Looking back at AMA… Part 2

How dance and tumbling lessons prepared me for my freshman year of college (part 2), by Jessie Frank

Last week I began to tell you about how dance and tumbling lessons prepared me for my first year in college. This past fall, faced with recovering from two blood clots in my left lung and missing my chance to be in Illinois State University’s Gamma Phi Acrobatic Circus, I set out to convince my professors to let me make up the schoolwork I missed because I was in the hospital. (If you missed that story, you can read it here.)

Even though I was told “policy is policy,” I contacted each one of my teachers, convincing them to let me make everything up. One teacher said because the online system is all automated, that there was nothing he could do to let me make up my class work. So, I did a little investigating. Like I wrote in last week’s blog, never give up and when you come up against a roadblock, find a different way.

I called the software company. All they needed was a phone call from the professor and they could manipulate the system with permission so I could make up my homework. Then I had to go back to that professor to convince him to do this for me. Crazy, I had to convince him, but he finally agreed!

I emailed heads of departments and called whoever I needed to, asking them to help me out, which they did. I would not have been able to do this without the drive I learned from my mother and watching her build AMA. She taught me to never give up and find a different way… Do more research, be well-informed, and find a different way to ask the question so you can turn that “no” into a “yes.” I learned that in order to get what I need to be successful, I have to be the one to put the effort forth to get it.

It worked!

The good news is that because the circus is on the back burner, I had plenty of time to catch up and was not involved in any activities, so my grades were stellar this semester!

However, I missed being involved in dance and acro. So… I surprised my mom by going in to see the AMA Holiday Show. I bought a bus ticket and showed up unannounced. You should have seen the look on my mom’s face when I walked up to her backstage! She was SO happy!

For the first time ever, I was at an AMA show and not in twelve routines. That means: no quick costume changes, no choreography to remember and nobody counting on me. It was weird.

I told my mom that I would help wherever needed. I was assigned a backstage job, so I was still a part of the show without actually being in it, which made me extremely happy. I got to see a lot of the show from the sidelines and it was bittersweet. My mom wrote the Holiday Show and it’s about the relationship between a little girl and her grandma. I was the first person to play the part of the little girl back in 2007. (I got the part by default. My mom was not sure how the play would go so she used me as the guinea pig.) Six years later, the part was played by an AMA student who just blew me away with her talent!

It was such an incredible feeling to have such fond memories of being in these shows…

Me, Martha (who plays the grandma in all our Holiday shows),
and my predecessor, Michelle! They are both like family to me!
AMA does that to anyone who goes there!

I miss everything about AMA, both as a student and a staff member at AMA.

The AMA Team! These lovely ladies are the most amazing mentors ever!
(I have a tiara on because all AMA graduating seniors are given tiaras
to wear during the entire show weekend! It’s pretty awesome!)

I have learned that things do not always work out the way you plan. From the front end at AMA, sometimes your music is not working correctly, you forget steps, leave a major piece of your costume at home, or your partner is sick the day of a show. From the back end, I have seen snowstorms affect the protocol for the show (upsetting parents), I have seen teachers quit without notice VIA E-MAIL (leaving my mom to quickly replace that teacher while maintaining the best instruction possible), and just bad decisions made by ANYONE involved in the studio (whether it be a parent, staff member or student), and how it affects literally hundreds of people. You have to be flexible and always ready with a “Plan B.”

I know that just because I cannot do the circus this year that does not mean I won’t next year. I AM going to try out next year and train probably harder than I would have before so I make it.

And guess what? I was given the go-ahead to try-out for one of the dance teams at ISU! Rehearsals begin when I return to school next week. Being on the dance team may not have been my original plan, but maybe this will open a door to something I do not yet know about!

No matter what, I know I am going to love it… And I am pain-free! I always keep that in the back of my head how lucky I am that doctors found that my blood disorder is treatable!

People just assume that I do acro and dance because my mother makes me. Not true! It’s something I love, something I have grown up with, and something I cannot imagine my life without.

This was one of my favorite routines ever. I know we look very serious,
but we were honoring our armed forces that live, fight, are injured and many
times die for our freedom. This routine was very special and we are so grateful
to these great men and women.

We performed at the Allstate Arena in July 2013. We had a GREAT time!

AMA has always been there for me, and will be once I graduate. Now more than ever, I am looking forward to coming back and running the summer camps, and I cannot wait until I graduate college and can come back to teach, since being a dance and tumbling teacher is something I really enjoy.

So, thank you, AMA, for helping me the person I was meant to be!

Me with my fabulous little students! We are silly and fun!

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