Tina's Life: A Dancer's Dream Come True

Chapter 8: Daily Training

" Tina, let's go to your hip-hop lessons. We need to get you back on your training." Mom said. " Can we reschedule the practice session for another day? I'm really tired and I didn't get enough sleep because I was up late doing my homework and then I had to get my black one-piece leotard for hip-hop practice tomorrow and I had to put my water bottle in the freezer to make sure that it's chilled and ready to face the heat." Tina asked. " There's no time to take a nap now. We need to get back on your training and your daily stretches." Mom said. Tina goes downstairs, skipping a few steps gracefully in the process while wearing her beautiful headphones, which are plugged into her phone. She gets into the car and restarts playing her music. " Tina, what Mr. Marcos makes for you in the studio, you gotta make it bigger than any of your performances because this will lay down the foundation for your future." Mom said, knowing that Tina was listening to music through her headphones and that her words would get canceled out in the process. At hip-hop, Tina starts stretching for her warm-up. " Remember to turn and pull up when you spin, Tina, like this." Mr. Marcos, Tina's 46-year-old hip-hop teacher, said, spinning and extending his left leg towards the sky, showing Tina how she should extend her leg. " I've been so busy that I haven't made any time in the day for practice, except when I come here," Tina says. " Tina, you've gotta preserve your exercises and your hip-hop training if you wanna be a great triple star." Mr. Marcos says.
" Thanks, Mr. Marcos, I know that I need to find more time to practice in between school, shows, and managing my life at home," Tina said. " That's what I wanna hear. You're becoming a star who needs to prioritize her busy life as a star, but don't spend all your time performing. Be sure to make time for family and friends, so they can spend time with you... without having to buy expensive VIP tickets after the amazing show, just to say hi and talk about other things besides shows and where your next performance is." Mr. Marcos said.
" My mom purchased some tickets for the family to come to my show in Las Vegas next week, and I get to spend some time with them on Labor Day, a holiday where I don't have any performances because summer's starting and I asked for the time off. Is the studio closed for the holidays?" Tina asked, thinking about her Labor Day plans. " Yes, the studio is closed too, so the staff can also spend time with their families and see their kids and grandchildren." Mr. Marcos said.
" Family always comes first, before performances. I can always get more opening shows, but I can't get more time with my huge family apart from these shows." Tina says. " Good. I don't wanna see your mom stressed out all of the time because you've missed so much family time since you're scheduled to perform almost every day of the week, with no days off allowed. After all, that means you're slacking off, and you don't make enough time for training and sessions at the studio, which are extremely important." Mr. Marcos said. " My mom is the biggest cause of my stress. She stresses every hour of each day, whether I need it or not, because of my schedule. She's been a perfectionist ever since I started my career. She's constantly worried about, " Tina says. " She's your mom, and she just wants what's best for you, and she wants you to be happy with whatever path you choose to follow... even if she goes a little too crazy," Marcos says. " But she's not taking the vocal exercises, the hip-hop classes, and performing for crowds every week while barely keeping up with schoolwork and stuff in her personal life," Tina said. " She's trying to help you reach your fullest potential and be amazing at everything you do because that's the person your parents created you to be." Mr. Marcos said. " I know. I wish my overstressed, worried mom could see what I go through. All she does is spend time with my 7-year-old cousin, Beverly. She's the cute one who always gets what she wants... without having to hard work for it because she earns money in the millions." Tina said. " Well, you've gotta find time in your schedule where you guys are spending quality time with one another without performances getting in the way." Mr. Marcos said. " Ok, thanks, Mr. Marcos. I'm gonna have fun with my mom this weekend since I don't have any performances." Tina says. " Great, maybe your dad can coach you on your conditioning exercises." Mr. Marcos suggested. " He was a fitness trainer for 5 years before he met my mom, so I'll let her coach me on Sundays when we don't come to the studio," Tina says. " Just make sure to be 100% focused because all of this training stuff is making you a better artist than you were yesterday," Dad said. " I know, but I need to have time to hang out with my friends, or else they're not gonna like me," Tina says. " You need to make sure that you have a show, school, and life balance, or else, things are gonna become chaotic and way too much to handle, especially for a 15-year-old who still has a bright future." Mr. Marcos says. " Yeah. I need to make sure that I can take breaks in between the long weeks of shows, maybe go get ice cream or go to the skate park with the boys. But my manager isn't gonna let me miss any shows just to spend time with my family." Tina says. " That's a great idea. We need to make sure that the industry doesn't stress you out too much by overloading you. But at the same time, you've gotta be a little worried about all the stress of performing like hectic hours in the car driving somewhere when it's late, remembering choreography, the lyrics to the song, and lots of other stuff that needs to happen to pull off a fantastic performance." Mr. Marcos says. " I'm gonna nail this epic performance and I'm gonna make sure that I have all the things I could need like added makeup to bring out my inner diva, which is what people want to see when they think of a powerhouse or a female performer who's young but she's also energetic and she loves to bring the song and the crowd to life," Tina says. " But the outfit needs to make everyone fall in love with you because of your voice and your ability to interact with the audience. Almost as much as the performance will." Dad said. " The most important part is that you don't lose your voice on the day of a big performance," Mom says. " If I lose my voice, I can't sing anymore and I'll have to cancel all of my shows to go on lots of vocal rest, which is days, or even, weeks, of no singing or no talking until my voice heals up completely which delays my shows to days where I'm really busy and I can't do any shows because of homework and other school problems getting in the way of my performing schedule, which is 5 out of the 7 days of the regular week. The nights that we're at home eating dinner are supposed to be used for catching up on endless amounts of schoolwork and getting lots of sleep before 7:30 am which is when I'm supposed to be up, dressed and ready to tackle whatever the day brings with it that involves practicing and doing lots of other things to prepare for Universal... like learning about the watermelon-looking, personal-sized cube that you're gonna use and how it's gonna be applied to your choreography during the performance... either dropping down or someone lowering you down with a couple of strings attached to the cube that is gonna help with the weight of the cube... and the cube is very heavy, so these heavy strings are gonna be holding the cube so you don't fall and injure yourself. There are gonna be some dancers that surround you. They're gonna all be the same height, and they're gonna protect you and make sure that you don't fall." Tina said. " Daily Training is extremely important for superstars to stay physically active all the time... even when they’re not on camera, they're still in the public eye on social media platforms and real life, especially if you're a dancer who has a rigorous schedule and is always on the go 24/7 in your tour bus with your backup dancers and a parent supervisor, which is me or your father." Mom says.