March Madness

Natalie Achonwa

Now that March Madness is starting up I've been thinking a lot about women's college basketball, especially who will win the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. Probably my favorite team; the UConn Huskies. UConn is most likely to win the Finals because they have won it the past five out of seven championships. However, UConn did lose their best three-point shooter Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis last year and one of their strong and tall shooters and rebounders Kiah Stokes. However this year the Huskies have stayed strong even without their now professional stars. UConn has won 29 straight games which makes them undefeated this year. However, even though they have been doing so well there is still the chance that they will have trouble beating Notre Dame's team who has always been the one team that has come the closest to beating UConn. Just a couple of years ago, the NCAA women's basketball finals were suppose to be one of the best match ups the two teams ever had, until Notre Dame's tallest and arguably best player Natalie Achonwa tore her ACL right before the Finals. Because of this, Notre Dame didn't have their best player while playing UConn and lost by a wide margin. Natalie Achonwa had to wait a full year before getting back on the court. In dance as well as basketball people's career's can be ruined because of one injury. This is a terrible thing but dancers (even though it might not be as desirable as dancing) can pursue different careers in the field of dance, therefore continuing to be connected to what they love.

The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

               I recently went to see the Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. The show is about a boy named Christopher who is accused of killing his neighbors dog with a pitch fork. Christopher is immediately blamed for the murder because he is the first person to find the dead dog and when the police arrive at the scene he hits one of the officers because the man tried to touch him, and Christopher didn't like it when people tried to touch him. However, the audience immediately know that Christopher is innocent despite what the police say and because of this Christopher decides that he will try and find out who killed the dog. During this mystery Christopher learns a lot about his neighborhood, family and who he is as a person. I can relate this show to dance because even though there were not actually any dance scenes, the people in the show held themselves in a way that really helped portray their character. Like an actor, a dancer has to hold themselves in a certain way to portray a certain feeling in a dance. For example, if a dancer is performing a sad dance it would be strange for them to walk on stage smiling whereas it would make sense if they walked on stage with a serious expression. In this show, the characters really helped show who they were through the way they held themselves. For example, Christopher's father worked long hours and was a single father taking care of his son all on his own. Because of this, Christopher's father often had slumped shoulders and walked in a very slow tired way which really gave you an idea of how tough his life was. Another character who showed who they were through their body language was Christopher's neighbor who's dog was killed. Christopher's neighbor was a very tightly wound angry women and even when she wasn't talking, you could see these things about her because she moved in a very swift and uptight fashion. The actors all held themselves in a way that really portrayed their character and because of this "The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" was a really good show.