Father’s Day 2019

Daddy,

I cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for me, and I am so blessed to have such a loving, caring, giving, inspiring, and amazing father. The past few years have been filled with memorable adventures that I will cherish for a lifetime, and I am so grateful for all of your support to do what I love. You have shown me that I can do anything that I set my mind to, and you have taught me so much throughout the past seventeen years. I learned that superheros truly do exist because I am looking right at one… I love you so much, and I hope that you have a fantastic Father’s Day!

~Maysa

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Happy Father’s Day to all of those super awesome dads out there!

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Season 2018-19 Recap

The 2018-19 season has come to a close, so I took some time to revisit all of my adventures from the past several months…

I remembered the exhilaration of dancing the Snow Queen pas de deux in The Nutcracker, and flutes of Act 2 came floating back to me from when I took the stage as a Mirliton. My heart became warm as I recalled performing the Sugar Plum Fairy variation for the seniors at the assisted living facility, and I smiled at the memory of pure joy on their faces. I recalled working with the choreographer of “Flight” and being part of its debut in January as well as the Balanchine-themed “Spiral.” Both of these creations were brought to three separate stages as we popped in and out of the city this year, and each experience was uniquely special. I shivered at the flashback of February and all of the stress that accompanied those long days of overtime at the studio. Alice in Wonderland definitely kept us on our toes as we raced against time to put the entire ballet together, but the performance was worth every moment. Shortly after, we dove into The Little Mermaid where we spent over 13 hours in the theater on a show day, and the contemporary repertoire marked the successful ending of this very busy season.

I am incredibly grateful for all of the opportunities that I had, and I cannot thank everyone enough for the tremendous amount of support through it all. I especially want to thank all of my followers for joining me this year, liking my posts, and leaving such positive comments. It means so much to know that my friends, family, and readers all believe in my ability to succeed, so THANK YOU!

How was your dance season? Do you have any questions for me? Any special post requests? Happy Summer!

Sweet Reminisce

sipping on tea in the middle of May

enjoying the sweet reminisce

and allowing recollections of melancholy days

to dissolve in the laughter of bliss

 

thoughts had been brewing

while life continued at a fast pace

and stories were certainly worth sharing

to a missed and familiar face

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I was able to meet up with a good friend for lunch last week, and it was so nice to catch up after months of separation. This amazing vocalist, Sofia Caterina, has released another song after receiving over 80,000 streams of last year’s hit, Velvet. I encourage you to go check out her newest single, Walk Away, and share it with as many people as you can. It is NOW AVAILABLE to stream on all major music platforms, so go give it a listen!

What have you been up to lately? Do you have any big plans coming up this summer? What did you think of her song? 

*Photo Credit to Sofia

College: Freshman Year

College Year 1: OFFICIALLY DONE!

(Casually doing an Arabesque at school…)

I cannot believe that my freshman year of college is actually complete, and I am about one year away from attaining my associates degree in Marketing Management. I have learned so much in the last two semesters, and I am just so thankful for this opportunity to attend this awesome school as a dual-enrolled student. It was certainly a challenge to manage a full college schedule on top of my other responsibilities, and I have no doubt that I pushed myself harder than ever before… I recall doing assignments at 2 AM while Nirvana and Pearl Jam blared out of my headphones, studying vigorously in between rehearsals, hauling a load of math problems to the tutoring center before exams, reading textbook pages for hours in the library, and reviewing papers with friends before submitting them to my professor. It was hard, but this experience really allowed me to grow as both a person and student which is really rewarding in the end. It was a great year, and I am so lucky to have had such awesome people to share it with.

I have a few weeks on break before the summer semester kicks off, but I am going to embrace this sunshine and blue sky while it lasts… Summer vibes are in the air; it’s a beautiful day!

Has your summer break started yet? What was your freshman experience like? Who else is a Marketing major? Do you enjoy bubble tea? 

My Experience

That’s right. I am dabbing in this ballet photo shoot (more to come) to celebrate my amazing experience with blogging and the evolution of Maysa Rose from its birth in 2013! I never thought so many people would genuinely care about all of the random thoughts that I document on this public diary, so I am absolutely astounded with its growth especially within the last year. This space gives me so much joy, and I am incredibly thankful for this site and everyone who reads it!

The Story: 

I began Maysa Rose back in 2013 as a highly talkative fifth grader with an ink pen who filled entire notebooks with stories and poems. My dad recognized this budding passion for writing and he suggested that I begin a blog so that my words could actually be read. I jumped at the opportunity, and I really kept up with blogging before I practically neglected it about a year or two later. After awhile, I decided to pick it back up again, but I didn’t want to start where I left off. I completely redesigned my site and actually deleted all of my old posts to get a clean slate. I started posting very frequently, and I really began to find joy in writing again. Blogging has been my absolute obsession ever since!

My Experience: 

I don’t even know where to begin; being the author of Maysa Rose has been such an amazing experience, and it has significantly changed my life for the better. My writing has matured so much through the years, and I have met so many amazing people who continue to inspire me every day. This site is filled with so much positive energy, and the encouragement has really helped me through life’s unpredictable moments. Sometimes, all it takes is ONE positive comment to turn the entire day around, and a couple bloggers have written such beautiful words that I still remember to this very day! I actually cannot recall any offensive or negative comments, so I am very blessed for that. I never imagined that Maysa Rose would grow as much as it has, and I am so thankful for this opportunity to share my passion with the world. Thank you all so much for everything, and I cannot wait to see where this goes from here!!

Photo Credits: Richard Jean-Louis

Do you have any questions about blogging? What is your blogging story or experience? Did you enjoy this post? 

Taking Flight

During a live performance, nothing is promised, and the audience experiences something new each time the curtain rises. They are able to witness the real-time mishaps and slips that cannot be undone or edited out. Each show is simply an unparalleled mystery to both the dancers and audience members because it is never certain what the outcome will be regardless of the repeated choreography. Even though dancers try to maintain a professional image, we are just like the people in the darkened theater clutching tickets in their palms. We make mistakes. We fall. We have off days just like everybody else. No matter how hard we strive for perfection, we will never be flawless, and that is reality.

Saturday, we took Flight, a guest-choreographed modern piece, downtown with peacock feathers perched delicately in our hair. To be honest, I am quite disappointed with my performance. It was an incredibly stressful night as things continuously went wrong, and I had to endure that defeated feeling as I took a bow. This piece will be performed again later this season, so I am hoping that we can redeem ourselves. As of right now, we must move on because it is going to be a busy week in the studio as we prepare for Alice in Wonderland in three weeks! I will not waste any more time thinking about the past. We have a ballet to learn. 🙂

The Parakeet Post #9

I think Kiwi found herself a boyfriend… These two have been attracted like magnets for the past few weeks, and I was able to catch these sweethearts on camera during this precious moment.

However, Olive is getting pretty jealous,

and Calypso is just pouting…

*I was glad to host these two beautiful guests on this month’s parakeet post! I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did. 🙂

(Skye & Kiwi, Olive, and Calypso)