Jake Drouillard Ballet 4/1/14 Journal My name is Jake Drouillard and I am a junior Theatre major.

I have only had a few formal dance classes but I have been dancing since my sophmore year of high school. I am from the small town of Erie Michigan and where Im from there is not an abundance of theatre opportunities because of that I was fortunately and unfortunately did not have much choice in what shows I did if I wanted to be in one at all. Because of this I was ended up in quite a few dance heavy shows in a time when I could barely call myself a mover let alone a dancer. Through this though I was able to get better and while I am by no means the most graceful or skilled dancer I am a capable enough mover. I am not satisfied with that of course and I am truly hoping that this class will make me a better dancer who is more aware of his body and can more easily pick up a routine. I have been working very hard to become a competent dancer because I personally feel that when it comes to musical theatre dance is definitely my weakest point. Musical productions isnt the whole extent of my dancing experience however, I have taken two formal dance classes here at North Central, Musical Theatre Dance I & II, I also was a guest member of the inside outside Dance group, this is mainly because I was always one of the choreographers go to guys when she needed more men for any dance or other kind of production, none the less I was lucky enough to be able to perform in multiple dance productions including a special dance set at a local car show. I was lucky enough to work quite a bit with this choreographer, her name was Kellie Lajiness and she was awarded best dance instructor in the state of Michigan during my last year working with her. I was also vice president of Monroe County community colleges Ballroom Dance club. I am also a member of the swing club here at North Central. When I first started to do musical theatre I found dancing to be the pure bane of my existence, I struggled with the simplest of choreography and just didnt know how to feel comfortable in my body, but fortunately through extended exposure to dance I have found that I am finally starting to gain not just ability in dance but also confidence when it comes to dance, something that I rather lacked until quite recently. I am quite excited for ballet because of all the dance styles I have experienced Ballet is the one I am least familiar with and I am both curious and terrified of it and I really hope to extinguish both of those feelings by becoming more familiar with it.