practice that pushes mankind to fully commit to zoning into his immersive imaginings and using his talents to channel them into the physical. Performing has become a sacred opportunity allowing me to be anyone and experience everything. Physical performance has the power to connect people all over the world, through the beautiful release of self expression. As I am graduating highschool and heading into college, combining the two is a goal I am working towards. After nine months of yoga training, I have become fascinated by ancient body practices, and as dance is a big part of that, I want to focus on combining healing/somatic release movement with the contemporary movement of dance, and someday putting that on stage to create an eye opening experience for both dancer and viewer. I have been performing since I was 4 years old, whether it be in front of my mom in my living room, or on stage in front of 1,000 people and my performance experience has grown tremendously. During junior year of high school, I choreographed my very first solo. The assignment was to choose a poem and create movement following the feeling of that poem, then present our work to the whole class. This work was done in complete silence, using only the flowing breaths that escaped within the dance and foots thump on the floor. I chose to write my poem which made me extra connected to my work and after careful decision my teacher featured my solo in our winter dance show. Ever since that moment I knew that performance was going to be a big part of my life. My class travelled to Pittsburgh to perform three of our pieces this year at the National High School Dance Festival. That was the first time I had ever performed in front of such an audience, 1,000 people filled the theater to watch us perform. WIthin my high school's dance department there is a composition class, which happens to be my favorite program. This class has truly opened my eyes to the process of creating a dance and the hard work it takes to turn your thoughts into reality. We have held four shows dedicated to this class where I have performed 12 dances in total not including my solo work and set my own choreography on stage. I have been a fairy, killer, psych ward patient, mountain climber, evil mother, alien, and so much more. And although each of these characters were completely different they all held the same magical essence. Through each role I played, danced, and created, I found a place to let myself live in its truest form. When I think of each experience, I do have my favorites, but I have to acknowledge my very proudest moment, my senior solo. After my dear friend passed away last year, I dedicated my senior solo to our story, but two weeks before the show I attended Calarts RedCat performance and everything changed. Something came over me, and that something felt right. I frantically called my teacher and told her that I knew I had to redo my solo completely. I realised that my first creation was in a state of grief and, now healed from that time, I was ready to present something that showed who I am, not what I've gone through. Two weeks before the show, I worked day in and day out on this solo. I painted my hands green, wore a bright purple unitard, and brought my all to the stage. It was the biggest hit thus far of my dance career, and I have learned the most about what art can do and how to trust it. A dream role I would love to play in the future as a dancer would have to be as one of Lady Gaga's backup dancers or to be a part of Mike Tyus’s company. But for now, I am taking my time to learn who I am in the process and see who I can become.

Throughout my life film has been a blueprint for the way I perceive my own experiences. My father has a real eye for cinema and makes it a point to let me know when he finds something he knows I'll enjoy. I've watched movies with my family, friends and cat, but nothing beats the few still moments when I get to focus my attention, relax my body, and live through a movie alone, with my own company. In this setting I can truly bask in the message of the film in front of me. I even seem to create a one on one bond with each character, like they notice my presence too. Usually, I will watch TV at night, and most times, fall asleep mid film, but truly, my favorite time to watch a good film is at dusk. The lighting is misty and cool, while the energy of the day is beginning to wind down, there is a brisk moment of magic in the air at dusk. If I had to pick one movie to watch at this time of day, it would one hundred percent be “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. This movie has had a beautiful impact on my creativity, relationships, and solitude. It makes my brain spin and soak in a balance of melancholy and freedom, and as a film, it is the closest to the feeling of dusk as it gets. The movie takes place in a city, where the main character Joel Barish attends a doctor's appointment to erase the memory of his ex-girlfriend after finding out that she did the same for him. As the movie unfolds, Joel visits different memories with Clementine, and soon realizes that the last thing he wants to do is erase her. Together, inside of his mind, they try to find a way to save the memory of each other, and at the end of the movie, Joel re-meets Clementine and builds their relationship from the ground up again. While I tried to dissect the movie as cinema, I couldn't help but relate my own life to my perceptions, and with that I was shifted in many great ways. The first way was the initial organic grasp that the actors , Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, lived and breathed within this film. They both acted with every real bone in their body, loving and hating and living as if they were experiencing everything for the first and last time, just as the audience is. There was a strong confidence in letting the vision naturally unfold and as a performer/creative it was a beautiful reminder to breathe and live with my art, not above it. To be one with the process, and in that, making the outcome. The aesthetic of the film kept me intrigued, curious, and in love. Watching this movie made me see the value of love and made a pivotal shift in my outlook on love. It reminded me how playful and childish love is, how gloomy and mystical it can feel, and how it can make everything else in the world melt away. Love is magic and “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” showed me that. I started to interact with my loved ones through a lense of beauty and mystery, and for me and my partner, I feel there is always a way that I can experience each moment with him as a unique time capsule, like we are in our own movie, together. I have a real love for this movie and I am so grateful for its brilliance.

I have crossed paths with many teachers throughout my life, but none of them have stuck by my side like my ballet teacher Cindy. In freshman year of high school I was an anxious wreck, with dreams and aspirations racing in my mind, I was confined by the anxious walls I built around me. Cindy was the only teacher at the time that saw through these walls. She has big, glass-like eyes that peer into you with fascination. I could feel her love through her drive to push me as a dancer, and from then on I have been her muse. Cindy walks with a stride that fills the space around her with vitality and color. Not only was she a dancer for most of her life, she is currently a dance, yoga, and pilates teacher. In the past two years Cindy and I have bonded over our growing passion for body wellness and yoga. In recent years we have combined our teachings and hold a community yoga/pilates class twice every week. To me, Cindy has influenced my discipline, my curiosity for the body, and my belief in myself as an artist. I had my first private with Cindy when I was 15 years old as I was recovering from an ankle injury and was recently diagnosed with scoliosis. Because at the time I was freshly enrolled in my art school, I was constantly being challenged in my dance classes. My strength, technique, and understanding of the art form was just beginning to ripen, but I was in desperate need for a push on my back. Cindy was my freshman battle teacher, which is ironic because ballet was not my strong suits. She would poke and pry at me, adjusting my alignment and reminding me of my intention. At first she was a confronting energy, but gradually her presence became a sanctuary to explore my own artistry. I knew I was supported by her, and most importantly, I knew I was seen. Her teachings have brought an overwhelming awareness to my own patience and consistency. Watching how Cindy continues her own practice of yoga, pilates, and dance everyday while constantly giving to others around her has been one of the most inspirational aspects of her in my eyes. As I grow into becoming my own teacher and a guide for others, Cindy circles my mind and heart as a reminder to always be open and vibrant, within your art and relationships. Cindy has watched me grow into my unique voice throughout the years, and as I've changed dramatically, her love for me has always stayed the same, and that is truly something to look up to. I hope to attain as much fire, discipline, and strength as Cindy does everyday, and when I'm older, I'd like to be just like her in many ways.

Gentle as a Fawn by Sugar Stanley I created this piece during the warm week of Christmas, where solitude sits comfortably in every neighbor's home. During times like these I feel the most called to paint. Painting takes a certain kind of courage, the courage to sit still and content with no promise of the outcome. Its purity is refreshing and in that moment I was overcome with the thought of August. August is my person, and at that time, I was just at the cusp of knowing it. The one thing about August that hits my guts are his eyes. Two almond carvings that reflect a burnt caramel glaze that oozes so deep you can feel the heat hoover in front of you. Never can you truly tell if his eyes tell a story of man's pain or a man's greatest freedoms, another edge to their beauty. There is a boldness that comes with someone who has eyes like these. The way that two globes shade the contour of the face, where everything redeems itself transparent to anyone else's eye, the eyes always remain true to its mystery, so much so that not even the owner is aware of the power circuiting. August holds this magic, so tender, yet worn in, I almost feel the need to remind him it's there. And so that is what I did. I knew that this painting had to be a totem to his eyes, his wisdom, his youth and spirit. Whatever is surrounding it must contain a simplicity that fuels the theme's purpose, but breathes its own unique meaning. In the warmth of the yellows and browns I painted his eyes, and whilst my goal was to make them as realistic as possible I felt a tug to express the universe inside his pupils. These eyes did not only show their visible color, but I had seen every color shine through them. Here I used a detail brush to create a blue haze over the brown pupil and decorated its thick coat with thin white sparkles. There it was, the pool of magic, like a swirling lake among the canvas. I remember feeling that I had never been more satisfied with my work in painting, as I had never truly captured my inner visual like I did then. This rectangle represents his third eye. The shape of a rectangle is minimal yet so much is said within the shape, it holds me on a cliffhanger. It feels like a deep and delicate wisdom, higher than what I am able to grasp, as the third eye does to many. From his eyes tear ducts of the same vibrant red connect to the nailbed of two blue hands and the foot of a ‘ hanged man’. Loosely it is tied around the hanged man's foot, showing that the man chooses to be upside down, shifting his perspective of the world around him. While the two other strings melt into a gloop on each nail bed, they are a subtle suggestion to the ‘ wise man’ or alien that lives within each of us. Overall this painting means a great deal to me, and now it does to him, as it hangs on his bedroom wall he is reminded of the magic inside his eyes and the power his perspective holds. Painting this filled me with such a desire to create this immense feeling of love that I feel for August, and even if I cannot show it to him physically, I hope this painting will.