Trying - Directed by Emma | Phoenix/23 | Showcase 2023

When it came time to choose a song for the upcoming showcase, I put together a playlist of different songs which each held a lot of meaning for me. I knew I wanted to present some sort of message with this performance, however I was unsure of which message to present. Pretty early on I grew an attachment to Trying by Cavetown, but I didn’t want to settle on a song so quickly. So I continued looking. I prayed about it, I listened to other songs, but I kept coming back to this song. The message is personal to me, it struck a chord with how much I related to it. The idea of vulnerability and the fear of it has been a theme for me lately, coming up in different aspects of my life. I’ve realized how much being vulnerable helps, but I still have a fear of it.

The fear that being vulnerable and honest will change how others see me or I will somehow hurt or overwhelm them with my own emotions and problems never ceases to exist. Although, I recently heard that vulnerability isn’t comfortable, but it isn’t painful either, it changed my perspective. Don’t get me wrong, it didn't completely erase my fear, but it's a reminder I tell myself and it helps. That’s what I want from this performance. I want it to be a reminder that vulnerability isn’t comfortable, but it's not painful and it opens up room for healing and growth.
Emma

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The thought behind P/23 is that if we can find way for younger generations to learn and be passionate about learning ASL then we can help get more accessible opportunities for our local deaf community. We have sent our alum out into the world to accomplish just that. One of our alum works in the Jackson-Madison School System as an educational interpreter. Many of our other alum and current students have been able to connect with the deaf community in Tennessee in their everyday lives.