I got excited as soon as Mz. G started speaking. I loved how authentic she was and the wisdom she had to offer. I loved the way she made us do the combo over and over again. Although I was tired I knew it was what I needed and it reminded me of some of my old training.

• What was challenging?

The most challenging part of this audition was finding a way to keep pushing through the exhaustion. I appreciated the exhaustion because I didn't have time to be scared or overthink it I just had to do it.

• How would being in this project help me grow?

This project would help me grow by allowing me to see how much I can take in dance and how to push through when I'm at my breaking point. It would also help me to learn how to handle challenging jobs that might make me learn choreography in short periods of time.

It was exciting to me how all of the movements connected and flowed. It felt like one continuous movement. I also loved watching my peers take on the different movements that Raul offered with ease.

• What was challenging?

The most challenging portion of this audition was the many direction changes within the combo and how continuous the movement was. With those two elements combined, it got confusing fast.

• How would being in this project help me grow?

This project would help me grow by allowing me to learn how to keep focus when a lot is happening and there aren't any pauses.

I'm excited to see how Que's piece will develop based on hearing the description of his idea. It's also more hip-hop-based. I'm just happy about the possibility of performing what I was trained in at UT.

• What was challenging?

Not having auditions for Que's piece made it hard to know the vibe of his teaching style.

• How would being in this project help me grow?

It would help to sharpen some of the skills that I already have. It will also help me accumulate more skills or recover some things I might not remember completely from my training.

This audition was exciting for me because I can relate to the culture. I understood the heaviness of the topic. I also loved her idea of having each dancer represent an instrument of jazz music in the piece.

• What was challenging?

  The most challenging part was the improvisational prompt of portraying where I held my grief and embodied that feeling. It was also hard to write about something that stuck with me that someone told me because it made me think of some not-so-happy times.

• How would being in this project help me grow?

This project would allow me to grow by giving me the chance to play with the musicality of one instrument in a song. It would allow me to dissect different ways I could move to it.

I love learning other cultural dance styles. It just made me excited to work with styles of dance that I respect so much. The combination was beautiful and I appreciated the across-the-floor beforehand to get us more into it. I also love artivism because this is one of the best ones to impact our world through our artistry.

• What was challenging?

The most challenging part was coordinating some steps with the hips and arms.

• How would being in this project help me grow?

This project will allow me to gain more cultural knowledge physically about Latin dance forms. It's always great to learn other cultured dance forms and to have the skills in my back pocket.

The song gave me nostalgia because there was a piece set to it at my high school. I loved how with the musicality and complexity of the movement. It was hard for me, but I enjoyed the challenge.

• What was challenging?

The last little ending section was so fast and detailed. I couldn't catch on to it that quickly, but again, I enjoyed the challenge. There were also some legs that I couldn't get how they wanted, but that's okay.

• How would being in this project help me grow?

  This process would allow me to grow by teaching my brain how to absorb the amount of information and detail in the piece. And also how to get it to stick.

  
  

I put this GIF because this is how I have felt all week throughout this process.

I included this video clip from rehearsal because it's one of my favorite parts. It just reminds me of why I love dancing.

I'm including this photo from rehearsal because this is a part that I have to fight for. I'm not very flexible, but I knew I was going to have to push through.

I've included this song by Kendrick Lamar because he repeats this line, "I deserve it all," and that's what I've been trying to instill within myself.

I think the difficulty of the piece is very vital to the meaning behind the piece as well. We've talked a lot about our cultures, like what it means to be black, Hispanic, or white in America. The struggle I felt during this process is how it feels to be a black woman in America. In our specific trio of black women, we were thinking about how we're often not offered an opinion or voice; we're stereotyped as mad or having nasty attitudes, and we are always over-sexualized or judged because of our hairstyles. When we go into the African movements, we do that as a constant reminder of where we came from. There is so much more to explain when it comes to this piece, but that is just a snippet of information because I understand and resonate with this part.

This experience again was very rough for me, but I don't believe I was put in this piece as a mistake, so that is how I was able to make it through and persevere.

I put a photo of my journal entry for Cue's piece because he made us sit down and write step by step about each section, what we're thinking about, and what our intentions are.

I included the video clip above because it's one of the most powerful moments for me within this section of the piece. Even though this part is a lot mentally, it has so much meaning to it.

I included that photo because I feel like this is how I've felt during this process, not in a bad way, but with the fact that we have had such a short amount of time to prepare. This has made me push myself a lot though which I can appreciate.

Included is a clip from this last ensemble section in Cue's piece that I did with Julia and Hunter. It is the hardest section for me to get through, I feel, but it is also my favorite part.

I included the photo above because this was also our struggle with Mz. G's cast. The umbrellas kept breaking every night and we ultimately decided not to decorate them.

I included this because this is how appreciative I've felt of my peers and the first-year MFAs.

I included this song because this song represents how I feel performing. The feeling this song gives me is what I try to recreate on stage.

I'm including this clip that one of my peers recorded, and it is my favorite part because everyone would be in the wings watching and cheering me on. This video shows how much I love to do what I do.