Gettin That Buisness

Hokay, so.  Some bigger changes have happened now since my last post.  Slowly but surely, things have started to turn around for me.  I auditioned for and got on another dance company.  This one is in Astoria and is more of a Salsa and Samba focused company, while also doing jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, all that, so that should be a great learning experience.  I finally heard back from all of the internships I applied for.  At first I agreed to do three of them part time, but due to trying to survive at all financially, I had to let one of them go.  So I will be doing two part time business marketing internships throughout the summer.  One is with a modern dance company, so I will get to see how running a non-profit dance company in the real world really works.  The other internship utilizes a classroom setting and teaches me, along with the other 10 interns, about inbound marketing and other skills that should make us more marketable in the industry.  In exchange for taking this class for free, we use what we have learned by doing projects and events for the company who set this entire internship up.  This company supplies services and support for women who have survived domestic abuse.  I believe that both of these internships will teach me a lot and give me real world experience on my business side.   I have found some part time, temporary paid work.  However, just that, temporary things, but I believe that the right opportunity will come for me, maybe from one of these experiences.

The internship I had to let go was involved with an advocacy group attempting to protect and preserve American wild horses’ land and environment and their right to be on the public land.  I am sad to not have been able to continue with this one, but if you are interested in this issue, I would happy to talk to you about it or put you in contact with people who can tell you even more or how to get involved!  Even with the short time I was with this group, I learned a lot about this issue and wish them all the best with their goals for these horses.  On the dance side, I am going to try to get back into technique classes besides just choreography classes all the time.  I have also been networking with different hip-hop people around the city, just trying to dance with more people.  Hopefully more will come for hip-hop before my next post! Until next time!

Moving Stresses

Well, considering that I haven’t written on here in a while probably is not a good sign.  haha Not a lot has been going on.  I have been majorly focusing on trying to get in shape.  The biggest thing that happened is that I just moved into my first permanent apartment up here.  So that is exciting, even though it was one of the most stressful and frustrating experiences of my life.  Especially the day of the lease signing, which got pushed back a day so everyone was already annoyed.  The lease signing was on the 1^st, which was the day I had to be out of my sublet and by 4:00 pm, when I had to be out of my previous short term apartment, I still did not know if I would have an apartment by that night.  After being in their midtown office for 5 plus hours and it was after 10:00 pm, I finally got the keys.  My roommate’s guarantor signature confusion caused me having to wait there for hours stressed, upset, homeless, and thinking that I might be driving to Iowa that night.  Our third and fourth planned roommates ended up backing out at the last minute, which also caused a lot of the stress.  However, it is done now, I am in my apartment, and I am not living in Central Park. Yay!  As far as dance goes, I have been taking some classes, but they are expensive, so not as many as I would like to be taking.  However, I am hopeful for the future.  Still no luck with the part time business work.  However, I am trying to stay positive about everything because as cliché as it sounds, I believe that everything happens for a reason.  Ohhh, side note.  I was able to go down to Richmond to visit and work on some concept videos with some talented individuals.  I got to work with Mike on a piece to Give It To Me Right.  We started it before I moved, and finished it before he moved to Seattle.  Then I also got to work on my first group concept video titled Family Portrait.  I am so appreciative of the four dancers, Marbien, Fred, Edlene, and Mike for working very hard to learn and clean the piece very quickly.  I also am very thankful for Warren, Marhesha, and Hero for putting up with me and working very hard on the filming and editing.  It was also so amazing to see everyone in Richmond, and even a visit from some NC family.  I got to go to the KCVA finale, and had a wonderful time dancing with the dance fam.  I love KCNC, KCVA, and Blank Canvas obviously with all my heart and I cannot wait to see them again!

Give It To Me Right - Amy & Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL73MeAhCS8

Family Portrait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl6_alenue4

Twitter: @AConn47

Instagram: @AConn47

YouTube: amyconnerley

Baby Steps

A few weeks ago my family visited me, and it was a lot of fun getting to be a tourist with them for a week.  I learned a lot about New York City and fell in love with the place even more.  I had mentioned a call back in my previous post.  Unfortunately, I did not get past the call back due to my weight at this time.  Not going to lie or beat around the bush.  That is the situation.  They called me in with a couple of other girls to tell us that they wanted to keep us, but unfortunately, due to our weight, they were unable to.  They told us to come back in May, and if they see improvement, they may have a spot for us.  I appreciate getting the feedback and I will try to use this as motivation to work even harder.  On a happier note, I did get accepted into a small contemporary modern dance company.  I am still doing auditions and classes when I can, but I also have been looking into getting a marketing or social media job part time.  These classes don’t pay for themselves you know.  I have gone to a couple of interviews, so hopefully I will have some good news about that in the future.  I did an audition for a specific role in West Side Story.  I learned that I need to do more research before an audition if it is for a specific role because I did not look like a tomboy like I should have.  Anyways, as of right now, I am just trying to get into better shape, dance when I can, and learn anything I can in my free time.  I am trying to force myself to read novels and pretend to enjoy it, so maybe I will be able to teach myself how to like reading.  We will see.  I am also doing my taxes.  A lot of just random collections of things I am doing right now because I do have free time, which is weird for me. 

First Call Back

And we have a call back!  The way that this company did it, was they emailed you after the auditions were over to let you know the outcome.  I was ecstatic to see my first positive response from an audition since I have been here in New York.  I felt really good about that audition piece.  It was a very high energy, classical jazz piece and was so much fun to do and perform, and luckily for me I guess my passion came through because they wanted to see me again.  Before that audition this week, I did a couple other ones for a touring show and another cruise line.   The cruise line one went well, but I did not make it past the cut.  I am not sure why, because it was the first one that I had felt more comfortable and felt better about my performance in the audition as well.  I actually enjoyed the piece instead of worrying so much about the judges, but that is the way it goes because you never know what they are looking for.  The touring show one was my first audition in character heels.  I was not comfortable in them, and I guess that showed because I was not kept.  The audition consisted of learning a 12 count technical combination.  The choreographer was very enthusiastic and strict about what he wanted, including very high kicks and a lot of facial expressions.  The next day after that audition, I went and bought the LaDuca character heels.  Although they were above my price range, they are very good shoes that show lines and are easy to move in, and hopefully could make a difference in my future auditions.