TO: Rebecca Agosta, ENG 1101 Instructor FROM: Gabriela Madeira Silveira DATE: 09/12/13 SUBJECT: Dance with

me, literacy. Intro to my topic For my first topic I had in mind working and developing the knowledge I have of dance and my experiences that enabled me to become literate in dance. Since dance has been part of my life since age three I thought it would be a good idea to show my progress, accomplishments and failures that lead me to become literate in dance. I also thought of including my sponsors that allowed me to reach a great level of literacy in dance. Those sponsors would include my mom, my ballet conservatory and even myself. My narrative would include from daily ballet classes experiences to big recitals and competitions. The point that I am going to try to get to through my snapshots is how many different scenarios and experiences shaped me to get where I am now and how those experiences improved my literacy in dance. Ideas I thought about including the themes we have discussed in class such as literacy as power, adaptation and state of grace. I believe that I went through all those stages to become very literate at something in this case being dance. As mentioned before I would like to do several snapshots of different scenarios and basic experiences Ive faced. I would not only like to add simple everyday life routine examples but I would also add very important events such as recitals, competitions, awards, exam grades and graduation from my ballet course. One important

aspect that I would not want to forget for my essay are my sponsors. I would mainly focus on my mother because she was the one who assisted me the thirteen years of my dancing career. The ways she sponsored me would include paying for my classes, costumes, buses for competition days, moral support, encouragement, emotional assistance and for all the time she drove me back and forth to my dance academy. Snapshots #1 One of the snapshots I had in mind includes one of my first recitals. When I was about six or seven years old, my school of dance was performing the Beauty and the Beast recital. As a six year old I was the tea cup. My costume was my favorite part, it was absolutely adorable and it made me want to stay on stage for the whole show. The only problem with that recital was that my costume never came in. Something was wrong with it and the designer promised she would be able to make it back before it was time for me to go on stage. She didnt. What I got from that experience was how I had to deal with that type of situations and how my sponsors helped me. I plan of developing this snapshot and adding my emotions and a lot more details. #2- Another snapshot I thought about was later on in my dance career. I was about fourteen or fifteen years old. It was about a year before I quit dance. Every semester we had exams. They were physical exams that measured all the dancers on how well they knew the steps and the choreography. None of our instructors were allowed to give us the exam so an outside dancer would come to examine us. That particular day I just really didnt want to be there, my ballerina bun didnt look good and all I wanted was to stay home and watch TV. I ended up getting an 8 on my exam which to me was like getting and F in school. I plan on going from there for my snapshot and include how that particular experience shaped me as a dancer and the impacts it had on my life, my career and my literacy.