A Day In The Life of a Performing Arts Boarder

By Contributor

October 26, 2010

catchandaquirk's daily routine sounds pretty rad to us—especially the part about the Lunchables.—Sparkitors

Yes, I go to boarding school. No, I’m not pyromaniac (I get that a lot). I go to a boarding school for performing arts, where I major in dance. Here’s a glimpse at my not-so-ordinary day:

7:00 AM: The wake-up bell rings. I grumble incoherently, then go back to sleep.

7:20 AM: The bell for the start of breakfast rings. I ninja-leap out of bed and wake up my roommate. Our tiny room is a flurry of activity for five minutes until we race down to breakfast before all the good chocolate chip muffins are gone.

8:15-9:41 AM: First and second period, just regular classes.

9:45 AM: Third period, my favorite period of the day. I trek to the dance studio and enjoy 42 minutes in my pointe shoes before I have to go back to regular school.

10:30-11:56 AM: Fourth and fifth periods, regular classes again.

12-12:56 PM: Lunch! It’s sushi day, so everyone sprints to the dining room to grab the prime tuna rolls. Food is our existence, so we stock up on the edible provisions. If none of the cafeteria fare is edible, we go to our rooms for some lovely Lunchables.

12:30- 1:06 PM: I go to the dance studio and brush up on what we learned last night with a few other girls. When the teacher is out of the room, we crank up the music and mess around until she gets back.

1:10-2:36 PM: The final two periods! I get excited for dance.

3:00-4:00 PM: My first dance class of the day. We do a long warm up and learn part of the dance that we'll be performing in an upcoming show. The ever-graceful dancer that I am, I trip and slam into a wall. It’s a total misconception that all dancers are elegant; we're actually the clumsiest people on the planet.

4:00-5:00 PM: We do technique at the barre, and have a grueling stretch class. After stretch class, I highly doubt I will ever be able to walk again… but we have one more dance class to get through.

5:00-6:30 PM: Our teacher goes easy on us, and we do combinations across the floor. By this point, the only thing on my mind is food. I’m starving!

6:30-7:00 PM: Dinner! The dancers finish classes after everyone else, so there's hardly anyone left in the dining room when we get there. We're all like one huge family, so the teachers sit with us and we laugh and joke about random stuff.

7:00-7:45 PM: Chill time! We get to do anything we want until study hall. I use this time to check SparkNotes or watch the latest episode of Glee.

7:45- 9:30 PM: Mandatory study hall. We all sit in our rooms and do homework. It’s really nice to have time set aside to do work, but usually I procrastinate and check SparkNotes again, aimlessly walk around my room, and eat the candy I have stored in my drawers... shhhhh.

9:30-10:00 PM: After the bell to end study hall rings at 9:30, it’s a race to the shower. I elbow my roommate out of the way and run to the bathroom, where I promptly lock the door and turn on the water. I silently curse myself for not bringing anything to read—the shower takes ten minutes to warm up. I plop on the floor and read the labels on the shampoo bottles. Again.

11:00 PM: Lights out! The housemother comes in and makes sure everyone is sleeping. After our housemother goes to bed, it’s a party! But you can bet we regret staying up so late when 7 AM rolls around the next morning.

A shower that takes 10 minutes to warm up?! We're writing a strongly-worded letter to your principle, catch.