A Weekend full of Dance!

Hello everyone!

Last weekend was so busy, but also so much fun because it was full of dance!  =)
First, we got to attend BU Ballroom's Montage, which is a showcase of not only BU Ballroom Dance club, but also many other performance groups on campus.  It was so much fun to see different groups like Irish step dancing, hip hop, and some acapella groups as well.

BU Ballroom Dance club had 3 different groups (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) and I was amazed at how many beginners we have in the club!

Look at all of these new ballroom babies!!  and they did so well!

David and I don't get to attend team lessons for beginners because of our classes and work, so we don't know the beginners very well.  We did get to know a few of them a little this night though, so that was really fun!  =)

The Advanced piece was a mashup of chacha, rumba, and jive which David and I choreographed along with the other open couple on the team, Jim and Charlotte.  We had been working on the piece all semester, so we were so excited to see them perform!

Wooohooo!  Lookin good!

Aww they did so well!  made my little heart so proud =)

 David with the boys!

All of the groups did so well, and we left with our hearts full and ready to practice our own routines right after the show. We had initially wanted to go celebrate with some members of the team after the show, but we were feeling rather unprepared for our competition the day after so off we went to practice  haha

On Sunday, we headed off to Brown for their 21st Annual Ballroom Competition!

BU had a pretty good representation there, so we cheered on our team through standard rounds and the syllabus latin rounds before we started our own warm up for the open Latin round.

Ballroom babies!!

with my partner for so many different aspects of my life =)

This was our first open level competition together, and I was pretty nervous about it.  We did have a few funny things happen here and there, as it always happens during the first performance, but overall, we got through all of our routines pretty well!  

As an added bonus, we ended up getting 3rd place!  This was basically our reaction when our number was not called for last place haha

We have been working with Helle, who is the BU Ballroom coach, to get ready for this comp, and we are so thankful that she was so patient with us as we struggled to learn 5 new routines while juggling our work/school responsibilities.  I don't think we had time to practice as much as she wanted us to, but she was always so patient!  =)

love her! =D

If you want to see our Paso Doble routine, I'll link it right below!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful week!
--Janny

A short film :: Alina Cojocaru

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful start of the week!
Just a quick post to share a short film about my favorite ballerina of today, Alina Cojocaru, made by her partner on stage and off, Johan Kobborg.  =)

I have been obsessed with ballet for as long as I can remember, and she's been my favorite since,,, 2007?  such a wonderful dancer, and a beautiful look into all of the hard work, joys, and tears that go into being a ballerina.

Hope you enjoy!

Happy Monday!
--Janny

Last Week of Classes at Rice!

Hello everyone!

I am officially done with my Master's degree!!  No more school until... this fall!  haha 

While I am super excited to be attending Boston University this fall for my doctorate degree, there is so much that I am going to miss about Rice.  Of course, the amazingly talented peers and wonderful teachers I've had the chance to work with here, the incredible symphony that I got to play with these two years, the beautiful campus, the friendships, dancing...  but I want to discuss them one at a time in reverse chronological order.

The most recent thing that happened (on Friday) that I am going to miss, is the Shepherd Symphony. I am still in awe of the last symphony concert in which we played Don Juan, Dvorak Cello Concerto, and Daphnis and Chloe suites 1 and 2.  I mean.  Wow.  What a concert that was.  Really, I have never played in a better symphony orchestra, and now that it's over, it's finally sinking in just how lucky I have been these two years to play in such an incredible ensemble.

Right before that concert took place on Friday, I took this picture on my way home from the dress rehearsal for that concert.  That rehearsal was the last class of my Master's degree, and I was getting a bit sentimental as I walked home for the last time...  I am going to miss this pretty school of mine  =)  I haven't been to the BU campus (only the music building) but I'm not sure that it can top this beauuutifulness of Rice University  =p  I mean, Just look at this scenery.  and it's just a little strip of walkway that leads to my apartment!  other parts of Rice are much more beautiful that this  =)

Another thing I'm going to miss a lot is our studio!  Mr. Lin's studio 2013-2014.  What a special studio we've had  =)  It was a pretty small studio (only 9 of us!) so we've enjoyed countless random talks that all of a sudden became our 'Mr. Lin's studio class' or 'Mr. Lin's studio therapy session'.  I mean, when you have 4-5 people from the same studio talking (which makes it more than half of our studio), it automatically becomes Mr. Lin's studio something or other.  And of course, Mr. Lin himself.  I have seriously never worked or been stressed out so much about violin in my life, but probably because of that fact, I have learned and improved so much during my time here.  =)

On Tuesday, we had our final studio recital, and more importantly, our studio party!  Everyone played beautifully at the recital, but let's be real, we were all ready for the party, especially after that 2.25 hours-long recital.  I think it broke the record as the longest studio recital ever?  but it was all worth it because we got to Mr. Lin's house for the party and were greeted with this amazingness. 

Thank you so much Mrs. Lin for cooking up this amazingness for us.  every single thing on that plate tasted even better than how incredible it looks.  And all of us went back for seconds.  and maybe thirds..

And then we just talked (until almost midnight!) and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company..

some cuddle time with two furry, four legged creatures also helped!  In heaven.  yup.

our studio picture!!!

What a great night!  Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Lin for being so generous, opening up your home to us, and feeding us sooo much food!  =)

Another thing I'm going to miss a lot is of course, my roomy, Amulet  =)  and going on double dates together with our guys, Chris and David!

We can always count on Amulet and Chris to drag us homebodies out and introduce us to new restaurants!  Here we are trying Banana Leaf, a Malaysian restaurant, together  =)  It was quite good, and we would highly recommend it, especially if you have the Groupon!

And whenever we are in that shopping center, we always go for some shaved ice!  This time it was peanut butter flavored shave ice with some brownies and banana chunks!

and yup, it disappeared in a blink of an eye... so yummy!

and last but not least!!!  my guy.  of course I'm going to miss this one, how could I not?  especially when he has a rose (that he bought for me for our dance routine) in his mouth  ;)

it's going to be a long year of long distance-ing, but I'm just not going to think about that until the fall because we have an epic Asia tour planned for the summer!  We are going to be visiting our families in Korea and Taiwan as soon as I graduate, and I cannot wait!! it's going to be sooo much fun  =D

so it's been incredible 2 years Rice!  Thanks for everything, and I will treasure all of the experiences, lessons, and relationships I have been blessed with here for many, many years to come  =)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

--Janny

Austin Open 2014!

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry I've been MIA for the past 2 weeks or so, but life has truly been absolutely crazy.  I'm graduating almost exactly a month from now, and just in this week alone, I have 5 performances... and it's going to be this way for the next 2 weeks!  AAHHH!  breathe... I can survive this...

Anyway, I just wanted to blog about our trip to Austin before the month passes by  haha  

so here is the story about how a 3 hour road trip to Austin from Houston became a 9 hour road trip.

It began like any other road trip to a ballroom dance competition.  We picked up our fellow dancers from Rice, and got on the road with lots and lots of snacks and other food stuffs.  Like some Kimbab.

I felt so much like my mother making these because every Korean child has memories of eating Kimbab on a picnic or a road trip, or really anywhere where you pack and bring food   haha.  My version was really simple though, a bastardized version of Kimbab, and it only contained rice and some seasoned Bok choy.  Very simple, but filling and yummy!  Last year I made ones with rice and seasoned kale, and I think I actually like the kale version better, fyi  ;)

Our road trip was quite smooth, actually.  We slept, took turns driving, talking, taking pictures of smiley water towers, and just having fun like any other group of 4 college students.

Things all changed when we got to the competition venue, however, with just a couple of words from David.  I can't quite remember exactly what it was word for word, but it was something along the lines of "Oh no, we're in trouble.. I forgot my costumes at home".  

And with those words, our 3 hour trip to Austin became our 9 hour trip to Austin.

It wasn't too bad though because David and I sang Avenue Q and Disney songs all the way back to Houston (btw, we found that when I drive, it only takes 2.5 hours to get back to Houston).  Don't worry, we dropped off the other dancers in Austin so they wouldn't have to endure 6 more hours of sitting in the car, and possibly worse, our singing.  On our way back to Austin, David drove (which look longer than 2.5 hours  =p) and we just talked about anything and everything.  The extra 6 hours really is not so bad when you have good company I guess  ;)

We met up with the rest of the dancers from Rice at our hotel around midnight, and went to bed after trying to come up with a few routines for our standard (Waltz, Tango, and Quickstep) categories.  You see, we had only focused on the Latin categories (Chacha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive) and didn't get any practicing in for standard all year..

The next morning, we fueled up with some Texas sized (and shaped) breakfast, and headed to the competition!

The competition began with some country dancing and some International Standard dancing!
Here are a couple of our Rice dancers tearing up the floor!  Woot!  ;)

Because David and I were only dancing the Gold division, thankfully we had some time to come up with a routine for our Standard dances during the Newcomer, Bronze, and Silver division competitions. I have to say though, it was uuubber stressful, and we should probably practice a little earlier than an hour before the competition next time...   

When we weren't dancing, we cheered on other dancers, operated video cameras, cameras, ate some food and goofed around.  After all, the point of being there is to have fun and be with your teammates, not necessarily to be hard core about competing.  =)

Then, finally, it was Gold and Novice level competition, and we got to dance!

So many of us from Rice ended up wearing blue gowns!  haha   yay go Rice!  (our school color is blue too! what a coincidence!  ahem, I mean,,, we planned that. mm hmm.)

Our whole team after the standard competition.

After the International Standard competition, we had a break for lunch, and then began the loooonnnggggg afternoon segment of American Smooth, International Latin, and American Rhythm. David and I were doing the Open level multi-dance International Latin so we were the last ones to dance, and that ended up being around 10:30 PM... way past my bedtime  haha  I'm such a grandma...  =p  but we spent the day doing some more cheering, camera-ing, and goofing off some more.

yay I'm-bored-selfies!

 and a few more pictures of our friends in Latin and Rhythm categories!

and finally!!  as I was about to nod off to sleep, it was our turn to dance!  let me tell you what, there's nothing like a performance to wake you up from your granny-bedtime-grogginess!

It was my first time dancing Open level, and it was so much fun!  Of course, there's a lot to learn and fix and polish and tweak, but overall, I'm happy with our first performance at the Open level  =)  After all, it can only get better from here, right?

oh, and look how tan I am!  ;)  unfortunately, I never got quite as tan as David, but at least I don't look like a ghost next to him anymore!  haha

and a quick video of a part of our cha cha!

I hope your week is going well, and thanks for stopping by!!
--Janny

Grad life... and a dance video!

Hi everyone!

IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!
Sorry it's been so quiet over on my end, but the past week has been pretty hectic, yet also pretty darn uneventful.  My grad life goes something like this:  wake up, get to school by 8 or 8:30 A.M, practice until 11 A.M., classes, lunch, rehearsals until about 4:40 P.M, go back home, eat dinner, get back to school to teach, rehearse, and do extra practice until 8 P.M or so, exercise (usually running or dancing with my man), shower, and bed by 11 P.M!  
Yup.  Gone are the days of staying up until 2 A.M,,, my aging body (?) can't handle the 7+ hours of violining on less than 7 hours of sleep.  It really makes me wonder how on earth I survived my undergrad years... going to bed at 2 A.M and waking up at 5:30 A.M to go practice ballroom... dear ballroom family that did 6-8 A.M. rehearsals with me,, what on earth were we thinking? how on earth did we do that?!   ahh, but such good times and memories though.. =)

Anyway, I'm happy to report that baby bro has also become quite a dancer himself, albeit a hip hop-ing one, and not a ballrooming one...  but here's a little video of his team's performance!  Apparently they put it together in 3-4 weeks, and I was really very impressed!  ;)  aww, baby bro, all grown up *sniffle sniffle*   sorry, having a proud big sis moment over here ;)

Enjoy!

Happy Weekend!!!
--Janny