I may be a couple of days behind, but don’t you worry, I didn’t forget about my favorite blog of the year – MY GRATITUDE JOURNAL!

If you’ve been following for the past few seasons while I’ve been doing the Blog for SCDT, my Gratitude Blog is one of my all time favorites. I’m huge on gratitude – I journal about it, I meditate about it, and I try my best to remind myself of things I’m grateful for throughout each day. It’s the best way to stay positive and bring joy to myself and hopefully rubs off on those around me.

So, yes, I’m a little late after Thanksgiving this year, but hopefully you can forgive me for soaking up our break with friends and family. Below, in no particular order, are 10 things I’m grateful for from this season of South Chicago Dance Theatre!

1. My coworkers! Yes, I said no particular order, but this one HAS to be at the top. My fellow dancers get me through each day. They are the magic behind South Chicago Dance Theatre and over the years, they have become more like family than coworkers.

2. Our new Artistic Liaison, Noelle Kayser! She’s an incredible mentor, leader, and cleans our dances so well!

3. Our newest Company Class instructor, Laura Wade! She’s obsessed with ballet and never fails to answer all of our nerdy questions about technique.

4. Speaking of Laura, we LOVE having Imogen as our accompanist for Laura’s class this season. It is SO incredible having live music for ballet class each Thursday!

5. Kia – as always!! – and her fun process with our new holiday show, “Lamentations for Peace”. We are thrilled to put this one on stage and Kia has been our fearless leader throughout this choreographic process.

6. Another year-to-year favorite, our Managing Director Terra Schultz. Terra RUNS our lives (or at least it feels like it) and is so professional, prompt, and thorough with all things behind the scenes!

7. Our collaborators, such as but not limited to, Trey with costume design, The Bourne singers as live music for our upcoming show, the kids casts in our Holiday Show, and so many more!

8. Our consistent company class instructors including Jessica, Meredith, Ethan, Laura, and Noelle. You know how to get us ready for our busy days at rehearsal and we love beginning each day with you all!

9. Our GUEST company instructors!! This season it has been so fun getting to interact with new faces from around the Chicago-area on Tuesdays. Thank you Kara, Maggie, Faith, Homer, Patti, Craig, Imani, and so many more! We can’t wait to add more to our list.

10. Finally, our grand finale – YOU ALL! We love our audiences so much and it wouldn’t make sense if we didn’t thank you for your support.

Happy Thanksgiving and let’s keep the gratitude rolling all season long!